It's been a rollercoaster ride for 26-year-old actor Zac Efron, who first rose to fame as a "teen idol" to his fans for his portrayal of hunky basketball jock Troy Bolton in Disney's widely successful movie franchise "High School Musical."

However, as Efron grew older, things proved to be not so great for the actor when news of his alcoholism and drug addiction surfaced all over headlines last year.

Since dealing with his rocky past, Zac Efron is doing better these days. He recently sat down and spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and the Today Show to talk about overcoming his substance abuse and getting back into acting in his new film called, "Neighbors," with Seth Rogen.

"I was drinking a lot, way too much," he told The Hollywood Reporter, acknowledging there were drugs, too. "It's never one specific thing. I mean, you're in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you. I wouldn't take anything back; I needed to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting journey, to say the least."

On the Today show, Efron added that he is doing better now and was able to channel his troubling past into the role of the party-obsessed college student that he plays in the movie "Neighbors."

"It was a rough year," he said. "It's kind of funny. 'Neighbors' is such a great sort of icing on the cake for all this. I was able to kind of channel all of that and put it back into this movie."

As for fans that might still be nostalgic over Efron's ‘teen idol' image... Well, they'll just have to keep holding on to the memories.

"I'm really excited for Zac, just because I know a lot of people have this preconception of who he is," said his co-star Dave Franco on the "Today Show." "Once you see this movie, I think his teenybopper image is going to be completely shattered."

‘Neighbors' comes out in theaters this Friday. Check out the trailer below. Will you be watching?