‘High School Musical’ Actress Monique Coleman Says Her Character Always Wore Headbands Because Crew On Set Did Her Hair ‘Poorly’

‘High School Musical’ Actress Monique Coleman Says Her Character Always Wore Headbands Because Crew On Set Did Her Hair ‘Poorly’

Monique Coleman of Disney’s popular High School Musical franchise is revealing the real reason her character, Taylor McKessie, was always seen rocking a headband. While she was consistently fashionable, the headbands served as a solution to an ongoing problem in Hollywood that she experienced.

She told Insider as the cast celebrated the 15th anniversary of the film,

“We’ve grown a lot in this industry and we’ve grown a lot in representation and we’ve grown a lot in terms of understanding the needs of an African American actress.”

She added,

“But the truth is, is that they had done my hair, and they had done it very poorly in the front.”

Monique Coleman, now 40, added there was very little time fix her hair ahead of filming, so she came up with the solution to “incorporate headbands” into Taylor McKessie’s look and “just make that a part of who she is.”

She said fortunately, Disney was “very open to our feedback.”

She spoke on playing the role and continued,

“I’m really grateful to have been someone who was able to bring representation at a time where there wasn’t very much, and I’m so happy when I see this next generation of young artists and there just being so much more room for people of color.”

“It means the world to me, particularly because Taylor is such a dynamic character and the smartest person at school and all of that at a time where, often, Black girl characters tended to be the ones who had an attitude or to be sassy.”

Monique Coleman went on to say,

“And I appreciated that that wasn’t why people loved Taylor. They loved her because she was smart and supportive. And it definitely means a lot to me for people to see her. There was Taylor before the Obamas were a thing. So we didn’t have people to look up to. So knowing that this generation got to look up to her really is special for me.”

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