Long before her huge Disney fame, Vanessa Hudgens played the small role of Noel in Thirteen and was a fresh face at Sundance when it was screened back in 2003 (and nominated for the Grand Jury prize and also won Best Directing award). Noel is the straight-laced friend of Tracy, pre-Evie, who appears a number of times in the film as a marker of how the taste of popularity has changed her out-of-control friend.