Late last year High School Musical star Zac Efron, 21, was quoted as saying that he was hoping to meet Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio in order to learn more about how they achieved success in Hollywood. The heartthrob said he “would love… to pick their brains about their early careers.”

It sounds like Efron got at least 1/2 of his wish. He recently shared the fact that DiCaprio gave him some actor-to-actor advice to never try heroin and to stay off drugs:

The ‘High School Musical’ actor revealed that Leonardo gave him a stark warning against doing drugs.

Efron declared that Leonardo’s warning did not fail to make an impact on him.

“It was kind of his way-out-the-door, last-minute advice. He said, ‘Oh, by the way, if you really want to mess this all up, try heroin. I said, ‘Thanks’, and he said, ‘No, seriously, that’s pretty much the only way you’re going to screw this up, and you shouldn’t go down that road – it will mess you up without fail. Do not do drugs,” the Herald Sun quoted him as saying.

“That was enough for me; that’s all I needed to hear,” he added.

Efron, who recently admitted that he sees an elder brother in the ‘Catch Me IF You Can’ actor, revealed that it was also his parents strict upbringing that refrained him from going on the wrong path.

“I could never get into trouble like the rest of my friends. My parents were very strict and taught me good values, whenever I did anything wrong my mom would somehow know it,” he said.

“I started skateboarding as a kid – it’s like surfing on the sidewalk. I love it. It’s a Zen thing, so much better than walking. It’s almost spiritual,” he added.

[ANI via Gossip Rocks]

Earlier this month, Zac said he had a long chat with DiCaprio at a Laker’s Game and that he got an “older brother” vibe from him, so that could have been when he told him to stay off drugs. DiCaprio played an addict in 1995’s Basketball Diaries when he was 21, Zac’s age, and maybe he learned a lot from his character. According to DiCaprio, he’s never tried drugs after seeing the effects of drugs first hand as a child. He grew up in a tough neighborhood in LA, where he saw prostitutes and drug addicts and learned to stay away from the hard stuff.

Depp and DiCaprio are both former heart throbs who went on to partially shed their images and have successful and varied Hollywood careers. Efron is picking his role models well and he’s trying to shape his career that way, too. He withdrew from the Footloose remake for fear of being typecast in musicals and has just signed on for a more adult role in a film called The Death & Life of Charlie St. Cloud. Efron’s character is “a cemetery caretaker who communicates with his dead younger brother.” Efron’s also stars in the comedy 17 Again, which is out in the US on April 17.

Leonardo DiCaprio is shown at the opening of an Armani store on 5th Ave on 2/17/09. Zac Efron is shown at the UK premiere of 17 Again on 3/26/08. Credit: WENN.com