Teen actress Vanessa Hudgens, who made her name with Disney's High School Musical franchise, is leaving behind the singing and dancing. The pop starlet will star in Ron Krauss’ Gimme Shelter, which is slated to hit theaters in 2012, according to Shadow And Act. Seasoned thespians Rosario Dawson and James Earl Jones also play significant roles in the hard-luck film.

Dawson will play June Bailey, the mother of Hudgens’ character, Agnes "Apple" Bailey, and Jones will play Father McCarthy. Gimme Shelter also stars Brendan Fraser as Jack Bailey, Apple's father.

The Gimme Shelter storyline follows a street-wise 16-year-old girl whose mother is a junkie and prostitute and is grooming her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Apple understands the streets but she yearns for more. She runs away to track down her father whom she has never known, as he was only 19 himself when he got Apple’s mother pregnant.

Gimme Shelter will be released via Columbia Pictures.

(Photos from left: Frazer Harrison/GettyImages, Sean Gardner/GettyImages, Christopher Polk/GettyImages)