Grease Live: Vanessa Hudgens performs hours after announcing father's death

The actress was widely praised on social media following her performance

Hudgens played Rizzo in a televised rendition of the musical Grease (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Vanessa Hudgens performed in a live televised musical just hours after announcing her father had passed away.

On Sunday, Hudgens announced on Twitter that her father Gregory Hudgens, 65, had died the night before following a cancer illness.

Writing to her five million followers, she said: “I’m so sad to say that last night my daddy Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers.”

On Sunday evening, the High School Musical actress was due to appear as Rizzo in a live revival of Grease broadcast on Fox, which she said she would do “in his honour”.

In July, Hudgens shared a photo of herself with her father on Twitter and asked her followers to "pray for his healing".

The 27-year-old’s Grease performance, particularly her rendition of the powerful ballad "There Are Worse Things I Could Do", was widely praised on social media and many of her peers from the entertainment world noted her strength considering her loss.

Grease: Live also included performances by Julianne Hough as Sandy, Carly Rae Jepson as Frenchie and Mario Lopez as Vince Fontaine.