Penn Dayton Badgley is an American actor, known for his role as Dan Humphrey on The
CW's series Gossip Girl.
Badgley has also starred in a number of films, including John Tucker Must Die, The Stepfather,
Easy A, Margin Call, and Greetings from Tim Buckley.
Early life Badgley was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the
son of Lynne Murphy and Duff Badgley, who worked as a newspaper reporter and also a
carpenter; Duff was the Green Party candidate for governor of Washington state in 2008.
His parents divorced when he was twelve.
Badgley split his childhood years between Woodlake, Virginia and Seattle, Washington.
He attended Woolridge Elementary, where his mother, became PTA president before he transferred
to the honors program at St. Christophers School.
He enjoyed playing youth soccer, where his father coached.
He attended Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington, and was involved with the Seattle
Children's Theatre.
He soon began doing voice-overs for children's radio stations.
At age eleven, Badgley relocated to Hollywood and began pursuing an acting career.
He also pursued a singing career during this time and recorded a pop single in 1998.
At the age of fourteen, Badgley completed his California High School Proficiency Exam
and began attending Santa Monica College.
He was later accepted to the University of Southern California, where he deferred admission
due to contractual obligations.
Career Early work
Badgley's first credit was voice work for the video game Mario Golf 64 in 1999, though
he claims to have never played it himself.
He followed this up in 2000 with voice work on Mario Tennis 64.
His first screen acting credit was on an episode of Will & Grace and subsequently appearing
on shows such as Daddio, The Brothers García and What I Like About You.
Badgley's first major film credit was 2006's John Tucker Must Die, playing the role of
Scott Tucker.
In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $14.3 million, ranking third in the
U.S. box office results for that weekend.
As of November 2, the film has grossed $41 million domestically.
Badgley's first notice came with his role as Phillip Chancellor IV on the soap opera
The Young and the Restless, holding that role from 2000 to 2001.
He was nominated for a 2001 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Daytime Series for
his work.
In 2002, he starred in the WB half-hour series Do Over as Joel Larsen, a 34-year-old man
who gets a second chance to get his life right, thanks to a freakish accident that catapults
him back to 1980, as a 14-year-old.
He appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as this show opened.
The series was canceled short of a full season.
Badgley later appeared in Drive-Thru playing Van co-starring future castmate Leighton Meester.
Wider audiences may recognize him from his next starring role as Sam Tunney in The Mountain,
but was canceled after the first season.
The same thing happened to The Bedford Diaries, another series where Badgely had a lead role.
While the show was popular, it was canceled in its first season.
Breakthrough
In 2007, Badgley was cast in The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl, based on the book
series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar, which revolves around the lives of socialite
young adults growing up on New York City's Upper East Side who attend elite academic
institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, and other teenage issues.
Badgley portrays Dan Humphrey, the son of 1990s former rock star Rufus Humphrey and
brother of Jenny Humphrey, who becomes the love interest of Upper East Side's "it" girl,
Serena van der Woodsen.
He starred in the 2009 remake of the 1987 American thriller film The Stepfather, in
which he is the stepson of the killer and plays an important role in the movie.
Badgley also appeared in the 2011 financial thriller drama Margin Call.
In 2011, he was named one of People magazine's "25 Beauties at 25".
BuddyTV ranked him #75 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Men of 2011" list.
In late June 2011, it was reported Badgley would portray Jeff Buckley in Greetings from
Tim Buckley.
The movie follows the journey Jeff Buckley took in grappling with the legacy of his late
musician father, Tim, leading up to and culminating with his legendary 1991 performance of his
father's songs.
For the role, Badgley said he took guitar and vocal lessons.
Personal life In late 2007, rumors circulated that Badgley
was dating his Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively.
In May 2008, after People magazine published photos of the two kissing while on vacation
in Mexico, they became more open about their relationship.
Badgley and Lively ended their three-year relationship in mid-September 2010.
In October 2011, Badgley began dating Zoë Kravitz but they were already linked together
since July.
It was announced in June 2013 that Badgley and Kravitz broke up after two years of dating.
During the 2008 United States presidential election Badgley expressed his support for
Barack Obama over John McCain.
Badgley and Lively appeared in a pro-Barack Obama commercial, as part of MoveOn's Youth
Vote program.
The commercial, directed by Doug Liman, aired during Gossip Girl on The CW, MTV and Comedy
Central.
In March 2010, The American Red Cross announced Penn Badgley as a member in National Celebrity
Cabinet, a group of celebrity supporters who promote Red Cross services by donating their
time, helping neighbors prepare for emergencies, responding to disasters and lending a helping
hand to those in need – down the street, across the country and around the world.
In April 2010, Badgley joined forces with Brad Pitt in the USA bid committee to bring
the FIFA World Cup to the United States in 2018 or 2022.
Badgley currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
Filmography Awards and nominations
References
External links Penn Badgley at the Internet Movie Database
Penn Badgley at AllMovie Profile of Penn Badgely in Details magazine
Interview with Penn Badgley for 'Easy A'