Penn Badgley: Snapshot
- Name
- Penn Badgley
- Birth Date
- November 01, 1986
- Birth Place
- Baltimore, Md.
After performing in the Seattle Children's Theater, Badgley moved to L.A., found an agent and made his debut on Will & Grace. He then graduated to a recurring role on The Young and the Restless and a starring role, at 15, on the WB's Do Over. After making the rounds in a few other failed WB series, he nabbed his breakout role on the juicy CW show about rich Manhattan prep-schoolers that made him and a beautiful pack of previous unknowns – Lively, Leighton Meester, Chace Crawford – household names.
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Penn Badgley: Five Fun Facts
- Penn Badgley was named after Penn tennis balls. "My father was bouncing a Penn tennis ball for stress during my mom's pregnancy," he told E!'s Daily 10. "When my mother got her first amnio...she just casually mentioned that the baby is the size of that tennis ball, and that's it. I'm glad it wasn't Dunlop or Wilson."
- Penn Badgley covets Gossip Girl costar Ed Westwick's chest hair because "they make me shave my chest for the show," he told PEOPLE.
- On the verge of his Gossip Girl fame, Penn Badgley was asked about the prospects of becoming a teen heartthrob. "It's sort of strange to think that could happen, but I welcome it. Why wouldn't I?" he told Out magazine. "Though it could get overwhelming if I turned into Kirk Cameron or something."
- Penn Badgley lended his voice to two Mario video games, including 1999's "Mario Golf 64" and 2000's "Mario Tennis".
- When asked about the work he's least proud of, Penn Badgley told Time Out, "I did this training video for the Pokémon card game where I had to do comedy skits that were played to adults between training lessons."
Penn Badgley: Biography 
- 2002
The WB Rounds
In the WB's Do Over, a 15-year-old Badgley (pictured with costar Natasha Melnick) plays Joel, a 34-year-old reliving his life from the age of 14. Although the series fails, the network is good to Badgley. The teen actor appears in other short-lived series, including the 2004 family drama The Mountain and the 2006 sex-ed show The Bedford Diaries with Milo Ventimiglia. "It definitely felt like, 'What can we put Penn in this year because we want to keep him working for us?'" Badgley tells the New York Post in 2007. "There was a time when I felt a little cheesy, doing WB show after WB show – like it was repetitive."
- 2006
The Other Tucker
At 19, Badgley lands on the big screen in John Tucker Must Die, where he plays Scott, John Tucker's (played by Jesse Metcalfe) younger brother, who has a crush on Kate (played by Brittany Snow). The New York Times, which calls Badgley "wildly charismatic," says "The entire picture could hang on his cheekbones alone."
- 2007
XOXO, Gossip Girl
Surrounded by rich Manhattanites, Badgley plays Brooklyn outcast Dan Humphrey in the CW's Gossip Girl. "He casts himself out because he doesn't agree with the privileged kids' lifestyle," Badgley tells CosmoGIRL!, "but he's conflicted because he's in love with the girl who embodies all of that." The breakout hit costars Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick and Taylor Momsen.
Photo Credits
Top Left: Brian Ach/Getty
BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Everett Collection; Everett Collection; CBS
