Date of Birth

1 December 1986, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Birth Name

Penn Dayton Badgley

Height

5' 8½" (1.74 m)

Mini Biography

Penn Badgley was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Lynne Murphy Badgley and Duff Badgley, who worked as a newspaper reporter and carpenter. Badgley split his childhood years between Richmond, Virginia. and Seattle, Washington. In Seattle, he was involved in the Seattle Children's Theater and did voice-overs for a children's radio station. It was through these experiences that Badgley discovered his love of acting. This passion brought him one summer to Hollywood, where he landed an agent and his first big break guest-starring on Will & Grace (1998). After relocating with his mother to Los Angeles, Badgley secured several recurring roles on The Young and the Restless (1973), The Brothers Garcia (2000), and Daddio (2000).

Badgley lives in New York City. At the age of 14, Penn completed his California High School Proficiency Exam and began attending Santa Monica City College. Also musically gifted, he enjoys singing, writing, and playing the guitar. In his spare time, Badgley likes to go skateboarding, surfing, skiing and snowboarding.

Trivia

• Is an only child, however he has an older half-sister named Jen from his mother's second marriage.
• Attended Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington.
• Upon being asked how his name originated, he says his father was bouncing a Pilot Pen tennis ball in frustration while trying to think of baby names. When his mother got her ultrasound, he referred to the baby looking like the size of the tennis ball. And thus, they named him Penn.
• Was in a relationship with actress and Gossip Girl (2007) co-star and on-screen love interest Blake Lively from 2007 until 2010. Was also in an on-again, off-again relationship with singer Zoë Kravitz from 2011 until 2013.
• Cousin of Megan Murphy.
• His parents divorced when he was twelve.
• Has a tattoo of a feather on his right leg.
• Plays guitar, bass and sings.
• During the 2008 United States presidential election, Badgley expressed his support for Barack Obama over John McCain.
• In March 2010, The American Red Cross announced Penn Badgley as a member in National Celebrity Cabinet.
• Did voice-over work for Nintendo games.
• Penn's mother once drove him 50 miles to appear in a community production of Music Man.
• Penn highly admires TV actresses Tina Fey and Parker Posey.
• Turned down the role of Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl (2007) several times before finally accepting.
• Good friend of Shawn Pyfrom.
• Penn's most embarrassing moment was forgetting the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner" while singing at a minor-league baseball game.
• Has known Blake Lively since he was eleven years old but is adamant that they didn't actually know each other well until Gossip Girl, where they became close.
• Owns many guitars including a Gibson ES-175 and L-5, Collings C-10, two fenders: A sea-foam green Stratocaster and a Telecaster Custom. The L-5 and Collings were gifts to himself when he found out he landed the role of Jeff Buckley in 'Greetings from Tim Buckley'.
• Sings completely live in the film 'Greetings from Tim Buckley'.
• Penn has traveled to South America and experienced ayahuasca, the legendary vine of the souls, multiple times. Ayahuasca is a brew of psychoactive ingredients that can produce a feeling of enlightenment and spirituality when ingested. Many people say that it made profound positive changes in their lives after consumption. In October 2012 Penn took part in the 5th annual Ayahuasca Monologues which took place at Webster Hall in New York City where he described his experiences comically in front of an audience. He described his latest experience as the simplest but most profound moment of his life so far.
• Penn's ancestry includes Irish, English, smaller amounts of French-Canadian, German, and Scottish, and remote Dutch, Welsh, and French Huguenot; also, one of Penn's paternal great-grandfathers, Howard Duff, was an emigrant from Jamaica, and was likely of at least part African-Jamaican ancestry. Penn's patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to George Badgley, who was born, c. 1616, in Bakewell, Derby, England.
• In 2001 he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for his work on "The Young and the Restless" when he was age 15.
• Penn was accepted to the University of Southern California, but deferred admission to pursue his acting career. He has joked that he will attend when he's age 30.
• Penn's two passions in life are music and acting.
• Penn, Leighton Meester and Blake Lively are the only Gossip Girl cast members to appear in every single episode of the series.
• His favorite musician of all time is D'Angelo. His favorite album is 'Voodoo'.
• Penn is the frontman of the Brooklyn based band, Mothxr. Originally the band had been called Mother but they found it extremely difficult to promote because it's impossible for people to google.
• First single, Easy, from his band Mother was released June 3, 2014 on iTunes.
• Penn's band, Mothxr is composed of transplants from other bands. Jimmy Giannoppulos of Pretty Good Dance Moves, Lolawolf and Reputante. Simon Oscroft of No. Darren Will of Rathbourne and Lakis Pavlou of Drowners.
• Long before starring together on Gossip Girl (2007), Penn Badgley and Blake Lively were home schooled together as children.
• While in a relationship with former girlfriend Zoë Kravitz he met band mate Jimmy Giannopolous, who is also in Zoe Kravitz's band Lolawolf.
• Close friends with fellow Baltimore native and civil rights activist DeRay McKesson.
• When asked who his best and worst on-screen kissing experience was with he said Blake Lively. It was the best because of their relationship and the worst because their characters were still together after they broke up.
• Joked he would rather be named Penn than other tennis brands Dunlop or Wilson.
• For a time Penn's acting coach was Harold Guskin, author of the acclaimed book "How to Stop Acting" (2003).
• Son-in-law of Simon Kirke, former drummer with British rock bands Free ("All Right Now") and Bad Company ("Can't Get Enough").
• Brother-in-law of Jemima Kirke and Lola Kirke.
• Has one child: a son (born August 11th 2020) with wife Domino Kirke.

Trademarks:

• Doe brown eyes
  
• Curly dark hair
  
• Deep voice
  
• Gap in teeth
  

Quotes

• I've written a song for every woman I've been with.
• [on what he wish he had been told as a teen] I wish I had known that vulnerability is universal for everyone, regardless of how cool or not cool they are. You have such a heightened awareness of yourself, so even small things seem life-changing - a bad day turns into, 'Oh my gosh, my life is over.' If I were still a teen, I would want to hear: 'It's okay. Take a deep breath and move on,'"
• [on marriage] Yeah. Eventually. I want the ceremony. I want the bond.
• [on the advantage of fame] I've had some fun nights. But I learned early on that that stuff is never satisfying in the end. There's a reason the French call the moment of orgasm la petite mort, "the little death." No matter how good the moment was, the moment after is always revealing.
• I had actually told my agent at one time, 'If someone ever makes a Jeff Buckley movie, I have to do it'. I felt that it called for a person that hears this music and is deeply, deeply moved more than just someone who is able to look like him, or play like him, or sing like him.
• I want to be an actor. I don't want to be a celebrity. They are two different things and people have forgotten that they are different.
• I couldn't date someone who didn't like dogs. There are exceptions to the rule, but I find that if someone doesn't like animals, I am a little suspicious of them.
• I would say, it is a huge commitment to make. I mean it's amazing that someone chooses to do this for a living and I would encourage it no matter who you are but I think that you just have to realize that it's a life commitment the same way that someone might commit themselves to becoming a lawyer or a doctor. You know, you go to law school for seven years, I had been in LA for eight years. I feel like that is the equivalent of you know, paying your dues. It's a lot of work and you can't really treat it casually if you really want to succeed but it is the best job there is, I think. So if you can do it, I would say, go right ahead.
• [talking about getting into character to play Jeff Buckley] At that time I was falling madly in love in a way that was changing me and opening me up. And it was an integral part of playing Jeff. Technically, I could probably play guitar and sing better now because I have a year of consistent experience under my belt, but, at the time, I was kind of going through what Jeff was going through emotionally in the movie in the sense that the worlds of music and love and women and art were opening up to me. Honestly I needed it. It was like this cosmic intervention where, if you're going to play somebody like Jeff you've got to at least be in love, you know? And being in love, real, true, earth-shattering love - even though it sounds hyperbolic I really was going through it - helped me be as good as I could be. For me, this movie is a beautiful step forward. Gossip Girl has given me everything that I have now. It gave me the opportunity to live in New York and to be in a position to get this role. It also put me in New York City so I could meet Zoe.
• Passion is number one and trust is number two. You need to start with a passionate connection, and if you can maintain it and cultivate it, that's most important. Then trust can develop.
• [asked by People magazine what rock star he liked as a child] One of my bigger crushes was Eve. I loved her 'cause she was kind of hard. I love those tattoos.