Penn Badgley

Penn Badgley Bio

Penn Dayton Badgley (born November 1, 1986) is an American actor and producer best known for his long-running work on television. He first gained widespread recognition as Dan Humphrey on The CW teen drama Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012 and later earned critical acclaim as Joe Goldberg on the Netflix psychological thriller You from 2018 to 2025. Over the course of his career, Badgley has built a varied resume that includes independent film, biographical drama, and ensemble work, and he has also pursued music and advocacy outside of acting.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Badgley began performing as a child and has worked steadily in Hollywood since the late 1990s. Beyond the screen, he has fronted the band MOTHXR, co-hosts the podcast Podcrushed, and is publicly involved in social and political causes. He is married to singer Domino Kirke, with whom he has three sons.

Early Life and Background

Penn Dayton Badgley was born on November 1, 1986, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Duff Badgley and Lynne Murphy Badgley. His father had worked as a newspaper reporter and later as a carpenter and home builder, and ran as the Green Party candidate for governor of Washington State in 2008. His mother later started a jewelry design business with Badgley’s godmother, Jan Sneed. Badgley, who is an only child, has said that his unusual first name came from the brand of tennis ball his father was holding during his mother’s first sonogram.

His parents divorced when he was twelve, after which his mother moved with him to the West Coast to support his acting interests. As a child, Badgley took part in the Seattle Children’s Theatre and the Pine Nut Players community theater in Monroe, Washington. He attended Woolridge Elementary, transferred to St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia, and later attended Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington, where he has been reported to have been home-schooled alongside Blake Lively, his future Gossip Girl co-star.

Badgley has said he skipped a traditional high school path and at age fourteen took a proficiency exam to begin attending Santa Monica College. He was later accepted to the University of Southern California but deferred admission due to acting contracts, eventually enrolling for two years at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He also recorded an unreleased pop single in 1998, which he later described as misguided.

Path to Acting

Badgley and his mother moved to California so that he could pursue an acting career, and he has recalled leaving for Los Angeles at age eleven. He soon began doing voice work for children’s radio stations in Hollywood, and his earliest credited roles were voice parts in the video games Mario Golf 64 and Mario Tennis 64 in 1999 and 2000. He went on to land small screen parts on shows including Will & Grace, Daddio, The Brothers García, and What I Like About You.

His first major television role came in 2000 when he was cast as Phillip Chancellor IV on the long-running soap opera The Young and the Restless, which he played until 2001. The performance earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Daytime Series in 2001. He went on to star in the WB comedy-drama The Mountain from 2004 to 2005 and in The Bedford Diaries in 2006, building a foundation of television work that led to his breakthrough on Gossip Girl.

Penn Badgley Career

Early Career (2000–2006)

After his start on The Young and the Restless, Badgley became a familiar presence on The WB and The CW lineups through a series of short-lived series in the early to mid-2000s, including Do Over in 2002 and The Bedford Diaries in 2006. These roles helped him transition from daytime to primetime television, while he continued to pursue film opportunities on the side.

Badgley’s first major film credit was 2006’s John Tucker Must Die, in which he played Scott Tucker opposite Jesse Metcalfe, Sophia Bush, and Amanda Seyfried. The comedy opened strongly at the U.S. box office, earning $14.3 million in its opening weekend. The performance marked his move into feature films and helped position him for his breakthrough television role the following year.

Breakthrough (2007–2012)

In 2007, Badgley was cast as Dan Humphrey, the sensitive Brooklyn writer, on The CW’s Gossip Girl, based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar. He initially turned down the role before agreeing after the producers struggled to find another actor. Over the show’s six-season run, his performance drew strong reviews and six Teen Choice Award nominations, with critics such as Jason Gay of Rolling Stone highlighting his ability to bring nuance to the character.

Badgley balanced his Gossip Girl commitments with a steady run of feature films, including the thriller The Stepfather in 2009, the teen comedy Easy A in 2010 opposite Emma Stone, and the financial drama Margin Call in 2011. For Margin Call, he shared in the Robert Altman Award with the ensemble cast at the Independent Spirit Awards. He also portrayed musician Jeff Buckley in the 2012 biographical film Greetings from Tim Buckley, taking guitar and vocal lessons to prepare for the part, and joined the cast of the science-fiction drama Parts per Billion.

Notable Works and Milestones

Badgley’s signature roles remain Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl and Joe Goldberg on You, the latter of which earned him a Saturn Award nomination and consistent critical praise for his portrayal of a charming but dangerous character. His work in Margin Call and Greetings from Tim Buckley also stands out as a marker of his range as a dramatic performer.

Penn Badgley Award Nominations

Penn Badgley has earned recognition across television and film over the course of his career. He received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Daytime Series in 2001 for his work on The Young and the Restless, followed by six Teen Choice Award nominations during his run on Gossip Girl and another Teen Choice Award nomination for Easy A. For his starring role on Netflix’s You, he received a Saturn Award nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

Penn Badgley Awards Won

Penn Badgley has won several awards recognizing both his individual performances and his ensemble work. In 2011, he shared the Robert Altman Award at the Independent Spirit Awards with the cast of Margin Call. He later received Best Actor at the Oxford International Film Festival and a Special Jury Mention at the Manchester Film Festival for his role in the 2016 independent film The Paper Store.

Penn Badgley Family

Badgley was born to Duff Badgley and Lynne Murphy Badgley. His father worked as a newspaper reporter and later as a carpenter and home builder, while his mother supported his early acting efforts and later started a jewelry design business with Badgley’s godmother, Jan Sneed. His parents divorced when he was twelve.

Personal Life

Badgley dated his Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively from 2007 to 2010, and actress Zoë Kravitz from 2011 to 2013. He began dating singer Domino Kirke in 2014, and the couple married in a New York courthouse on February 27, 2017. Through the marriage, he became the stepfather of Kirke’s son from a previous relationship, and the couple welcomed their first child together, a son, in August 2020. In September 2025, Badgley revealed that they had welcomed twin sons, bringing their family to three sons together. He has also been a member of the Baháʼí Faith since 2015.