Penn Badgley

Penn Dayton Badgley (born November 1, 1986) is an American actor.

Early Life
Badgley was born in Baltimore, Maryland and split his childhood years between Richmond, Virginia and Seattle, Washington. He attended Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington. Also Penn 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. Penn also pursued a singing career during this time and recorded a pop single in 1998. At the age of fourteen, Penn completed his California High School Proficiency Exam and began attending Santa Monica City College. He was later accepted at University of Southern California, where he deferred admission due to contractual obligations.

Career
Badgley's first credit was voice work for the video game Mario Golf 64 in 1999 although he claims to have never played it himself. He followed this in 2000 with voice work on Mario Tennis 64. His first screen acting credit was on an episode of Will & Grace. He followed this up with appearances on shows such as Daddio, The Brothers Garcia and What I Like About You, among others. He also appears in John Tucker Must Die playing Scott Tucker. In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $14.3 million, ranking third in the US 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. 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. Badgley starred as Joel Larsen, a thirty four 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 fourteen year old. The show premiered on The WB Television Network. He appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as this show opened. The series was cancelled short of a full season. Badgley later appeared in Drive-Thru playing Van co-starring future castmate Leighton Meester.

Wider audiences may recognise him from his next starring role as Sam Tunney in The Mountain, but was cancelled after the first season. The same thing happened to The Bedford Diaries, another series where Badgley had a lead role. While the show was popular, it was cancelled in its first season.

In The CW's drama series Gossip Girl, Badgley portrays Dan Humphrey, the son of 1990s former rock star Rufus Humphrey and brother of Jenny Humphrey. He plays the love interest of Upper East Side's 'It Girl' Serena van der Woodsen. The show revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York's Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs and other teenage issues.

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. In April, it was announced that Badgley would appear in a financial thriller drama, the upcoming 2011 movie Margin Call.

Smuggler Films announced late June 2011 that Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley had won the right to play the late rocker in the upcoming film, Greetings From Tim Buckley. The movie will follow 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.

Personal Life
In late 2007, rumours circulated that Badgley was dating his Gossip Girl co-star and former classmate 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. He is currently dating actress Zoe Kravitz.

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 CW, MTV and Comedy Central.

In March 2010, The American Red Cross announced Penn as a member in National Celebrity Cabinet, a group of celebrity supporters who promote Red Cross services by donating their time, helping neighbours 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.