Penn Badgley

Some Lesser Known Facts About Penn Badgley

• Penn Badgley was born at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was kept in the NICU for a few days.

• He is the only child of his parents.

  

• Badgley has Irish, English, French-Canadian, German and Scottish ancestry. He also has distant roots from Welsh, Dutch, and French Huguenot backgrounds.

• One of his great-grandfathers, Howard Duff, came from Jamaica and likely had African-Jamaican heritage. One of his paternal ancestors is George Badgley, who was born around 1616 in Bakewell, England; his lineage is part of Penn’s patrilineal ancestry.

• Badgley was named after a tennis ball brand called ‘Penn.’ While his mother was having her first sonogram, his father was bouncing a ball from the brand and joked that the baby looked the size of it, which led them to name him ‘Penn.’

• Penn first attended Woolridge Elementary School in Virginia, where his mother was the PTA president. He later attended St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia.

• As a child, he was part of the Seattle Children’s Theatre and the Pine Tree Players community theatre in Washington.

• Actress Parker Posey was his childhood crush.

• Penn’s parents divorced when he was 12. He and his mother then moved from Washington state to California for him to pursue acting. During this time, his mother worked at Home Depot.

  

• His mother supported his acting career by working multiple jobs and eventually started a jewellery design business with his godmother, Jan Sneed. She once drove him 50 miles so that he could perform in the play ‘The Music Man.’

• In the early years of his career, Penn saw acting more as a job than a passion, using it primarily to pay the bills.

• He was once trained by an actor and acting coach named Harold Guskin.

• Penn does not particularly like LA, even though he partly grew up there. He believes it is common for actors, as the constant auditions and the focus on selling scripts can make the atmosphere feel off and negative.

• Badgley has loved music since he was young. In 1998, he recorded a pop single, which he later described as “terrible” and “misguided,” but never released it.

• Penn Badgley graduated from high school at 13 by taking a California test that substitutes for a diploma, commonly used by immigrants.

  

• Badgley then joined Santa Monica College in California. He later got selected for the University of Southern California but postponed due to contractual obligations. So, he later attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, for two years.

• Penn has been a Jeff Buckley fan since he was 17. He loved Buckley’s live performances, especially his cover of ‘Strange Fruit.’

• Penn Badgley has lent his voice to several characters in Nintendo’s Mario game series, including ‘Kid’ in ‘Mario Golf’ (1999), ‘Alex’ in ‘Mario Tennis’ (2000), and ‘Chris’ in ‘Mario Tennis: Power Tour’ (2005).

  

• In 2000, he appeared as ‘Todd’ in NBC’s series ‘Daddio.’

  

• Penn gained recognition through his appearance as ‘Phillip Chancellor IV’ in CBS’ series ‘The Young and the Restless’ (2000-2001). His performance earned him a nomination for the 2001 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Daytime Series.

  

• Penn played the role of ‘Joel Larsen’ in the television series ‘Do Over’ (2002), which aired on The WB.

  

• He has appeared in many other television series, including The WB’s ‘What I Like About You’ (2002), UPN’s ‘The Twilight Zone’ (2003), The WB’s ‘The Mountain’ (2004-2005), and The WB’s ‘The Bedford Diaries’ (2006).

  

• Penn struggled with body dysmorphia, a condition where people worry too much about how they look, in his youth. He talked about this in an interview and said he did not like his body and often wished he looked different.

• In 2004, Penn’s mother, Lynne, wrote a letter supporting Brian Peck, a dialogue coach and actor convicted of sexually abusing a minor. The letter became public in 2024, as it was mentioned in the ‘Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV’ docuseries.
  

• In 2006, he played the role of ‘Scott Tucker’ in the teen comedy film ‘John Tucker Must Die.’
  

• His appearance as ‘Daniel Humphrey’ (Dan) in The CW’s teen drama series ‘Gossip Girl’ (2007-2012) was appreciated by viewers. It earned him six Teen Choice Award nominations throughout the show’s run.

  

• Penn rejected working on Gossip Girl twice to avoid being typecast. However, after the show’s creator, Stephanie Savage, convinced him to reconsider, and with no one else available for the role, he agreed to take it on, just before he was about to start working as a waiter somewhere.

• At first, Penn preferred playing ‘Chuck Bass’ on Gossip Girl. While he did not dislike ‘Dan,’ he struggled being associated with a character so different from himself. However, over time, he grew to appreciate the role and the opportunities that it provided.

• Penn, Leighton Meester, and Blake Lively were among the few Gossip Girl cast members who appeared in every single episode of the series.

  

• In 2007, Penn and actor Blake Lively began dating while co-starring in the series ‘Gossip Girl.’ They initially kept their relationship secret, but made it public in 2008 by attending events together.

• Although Penn and Blake had known each other since they were 11 and were homeschooled together, they only developed a close bond while working together on ‘Gossip Girl.’

• Penn and Blake supported politician Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential elections. They featured in an ad campaign promoting the MoveOn Youth Vote initiative, which was broadcast on The CW, MTV, and Comedy Central.

  

• In 2009, he appeared as ‘Michael Harding’ in a psychological horror film titled ‘The Stepfather.’

  

• Penn and Blake broke up in 2010. They kept it so professional on the set of Gossip Girl that their co-stars did not realise that they had split until someone told them.

• In March 2010, Penn joined the American Red Cross’ National Celebrity Cabinet, a team of celebrities dedicated to supporting and advocating for the organisation’s services.

• In 2010, Penn began exploring spirituality, which was sparked by his concern about the BP oil spill’s environmental impact. His search led him to rainforests in Colombia, where he discovered the Baháʼí Faith and officially became its member in 2015.

• In 2011, Penn began dating Zoë Kravitz, an actor and filmmaker he met in New York City.  The duo soon began living together. However, they broke up in 2013.

  

• In 2011, he expressed his support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, a protest against economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of large corporations on government policies.

  

• Penn has travelled to South America multiple times to experience ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew used in spiritual ceremonies. In 2012, he participated in the 5th annual Ayahuasca Monologues, where he humorously shared his profound experiences with the substance.

• Penn met singer Domino Kirke in 2014 and began dating that same year. Both shared the Baháʼí Faith, which strengthened their connection.

• Penn portrayed musician Jeff Buckley in the film ‘Greetings from Tim Buckley’ (2012), which explored Buckley’s struggle with his father Tim’s legacy. To prepare for the role, Penn took guitar and vocal lessons. He sang live during all his singing scenes in the film.

  

• Badgley has a collection of guitars, such as a Gibson ES-175, Gibson L-5, Collings C10, and two Fender models: a sea-foam green Stratocaster and a Telecaster Custom. He gifted himself a Gibson L-5 and Collings guitars when he was cast in ‘Greetings from Tim Buckley.’
  

• In 2014, Badgley formed a band called ‘MOTHER’ with members Jimmy Giannopoulos, Simon Oscroft, and Darren Will and released a song titled ‘Easy’ on SoundCloud.

  

• In 2015, ‘MOTHER’ changed the spelling of their name to ‘MOTHXR’ after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from another band with a similar name.

• Later, MOTHXR collaborated with Kitsuné and Washington Square Music, a New York-based subdivision of Razor & Tie. On 26 January 2016, the band released their debut album ‘Centerfold.’

  

• Penn has been an outspoken advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2016, he participated in What Now? A BET/MTV Town Hall show, where he discussed topics like issues of white privilege and police brutality.

  

• After three years together, Penn and Domino got married twice in 2017, first at a New York City courthouse in February, then in a bigger ceremony in June.

• Penn has written a song for each of his past relationships. He revealed this during a 2013 Elle interview.

• Penn Badgley’s work as ‘Joe Goldberg’ in Netflix’s psychological thriller ‘You’ (2018-2025) was highly appreciated by the viewers and critics. He reportedly charged $55,000 per episode for the series.
  

• Badgley prefers to avoid intimate scenes due to his personal beliefs and his commitment to his relationship. He even worked to minimise such scenes in the series ‘You.’ However, for the final season, he broke his rule and agreed to participate in some. While talking about this in an interview, he added,
  

  And actually, [sex scenes] was one of the reasons that I initially wanted to turn the role down [in ‘You’]. I didn’t tell anybody that. But that is why.”

• On 18 May 2022, Penn collaborated with film writer Nava Kavelin and illustrator Sophie Ansari to launch the podcast Podcrushed, where many guests, including actor Drew Barrymore, shared their middle school stories and discussed awkward and emotional moments.

  

• In December 2018, Penn joined the Tahirih Justice Center to support immigrant women and girls. In January 2019, he helped reunite a migrant mother, Vilma Carrillo, with her daughter Yeisvi after they were separated for over seven months due to the US immigration policies.

  

• In June 2024, he was featured in the music video of Ariana Grande’s song ‘The Boy Is Mine’ along with singers Monica and Brandy.

  

• In 2025, he co-authored the book ‘Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age’ in collaboration with Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari.

  

• Penn is an avid animal lover and has two pet dogs, Terrence and Lobo.

  

• Badgley has a great interest in soccer and once worked on a project with actor Brad Pitt to bring the World Cup to the US.

• He once had an embarrassing moment when he forgot the lyrics to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ while performing at a minor-league baseball game.