Penn Badgley life and biography

Penn Dayton 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 11, Badgley relocated to Hollywood and began pursuing an acting career. Badgley also pursued a singing career during this time and recorded a pop single in 1998.
At the age of 14, Penn completed his California High School Proficiency Exam and began attending Santa Monica City College. He was later accepted at University of Southern California (USC), where he deferred admission due to contractual obligations.

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 García 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 U.S. 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 (2000–2001). 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 34-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 14-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 canceled short of a full season. Badgley later appeared in Drive-Thru playing Van co-starring future castmate Leighton Meester.

Wider audiences may recognize him from his next starring role as Sam Tunney in The Mountain (2004–2005), but was canceled after the first season. The same thing happened to The Bedford Diaries, another series where Badgely had a lead role. While the show was popular, it was canceled 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 (Matthew Settle) and brother of Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen).
He plays the love interest of Upper East Side's "it" girl, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively). 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 will appear in a financial thriller drama, the upcoming 2011 movie Margin Call

Smuggler Films announced late June 2011 that "Gossip Girl" star Penn Badgley has 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.

In late 2007, rumors 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 Badgley as a member in National Celebrity Cabinet, a group of celebrity supporters who promote Red Cross services by donating their time, helping neighbors 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.
In April 2010, Badgley joined forces with Brad Pitt in the USA bid committee to bring the FIFA World Cup to the United States in 2018 or 2022.
Badgley has been promoting soccer and is heavily involved in soccer events.

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