Penn Badgley (born November 1, 1986 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American actor and voice actor of film, television, and video games, perhaps best known for his roles in the TV series The Mountain and The Bedford Diaries. He presently portrays Dan Humphrey on the CW television series Gossip Girl.

Badgley split his childhood years between Richmond, VA and Seattle, WA. In Seattle, where he attended Charles Wright Academy (in Tacoma, WA), he was involved with the Seattle Children's Theatre and did voice-overs for a children's radio station. He has known his Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively ever since the age of 11. Badgley was named after a Tennis ball brand called Penn due to the fact that his father would grip on Penn tennis balls, and when first seen in the womb was said to be as small as a tennis ball.

Around 1999, he relocated with his mother to Hollywood. At the age of 14, Badgley took the California High School Proficiency Exam and began attending Santa Monica College. At 17, after completing two years of credits at Santa Monica College, he was accepted as a Junior at the University of Southern California (USC), where he deferred admission due to contractual obligations.

Early 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 U.S. box office results for that weekend. As of November 2, the film has grossed $41 million domestically.

Breakthrough

Badgley's first notice came with his role as Phillip Chancellor IV #8 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 1/2 hour series Do Over. Badgley starred as Joel Larsen, a 34 year old man, 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, which is currently know as The CW. Badgley later apppeared in Drive-Thru playing Van co-starring future castmate Leighton Meester.

He appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as this show opened. The series was cancelled short of a full season.

Wider audiences may recognize him from his next starring role as Sam Tunney in The Mountain (2004 - 2005), but was cancelled after the first season the same happened to another series called The Bedford Diaries where he landed the lead role. The show premiered on The WB Television Network, which is currently known as The CW the show was popular though got cancelled for unknown reasons.

In The CW's new drama Gossip Girl, Badgley currently plays Dan Humphrey, 1980s former rock star Rufus Humphrey's (Matthew Settle) son, who finds himself in a love with 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.

Badgley has one older half-sister and currently splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City. In his spare time, he loves to surf, go skiing and snowboarding. He enjoys singing, writing, and playing the guitar. Badgley used to compete in national surfing competitions. He has been currently linked to his Gossip Girl costar, Blake Lively.