Photo: Gordon Correll / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Penn Badgley fascinates me because his career is essentially one long act of self-subversion. He spent years as Gossip Girl's earnest outsider Dan Humphrey, then took that same wholesome charm and twisted it into Joe Goldberg on You — a performance that works precisely because we instinctively trust his face. That is hard to do, and harder to sustain across multiple seasons. I also appreciate that he came up as a child actor and dabbles in music, which suggests restlessness rather than complacency. Born in 1986, he is entering the stretch of his career where the truly interesting roles arrive, and I suspect his best work is still ahead.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Penn Badgley
- Name (Japanese)
- ペン・バッジリー
- Reading
- ぺん・ばっじりー
- Born
- November 1, 1986 (age 39)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Tiger
- Origin
- Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Occupation
- actor / singer / child actor / film actor / television actor
2. Background
- University
- Santa Monica College
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Penn Badgley born?
Born November 1, 1986 (age 39).
Where is Penn Badgley from?
Penn Badgley is from Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
What does Penn Badgley do?
Penn Badgley works as actor, singer, child actor, film actor, television actor.
Actor — see all → · Singer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.