Penn Badgley

Penn Dayton Badgley (born November 1, 1986) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his role as Dan Humphrey on The CW's series Gossip Girl (2007–12) and has also starred in a number of films, including John Tucker Must Die (2006), The Stepfather (2009), Easy A (2010), Margin Call (2011), and Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012). He is currently the lead singer for Brooklyn-based indie band Mother (stylized as MOTHXR).

Badgley was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Lynne Murphy and Duff Badgley, who worked as a newspaper reporter and also a carpenter; Duff was the Green Party candidate for governor of Washington state in 2008. His parents divorced when he was 12. Badgley split his childhood years between Woodlake, Virginia and Seattle, Washington. He attended Woolridge Elementary, where his mother became PTA president before he transferred to St. Christopher's School. He enjoyed playing youth soccer, where his father coached. He attended Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington, and 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. He also pursued a singing career during this time and recorded a pop single in 1998. At the age of fourteen, Badgley completed his California High School Proficiency Exam and began attending Santa Monica College. He was later accepted to the University of Southern California, where he deferred admission due to contractual obligations, but then later enrolled at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon for two years.

Early work

Badgley's first credit was voice work for the video game Mario Golf 64 in 1999, though he claims to have never played it himself. He followed this up in 2000 with voice work on Mario Tennis 64. His first screen acting credit was on an episode of Will & Grace and subsequently appearing on shows such as Daddio, The Brothers García and What I Like About You. Badgley's first major film credit was 2006's John Tucker Must Die, playing the role of 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, holding that role from 2000 to 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 comedy-drama series Do Over 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. He appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as this show premiered. The series was canceled short of a full season. Badgley later appeared in Drive-Thru playing Van co-starring future castmate Leighton Meester.

Badgley went on to star in two other WB series: The Mountain (2004–05) and The Bedford Diaries (2006). Both shows were canceled after one season.

Breakthrough

Badgley at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2007, Badgley was cast in The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl, based on the book series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar, which revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York City's Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, and other teenage issues. Badgley portrays Dan Humphrey, the son of 1990s former rock star Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle) and brother of Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), who becomes the love interest of Upper East Side's "it" girl, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively).

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. Badgley then proceeded to play Todd, the romantic interest of main character Olive (Emma Stone), in the 2010 teen romantic comedy Easy A. He also appeared in the 2011 financial thriller drama Margin Call.

In 2011, he was named one of People magazine's "25 Beauties (and Hotties) at 25". BuddyTV ranked him number 75 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Men of 2011" list.

In late June 2011, it was reported Badgley would portray Jeff Buckley in Greetings from Tim Buckley. The movie follows 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. For the role, Badgley said he took guitar and vocal lessons.

During the 2008 United States presidential election, Badgley expressed his support for Barack Obama over John McCain. Badgley and Blake 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 The 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 is friends with Baltimore activist DeRay McKesson whom he met during the Occupy Wall Street movement and considers himself an ally of the Black Lives Matter movement. Badgley wants the police brutality dialogue to include women victims. Badgley is also a LGBT rights activist.

In early 2014, Badgley and band mates released a song titled Easy on SoundCloud under the name M O T H E R the song quickly gained popularity and was posted on numerous blogs. Months later the band decided to go by the spelling of MOTHXR. In 2015, the band signed with the labels Kitsuné and Washington Square Music, the New York City-based subdivision of the Razor & Tie label. The band has supported acts such as Streets of Laredo, San Cisco, Sir Sly, Har Mar Superstar, The Neighbourhood and Miami Horror. Their debut album, Centerfold, was released February 26, 2016

Studio albums

• Centerfold (2016)