Penn Badgley turned down the role of Dan Humphrey multiple times - here's what we know about the You star
Penn Badgley is front and centre this season, with the 38-year-old actor returning to our screens next month in the fifth and final season of You.
And from his highly-anticipated return to the role of Joe Goldberg and his popular podcast, to his relationship with US singer Domino Kirke, he is making non-stop headlines.
As Badgley returns to the spotlight this season, here's what we know about the You and Gossip Girl star...
Penn Badgley wife
Penn Badgley has been married to singer Domino Kirke, 41, since 2017, with the couple meeting back in 2014 at a meatball shop where they swapped numbers.
Badgley has opened up about his wife frequently, calling her a "truly radiant soul" in a past online tribute.
"You seem to spark alight almost everyone you meet, like a 99% success rate," he continued. "It’s really impressive, and quite mysterious. You encourage others to be honest, and brave, and gentle, and expansive. Your great capacity for empathy is obvious, something anyone can get warm by like a glowing stove. Your desire to be of service to others is miraculous.
"You make others happy by you," he later added. "For me, it is a joy to witness you when you are happy. For you, I always hope to be a source of joy. I’m really glad we’re married."
Penn Badgley kids
Penn Badgley shares 4-year-old son James with wife Domino Kirke, and earlier this month, the couple announced that they are expecting twins. Badgley is also stepfather to Kirke's 16-year-old son Cassius Riley.
"I have an interesting situation where I have a biological son and a stepson," Badgley has previously explained on the New York Times' Modern Love podcast. "And my stepson - his father is very much in his life, so his father is his father, and I'm something else."
How old is Penn Badgley?
Penn Badgley is 38-years-old, with his birthday falling on November 1, 1986.
Badgley was 21-years-old when he burst onto TV screens in his breakthrough role as Dan Humphrey in CW's Gossip Girl, but he started acting at the age of 12.
Penn Badgley height
Penn Badgley is 1.74 metres tall, standing at 5' 8.5 in feet.
The actor has opened up about his height and sizing in the past, recalling having body concerns in his early acting career.
"I remember realising, ‘This is my body and I will not have another body’", Badgley previously recalled to The Guardian. "That is terrifying. It was awful when I realised, ‘You’re telling me I’m not going to be 6ft 3?’".
Penn Badgley name
The 38-year-old has opened up about the interesting origin of his name - Penn Dayton Badgley, revealing that he was actually named after a tennis ball.
According to Badgley, his father was playing with a 'Penn' tennis ball during his first sonogram - with the moment cementing his unique name.
"It really comes from the tennis ball, that's the actually the extent of the story," Badgley has previously explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live. "I was I think about the size of a tennis ball, that's what my mom said to my father, bouncing a tennis ball, and that how it happened."
Penn Badgley education
Penn Badgley attended St. Christopher's School and Charles Wright Academy in Virginia and Washington, respectively. Then, after moving to Los Angeles aged 11, he was briefly homeschooled alongside Blake Lively, with the pair later going on to co-star in Gossip Girl and date a decade later.
Badgley ended up graduating from high school at just 13-years-old, recalling to The Mirror back in 2009: "It was really just to avoid the on-set tutor thing. I was taking community college courses when I wasn't working so I'd spend six months working and six months going to school, on and off."
Penn Badgley Gossip Girl
Penn Badgley became a household name for his role in CW show Gossip Girl, starring as Dan Humphrey from 2007 to 2012. However, Badgley reportedly turned down the role multiple times due to frustrations over being typecast.
"I just didn't want to do it," he recalled in an interview with Capital FM. "I was pretty certain I didn't want to do anymore television. It just wasn't an interesting role to me, which even the creators of the show recognised when they propositioned it. They said, 'You might feel like you've already done this, but please take a look at it.' And I did take a look at it and I respectfully declined. I said, 'Thank you for thinking of me'. And then I came back like a month later and had a somewhat of an impassioned plea, and I'm indebted to their persistence."
Penn Badgley band
Penn Badgley is the frontman of four-piece indie band MOTHXR, debuting their first album, Centerfold, in 2016. Their songs include 'Easy', 'Wild Ride', 'Fight the Feeling', She Can't Tell' and 'Stranger'.
Penn Badgley podcast
Penn Badgley hosts 'Podcrushed', a popular podcast "exploring the heartbreak, anxiety and self-discovery of being a teenager", alongside co-hosts Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari.
The podcast sees A-list guests from Ariana Grande and Jenna Ortega to Leighton Meester and Jameela Jamil share their teenage experiences, "from childhood crushes to schoolyard scuffles". And now with over 100 episodes, it has firmly cemented itself in the charts.
"People associate me with a certain kind of storytelling," Badgley has previously explained to The Guardian of Podcrushed. "We have leaned into it - it just feels natural and fun. My adolescence, and growing up in Hollywood, is a running joke."
Penn Badgley Instagram
Penn Badgley is active on Instagram, with 5.2 million followers.
However, despite his online presence, Badgley has spoken out in the past about struggling to have honest interactions and make a meaningful contribution on social media platforms.
"I found that I was completely overwhelmed by being conscious of how many likes or retweets or whatever. It was such a convoluted way to be like, 'acting'," Badgley has previously explained on the 'Baha'i Blogcast with Rainn Wilson.
"It was not the most fulfilling or meaningful contribution that I could make as an individual seeking to better the world."
Penn Badgley net worth
Penn Badgley has an estimated net worth of $8 million, with his most successful projects including TV shows Gossip Girl and You, and films Easy A and John Tucker Must Die.
We will continue to update this story.
