Penn Badgley is an American actor and producer born on November 1, 1986, in Baltimore, Maryland. He is best known for his roles as Dan Humphrey in the CW teen drama series Gossip Girl (2007–2012) and as Joe Goldberg in the Netflix psychological thriller series You (2018–2025)
. He began his career with a role as Phillip Chancellor IV on the soap opera The Young and the Restless (2000–2001), which earned him a Young Artist Award nomination. Badgley has appeared in various films such as John Tucker Must Die (2006), Drive-Thru (2007), Easy A (2010), The Stepfather (2009), Margin Call (2011), and Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012)
. Raised partly in Richmond, Virginia, and Seattle, Washington, he discovered his passion for acting early through involvement in theater and voice-over work. He later moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career and currently lives in New York City. Besides acting, Badgley is musically talented, enjoying singing, writing, and playing guitar, and he engages in activities like skateboarding and surfing in his free time
. Throughout his career, Badgley has received multiple award nominations, including Teen Choice Awards for Gossip Girl and Saturn and MTV Movie & TV Award nominations for You
