F.bear his name alone will not tell you very much. But just look him in the face to recognize Dan Humphreylonely boy and outsider par excellence of the series Gossip GirlAnd Joe Goldbergthe killer bookseller of the series Youalready become a cult.
Born in Baltimore, raised in Seattle, Penn Badgley35 years, moves with his family to Hollywood when he was only 11 years old: here, his acting career took off immediately, despite his very young age.
And it is always as a boy that it also comes close to musicrecording a pop single in 1998 and becoming the band’s lead singer years later MOTHXR.
On stage with his band, MOTHXR in 2016 in Berlin. (GettyImages)
Penn Badgley’s debut
His official television debut takes place in 1999in an episode of the series Will & Grace. “I had moved to Los Angeles with my mom for try acting career», He told of that period. “Before that, I’d only done social theater in Washington.”
It was a shy and silent child“so acting, singing and dancing were my ways of expressing myself. Adults took notes and they encouraged me to do so how I work. I remember James Burrows from the set, for me he was a legend ».
Very young, in 2010. (GettyImages)
In 2001 he made his debut in the cinema, in the film The Flufferthen appears in some television series, such as The Nightmare Room And The things I love about you. She then returns to the cinema with Debating Robert Lee together with Kaley Cuoco. In fact, throughout his career roles in films and television dramas alternate continuously. Until 2007, when he made his debut in the series that gave him enormous popularity and international fame: Gossip Girl.
Penn Badgley in Gossip Girl
Penn Badgley stars in Gossip Girl for six seasonsand quickly becomes one of the main characters thanks to his fluctuating relationship with Serena van der Woodsenplayed by Blake Lively (with whom he will really have a relationship, off the set).
Blake Lively and Penn Badgley filming “Gossip Girl” in 2012. (GettyImages)
Looking back on that period, “it was 2007, before the financial crisis and before Obama, today we are in a very different historical moment»Remembers the actor. When the series started, “breaking Bad he wasn’t out yet. There was this moment when we are interested in a different kind of antihero or villain. And I think Dan was meant to be this sort of moral compass“.
And if for five seasons Dan Humphrey was the classic “good guy”, the finale of the sixth season it had changed everything: “Dan turned out to be a total sociopath, a manipulator“.
“Instability and social inequalities”
Gossip Girl represented “the dream of a life of excess and privilegewhile today we are aware that those excesses and privileges are the cause of greatness social instability and inequalities. Gossip Girl was fun and spoke of ambition. Today this type of ambition is no longer fun ”.
Practically, Gossip Girl “Was based on the idea that it would be sensational if a group of teenagers became voyeurism objects against their will. At that time social networks had not yet broken out. Now it really happens, but they are kids spying on each other voluntarily, it’s a bit disturbing. “
He felt “an object of desire”
Playing Dan Humphrey, a aspiring writer, honest and kindheartedopened his eyes to another aspect of fame: «PTo be a man, I tried hard what it means to feel objects of desireHe said.
Being Dan Humphrey «made me understand how women feel and has me hurt a lot. But it happened to me for work, I chose to put myself in that position, a woman does not choose to be born a woman“.
This is why he decided to disconnect from the world of television for a while, to “understand myself. Make a series like Gossip Girl it is a very strong experience, it is as if I have been overwhelmed. At twenty, if you don’t take the right precautions, you no longer know who you are and what you want to do. I tried to work out the answers ».
Penn Badgley’s other films
In those years Penn Badgley also starred in other productions, such as Courage to Win, David’s Secret – The Stepfather and, in 2011, Margin Call, where do you work with Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Stanley TucciAnd Demi Moore. Thanks to her performance, she won a Robert Altman Award at the Independent Spirit Awards.
The cast of Margin Call in 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival. From left: Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany, director JC Chandor, Zachary Quinto, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci and Penn Badgley. (GettyImages)
In 2014 the film was released Cymbelinepresented at the Venice International Film Festival, film adaptation of a work by William Shakespeare, Cimbelino. Then he recites ne Towards the end of the worldand, in 2016, The Paper Store, thanks to which the Best Actor at the Oxford International Film Festival is one Special Jury Mention at the Manchester International Film Festival.
The series You
In 2018 another important turning point in his career took place: he was chosen as the protagonist of Youseries based on some books by Caroline Kepnes.
Here Penn Badgley plays the protagonist Joe Goldbergshop assistant in a New York bookstore that develops an obsession with a young writer, Beck. The library hides a obsessive attitude and a true stalker which manifests towards the women he falls in love with, and which leads him to kill them.
«That the series has become a great success and a viral phenomenon it has its own logic, in some way, ”he explained. “There is something in You which acts as a kind of social experiment. As spectators, we are somewhat forced to asking ourselves why we like Joebecause we love watching it so much ».
And therefore «it makes sense that a lot of people from so many different cultures have responded to the series in an excellent way. Obviously, you never know what can happen, and I believe it could only have had that kind of hit on Netflix. It’s a series to watch in one go, it took off overnight“.
A cruel and beloved character
Despite being a killer, the character played by Penn Badgley is much loved by the public. “What I didn’t expect is that people would have this practically unanimous reaction. [Non immaginavo] that appreciated the person who plays Joeand that they wanted to interact with me ».
Usually it doesn’t happen, “you don’t want an actor to play that kind of role, a role like that usually doesn’t provoke that kind of reaction. But this is precisely the reason why the series is so interesting. People like it, but at the same time raises disturbing questions“.
The cast of the You series: Sera Gamble, Penn Badgley, Elizabeth Lail, Caroline Kepnes and Shay Mitchell in 2018 in New York. (GettyImages)
The only aspect that has put him in trouble all this time “was understanding to what extent, in reality, Joe understands himself. And this is the question that arises throughout the second season ».
Penn Badgley and the characters of Dan and Joe
During another interview, Penn Badgley explained that Dan Humphrey of Gossip Girl and Joe Goldberg of You somehow they are connected between them.
“I believe many gods have been exploited preconceptions people have about characters which I have interpreted in the past, ”he explained. In a sense, “this is why I was the perfect actor for this role. There are these two pop culture phenomena, Gossip Girl And Youthat they interact with each other through me. The writers decide, but I’m the point of contact“.
Between the two shows «there is a kind of dialoguebecause they are different but have a very similar vein, you want to see them both all in one go. I don’t know if it would have worked with another person because there is something about it unique in having been Dan and to be known for this particularly nice guy, ”he told SiriusXM.
Penn Badgley and love
After having a love affair with Blake Livelyhis colleague of Gossip Girl – just like their characters, Dan Humphrey And Serena van der Woodsen – Penn Badgley had an affair with Zoe Kravitz.
Penn with Zoe Kravitz. (GettyImages)
In 2017 he married the singer Domino Kirke. Since he got married, “I think I am more gentle, humble and self-reflective. More focused on my faults than on the other’s, “he said.
“People tends to call love things that are not. Now that I have found the real one, I have learned that it does not visit you, but it is the result of the decisions you make. It just depends on you“.
Penn Badgley is also a dad
In 2020 the couple had a sonwho joined Cassius, the child Domino had from a previous relationship.
“The funny thing is that I was curious to know what fatherhood was like for me, how it would affect my experience with Joe and acting with him, ”said Penn Badgley. In fact, even Joe, his character, becomes a father in the series just around the same time.
With his wife Domino Kirke and her son, Cassius. (GettyImages)
“Sometimes it didn’t really help because I was experiencing a ‘such a light and joyful experience – and it still is – and instead Joe is petrified“, has explained.
«It is so scared, and I can identify with fear. But it is so morbid in his primal obsessive instincta kind of self-preservation, which at times I almost have found it more difficult to bring home the result in certain scenes ». For him, it was much better to become a father in reality!
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