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Penn Badgley is an American actor and musician who shot to popularity after his role in the famous Netflix series You.
Badgley plays Joe Goldberg, a peculiar and haunting character while charming the audience with his gripping performance. Earlier, Penn Badgley was also popular among the TV audience for his role in Gossip Girl.
He played Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl. However, his role as Goldberg created an impact like nothing else in pop culture and made him a familiar face in the context of entertainment. Most memes in recent times have also featured Penn Badgley considering the influence his character has had on meme culture.
The first part of Season 4 of You premiered on Netflix on February 9, 2023, and the internet has once again been flooded by memes and content featuring Penn Badgley.
On that note, here are some fun facts about Penn Badgley that you probably didn't know.
Some interesting facts about Penn Badgley
1) He turned down the role in Gossip Girl twice
Before the role of Joe Goldberg made him famous across the globe, Badgley was known for playing Dan Humphrey in the popular TV drama Gossip Girl which ran on the CW from 2007 to 2012.
The makers of the show were actively interested in casting Badgley in their show. However, Penn Badgley is known to have turned down the role twice before he gave in.
The reason for turning the role down despite repeated insistence from the makers was that he was afraid of being typecast in dramas. Badgley had already been in dramas in films before and was almost seen as an actor who would stick to one genre.
Additionally, he was on the verge of giving up his dream of acting and taking up a waiting job right before he finally got cast on Gossip Girl .
2) He was in John Tucker Must Die before Gossip Girl
Long before any of his recognized roles in film and television, Penn Badgley played the role of Scott Tucker in John Tucker Must Die. The movie was a comedy-drama about three girls who plot to break the heart of the school's star basketball player, John Tucker when they discover he has been dating all three of them behind their backs.
Badgley plays John's brother Scott, who is a much nicer character and is actually on good terms with the lead characters.
However, owing to the limited screen time and a lack of importance for the role, he wasn't widely recognized despite the film's commercial success.
3) He almost turned down the role of Joe Goldberg
For anyone watching the show, You can seem tricky in terms of what it has to say. It combines the serial killer and crime genres with that of romance. While the gravity of the crimes Joe Goldberg commits makes it easy to decide that he is indeed a horrifying character, many have begun to adore the character owing to the charisma of Penn Badgley.
So it makes sense that Badgley was skeptical about taking up the role of such a shady character who is also the lead. He was doubtful about the messaging of the story. However, it was after talking to the makers, he was assured that the show was clear on what it wanted to say.
4) He graduated high school at 13
Penn Badgley boasts quite an impressive body of work from a very young age. The actor revealed that he had to graduate from high school about five years earlier in order to be able to pursue acting and chase all the roles he wished to do. He began doing small acting jobs at the very age of 12 and decided to finish his graduation early to avoid on-set tutoring.
Considering the fact that he spent most of his life building his resume as an actor and gathering experience, it is no wonder that he pulls off the most complicated roles like that of Joe Goldberg with unbelievable ease.
In the years after his graduation, he was a part of a lot of films and television before he got his break with Gossip Girl.
5) He lent voice to a Kid in Mario Golf
Though it is not widely known, Badgley started his career at the age of 12, with Nintendo. There were many playable characters in Mario Golf, and they all had unique voices and personalities. Badgley lent his voice to one of the characters and that is when he decided to pursue acting as a career. Following this, he graduated the very next year.
Besides Mario Golf, he also voiced a character called Alex in Mario Tennis among others. Following that, Badgley appeared on an episode of Will and Grace in a tiny role.
The first part of Season 4 of You was released on February 9, 2023, and is currently streaming on Netflix.
