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).\n', ' 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 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.[citation needed] 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.\n', ' At age 11, Badgley relocated to Hollywood and began pursuing an acting career. He also sought a singing career during this time, and recorded a pop single in 1998. At the age of 14, 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.\n', '