Penn Badgley turns 40 today. 🎂
Born on 1 November 1986 in Baltimore, Maryland, he has spent more than half his life on screen — first as the teen heartthrob of the Upper East Side, then as the internet’s most debated villain.
From Dan Humphrey to Joe Goldberg, his career is a study in reinvention. And at 40, with You behind him, he is starting his most interesting chapter yet.
Then: The Child Actor Who Grew Up on Set
Badgley moved to Los Angeles with his mother at 11 to pursue acting. His first credits were voice work for the Mario Golf and Mario Tennis video games in 1999 and 2000.
His first screen role came on Will & Grace, followed by a notable part as Phillip Chancellor IV on The Young and the Restless from 2000 to 2001.
He spent his teens working steadily: lead roles in the WB series Do Over, The Mountain and The Bedford Diaries, then his first major film part in John Tucker Must Die (2006).
The Gossip Girl Years
Everything changed in 2007, when Badgley was cast as Dan Humphrey — “Lonely Boy” — in The CW’s Gossip Girl. He played the Brooklyn outsider looking in on Manhattan’s elite for six seasons, until 2012.
He played Dan alongside Chace Crawford, who played Nate Archibald.
The role made Badgley famous, earning him six Teen Choice Award nominations.
It also came with a kind of fame he found uncomfortable, and he has since spoken honestly about the pressure of those years.
Between seasons, he built a film career: The Stepfather (2009), Easy A (2010) opposite Emma Stone, and the acclaimed financial thriller Margin Call (2011).
In 2012, he played musician Jeff Buckley in Greetings from Tim Buckley, taking guitar and singing lessons for the part. He also started making music of his own.
The Middle: Music, Faith and a Quieter Life
After Gossip Girl, Badgley stepped back from the spotlight. He formed the band MOTHXR, whose debut album Centerfold arrived in February 2016 to genuine critical praise.
He joined the Bahá’à Faith in 2015, a faith he has said shapes how he thinks about his work. He married singer Domino Kirke on 27 February 2017.
He kept acting — a recurring role in NBC’s The Slap (2015), the indie film The Paper Store (2016) — but he was no longer chasing fame. He was waiting for a role worth the wait.
Now: Joe Goldberg — and Life After You
That role arrived in 2018. As Joe Goldberg in You, Badgley played a bookshop manager whose romantic obsession turned murderous, across five seasons until the final season in April 2025.
The show made him a streaming star all over again. But Badgley spent years pushing back against fans who swooned over Joe, insisting the character was a warning, not a romantic hero.
Off screen, life has moved fast. He and Domino welcomed a son in August 2020, then identical twin sons in September 2025.
He launched the podcast Podcrushed in May 2022, asking guests — including Drew Barrymore — about their awkward teenage years.
He even popped up in Ariana Grande’s “The Boy Is Mine” music video in June 2024. In September 2026, he kicked off New York Fashion Week with Moncler, posing for a portrait by Platon.
Next, he films a lighter chapter: the romantic comedy You Deserve Each Other with Meghann Fahy, shot in New York in 2025.
And in August 2026, he joined the Prime Video dark comedy Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, playing mystery expert Ern Cunningham.
From Lonely Boy to leading man to father of three at 40, Penn Badgley has never stood still for long. 🎬