All of the places you've spotted Penn Badgley before 👀
He's SO much more than just Joe Goldberg...
Most people will have first noticed Penn Badgley when he began playing Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl, however his role as Joe Goldberg, in the Netflix series You, has certainly brought him another level of notoriety - but those won't be the only places you've spotted the talented actor before!
As we know, his killer character Joe is great at hiding in plain sight, so we thought we'd take a look back at all the places Penn has popped up before without us noticing - including a recent appearance alongside a VERY famous pop star...
What was Penn Badgley's first TV appearance?
Penn got his first screen acting credit on the Will & Grace episode 'I Never Promised You An Olive Garden', playing the all-important role of 'Boy #1 - Todd'.
Which other TV shows has Penn Badgley been in?
After this he appeared in American TV series Bull, The Young and the Restless, Daddio, The Brothers Garcia and The Twilight Zone. He got his first lead role in 2002 series Do Over, playing Joel Larsen - a 34-year-old who gets a second chance to get his life right when a freakish accident catapults him back to 1981 into his teen self.
He also had a role in What I Like About You in 2002 as Jake Wood, The Mountain (2004) as Sam Tunney, The Bedford Diaries (2006) as Owen Gregory and The Slap as Jamie. Oh, and let's not forget Gossip Girl - the show that really put him on the map.
Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl
Penn joined the cast of Gossip Girl in 2007 as Dan Humphrey, based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar, alongside Kristen Bell, Blake Lively and Leighton Meester. The series ran from 2007 to 2012, and ended with Penn's character Dan being revealed as the eponymous Gossip Girl.
This came as a shock to many fans of the series, and Penn himself has even said that it didn't make complete sense. In November 2019, showrunner Joshua Safran revealed that Gossip Girl was originally going to be Eric, until everyone guessed it too easily.
Speaking at Vulture festival, he said, "We worked hard to kind of lay in tiny seeds about it being Eric, and then the NY Post wrote an article saying that Gossip Girl was Eric so we were like, 'We gotta scratch that'," adding that Dan was not his "intended Gossip Girl".
Who did Penn Badgley play in John Tucker Must Die?
Penn's first major film credit was playing the role of Scott Tucker in the 2006 film John Tucker Must Die, that also starred Ashanti, Jesse Metcalfe and Brittany Snow. The film grossed $68 million worldwide.
Is Penn Badgley in Ariana Grande's music video?
Yes, he most certainly is. on 7th June 2024, Ariana Grande dropped the music video for her track 'the boy is mine' - featuring on her chart-topping seventh album 'Eternal Sunshine' - and it starred none other than Penn Badgley himself.
In the video, Penn plays the newly elected mayor Max Starling, who is first seen addressing a serious 'rat problem' in the city. Alongside this, we see Ari, who seemingly has a huge crush on (or should we say, obsession with?) the mayor, rustling up a love potion, which is sadly knocked on the ground by a cat.
Picking up a 'cat woman' persona, Ariana then heads over to Max Sterling's (Penn Badgley) with the last drops of her potion - which she seemingly doesn't need to use in the end.
Check out the full music video below. WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE USED.
Penn Badgley lookalike
In May 2020, as the world was in lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, actor and musician Rico Lebron took to TikTok to recreate some of Penn's iconic scenes as Joe in hit Netflix show You.
As well as wearing the character's signature baseball cap and denim jacket, Rico strikes a resemblance to Penn with his dark hair and eyes, leading many to comment saying he is Joe's doppelgänger.
What other films has Penn Badgley starred in?
Penn's first film role The Fluffer came in 2000, where he played a young Sean McGinnis, and after a couple of other small roles along with John Tucker Must Die, Penn starred in a 2009 remake of film The Stepfather as Michel Harding.
In 2010, Penn starred as 'Woodchuck' Todd, Emma Stone's love interest in Easy A, and portrayed late musician Jeff Buckley in 2012 film Greetings from Tim Buckley. In 2015, Penn starred as Posthumus in a film version of Shakespeare play Cymbeline.
Does he have a podcast?
He sure does! Penn co-hosts the Podcrushed podcast, alongside Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari. In the podcast, Penn 'reads your middle school story', with the show's bio claiming it: 'explores the heartbreak, anxiety and self-discovery of being a teenager'.
Thanks to the podcast, we've got to see many a playful clip of the actor following various TikTok trends, and welcoming many famous guests including the likes of Penn's Gossip Girl co-star Taylor Momsen, Jada Pinkett Smith, Matthew McConaughey and even Ariana Grande.
Penn Badgley's band MOTHXR
Having been musical from a young age, Penn accepted a role portraying Jeff Buckley in 2012 film Greetings from Tim Buckley, taking guitar and vocal lessons to prepare. In 2014, Penn got together with Jimmy Giannopoulos, Simon Oscroft and Darren Will to form band M O T H E R, releasing single 'Easy'.
They changed their name to MOTHXR shortly after, as another band with their originally name asked them to change it. The band signed with label Kitsuné in 2015, with their debut album 'Centerfold' coming out in February 2016.
WATCH: MOTHXR - 'Touch' (Official Music Video)
Penn Badgley video game voice acting
Video game fans will have heard Penn before they ever saw his face as he played 'Kid' in Mario Golf and Mario Tennis.
Is Penn Badgley married?
Despite most of Penn's on-screen characters having awful luck in the dating world, Penn is actually married! The actor married English-American singer Domino Kirke in 2017, after dating for years.
Domino has a son from a previous relationship, and she's previously spoke about how things weren't serious between herself and Penn at the beginning, because all she cared about was raising her son Cassius.
She told Hey Mama: "I had a really good thing with my kid and we were like this little team. Penn and I were dating, but it wasn't nearly as serious as it is now, of course. I didn't think marriage was in the cards for us. So I was sort of just chugging along, surviving, and getting through the days, and I think the difference now is that I'm really living."
Does Penn Badgley have children?
He sure does! As well as being stepfather to Domino's son, the couple welcomed their first child together in August 2020! Announcing the news on Instagram in September, Domino shared a photo of herself lying in bed with Penn holding the baby next to her on her Instagram Story.
She also shared a photo of an art interpretation of her placenta to Instagram, writing, 'His heart shaped home ❣️ #40dayspostpartum #placentaart,' which could indicate that she and Penn welcomed their baby on 12th August.
In February 2020, Penn and his wife Domino announced they were expecting their first child together, after previously suffering two heartbreaking miscarriages.
Sharing a picture of her bump, Domino wrote: 'On the road again... pregnancy after loss is whole other thing. After two miscarriages in a row we were ready to call it. I stopped trusting my body and started to accept the fact that I was done.
'As a birth attendant, I’ve seen and heard it all. It takes everything I’ve got to detach lovingly from the losses I’ve been present for and be in my own experience. When I was pregnant at 25, I knew nothing. I had no community. I dove in blissfully unaware about birth and its mysteries.
She then wrote: 'Now, with 10 years worth of experience to pull from, I treasure my birth community and the knowledge I have. You’re already teaching us how to stay in the day in a way we’ve never had to, little one. Thank you.' (sic)
Penn Badgley's awards
It's unlikely UK viewers will have seen Penn in American soap opera The Young and The Restless playing Phillip Chancellor IV from 2000 to 2001, but it got him his first nomination - Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Daytime Series.
Heres 11 facts about Netflix's You that will surprise you:
Penn Badgley very nearly turned down playing Joe
He was "conflicted" that the show would be problematic as the character was such an "awful person". Penn told Entertainment Weekly: "I didn't want to do it — it was too much. I was conflicted with the nature of the role. If this is a love story, what is it saying?
"And then what was key in me wanting to jump on board were my conversations with Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble, the creators, and understanding Joe's humanity.
"I knew that I would be conflicted about the role from day one till the last day, and that is why they thought I would be good for it, is that I'm not psyched to play somebody of this nature."
You didn't actually premiere on Netflix
Yep, creators Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble originally premiered the show on Lifetime in September 2018, however was dropped after the first season. Bet they're kicking themselves now - as the show was later picked up by Netflix, continuing as a Netflix Original title... And the rest is history!
A clue that the show wasn't always a Netflix original is the first episode's title - 'Pilot'.
You is based on books
The show is based on books by Caroline Kepnes - You (2014), Hidden Bodies (2016), You Love Me (2021) and the most recent For You and Only You (2023). Although we have a fifth and final season of the show, it doesn't look like there's any plans at the moment for another book.
Stephen King even praised the books, saying: "Totally original. Never read anything quite like it…Hypnotic and scary."
Penn wasn't the only one who nearly turned down a part in the show
Tati Gabrielle, who plays libarian Marienne Bellamy in series three initially turned the role down as her agent told her it was a 'mystery show'.
She told Marie Claire: "In September or October of last year I was in Spain shooting another project. I had fully intended, once I finished that project, to take a month off. But my agent said, 'They want you for this Greg Berlanti project.' I asked, 'What is it?' They couldn't tell me, so I said no."
She added: "Then I knew what it was. I said yes because I was a super big fan of the show."
They use a 'blood machine' for the gory scenes
All the gory blood is made of sugar that gets squirted out of a 'blood machine' in the particularly graphic scenes. A lot of effort goes into the gory scenes in the show, and with a whole lot of help from some prosthetics, it's fair to say the show has become renowned for it's rather audacious scenes.
Penn didn’t have many lines to learn for the show
Especially compared to the rest of the cast, Penn didn't have to memorise many lines at all - and that's because most of his dialogue was the infamous voiceover! Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel, Penn admitted that "80% of my lines, if not more are actually voiceovers". The actor then revealed that most days he would go to the set and hardly have any lines, and that he was just "looking".
It's fair to say that Penn was well practiced, as his first ever acting roles were for a radio station and Nintendo 64 video games when he was 10-years-old.
Show stars took safety courses... Safety first!
Elizabeth Lail, who played Beck in the first series, and Penn had to to attend an eight-hour safety course before they were allowed to film on the NYC subway tracks.
Penn feared he's make Joe too likeable
When filming every series, Penn was worried that he was making the character of Joe too likeable, especially as fans seemed to warm to him way too much... Considering he's a serial killer.
However, show creator Sara Gamble admitted that she thinks this is because audiences are wired to root for the love story.
She said: "If you just present a 'cute meet' in a bookstore, you're gonna want them to be together. If you see them together in the first scene, you're gonna want them to be together, even if you see what Joe is doing."
Two of the show's stars reportedly dated in real life
Despite all the gore and creepy obsessions, real-life love actually has come from You... Well, reportedly. Along with their complicated relationship on the show, it was reported that Victoria Pedretti was dating her co-star Dylan Arnold, who appears in season three as the flirty next door neighbour and college student Theo Engler.
Despite reports of the pair dating for a few months back in 2021, it appears they are no longer an 'item'.
Mooney's book store is a real shop
The facade of Mooney's bookstore, where Joe works in season one, is in fact a real life book shop! The signage above the door was kept fairly similar for the show, with the only real difference being the name.
The real shop is called Logos Bookstore, and sells Christian and religious books. Will we see Joe visit his old stomping ground in season five as he returns to NYC?
Season five was filmed in the same studios as Gossip Girl
That's right - season five returning to New York is an exciting move for more reasons than one. Firstly, it was of course where the whole story began, back at Mooney's bookstore in season one. On top of that, the city is also where Penn resides with his family.
But alas, to top it all off, the thriller returning to New York City is particularly poignant as not only is it where Gossip Girl was filmed - but the crew even filmed in the same studios. Penn told Netflix's Tudum: "Returning to the Mooney set on these stages was particularly poignant because this is where we shot Gossip Girl. And I hadn't really been back here except for one day of camera testing a long time ago."
Heading back to film on Stage B at Silvercup Studios, in Queens, Penn could reconnect with his iconic former role as Dan Humphrey in the hit show Gossip Girl, which was filmed between 2007 and 2012. Adding that returning to the stage was "definitely very interesting" on "several levels", he said: "It was creating new memories but with something that is already also quite iconic".
Now read:
All of the TV shows we can’t wait to return
10 facts about Netflix's You that will blow your mind
You: Everything you need to know about the Netflix show