Penn Badgley is now famous for his role as romantic serial killer Joe on Netflix’s You. But before that, the actor played a lot of high-school characters — something Badgley recently said he was way too old to be doing.
Penn Badgley starred in teen shows and movies like ‘Easy A’ and ‘Gossip Girl’
Badgley started acting when he was just 11 years old, appearing in shows like What I Like About You, The Young and the Restless, and Do Over. The actor also starred in movies like John Tucker Must Die and Drive-Thru.
His big break came in 2007, when he began starring as Dan Humphrey in the CW’s teen soap opera Gossip Girl. The show made Badgley a heartthrob and household name, which led to bigger and better roles.
Why Penn Badgley said he was ‘criminally old’ in ‘Easy A’
In 2010, Badgley was cast opposite Emma Stone in Easy A, a high school comedy about a high school girl who starts pretending to hook up with guys. Things quickly spin hilariously out of control as everyone tries to unravel what’s true and what’s false.
In a recent “Autocomplete” interview for WIRED, Badgley discussed his time working on Easy A; more specifically, how old he was during the film’s production.
“Older than high school,” the actor laughed. “Criminally old to be playing a high schooler.” Badgley guessed that he was “22, at least” during filming, but he was “lifting more weights then.” The actor filmed Easy A in the summer of 2009, meaning he was, in fact, 22 at the time.
Penn Badgley said he ‘love[d]’ the comedy in ‘Easy A’
Easy A premiered in 2010, and the movie made Badgley an even bigger success with the teenage crowd. It went on to gross $75 million worldwide and win the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Comedy.
The Gossip Girl star has only positive things to say about his time on set working on Easy A. He told Collider his role was written “very well” and was “refreshing” to see in a high school comedy.
“I personally love that kind of comedy,” Badgley said of Easy A. “It’s a bit of a heightened reality obviously because life isn’t always that funny, but it’s real. It has a certain looseness to it. I would look forward to getting a chance to do that kind of stuff a lot more.”
What is Penn Badgley doing today?
Following the massive success of Gossip Girl and teen movies like John Tucker Must Die and Easy A, Badgley starred in more dramatic movies and shows, like Margin Call, Greetings from Tim Buckley, The Slap, and Cymbeline.
In 2018, Badgley starred in one of his biggest projects to date: the love-obsessed serial killer Joe Goldberg in You. The show initially aired on Lifetime as a miniseries. But You found new life — and new fans — after it went to Netflix and the streamer ended up buying the show and putting out new seasons.
The fourth season of You just hit Netflix, with Badgley’s Joe crossing the ocean and settling in England as he continues to try and find love, unsurprisingly racking up a body count along the way.
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