Where Penn Badgley gets his name and 10 other things you probably didn't know about the 'You' star

The "You" actor is the frontman of the band MOTHXR.

Badgley told Cosmo that he originally formed the band as a passion project with a few close friends. Since then, the indie-pop group has performed all over the world.

Although he's now married to musician Domino Kirke, Badgley once dated his former co-star Blake Lively.

According to Elle magazine, The two secretly dated for almost three years while filming "Gossip Girl." Reportedly, no one on set knew the two had broken up in real life until the season two finale of the series.

In 2008, Badgley said he envied co-star the chest hair of Ed Westwick (who played Chuck on "Gossip Girl") because he wasn't allowed to have any during filming.

"I envy his chest hair, 'cause they make me shave my chest for the show," he told People magazine. 

In a 2013 interview with Elle, Badgley revealed that he's written a song for every woman he's ever been with. At the time of the interview, he was dating actress Zoe Kravitz.

Badgley had a pretty successful career prior to his appearance on "Gossip Girl."

With roles on several TV series and in films, including "The Young and the Restless" and "Easy A," it's safe to say Badgley has had quite a bit of experience playing a student.

But before he played the famous Brooklynite Dan Humphrey, Badgley appeared in the teen movie "John Tucker Must Die" as Scott, "The Other Tucker." 

"I didn't want to do it — it was too much. I was conflicted with the nature of the role," Badgley told Entertainment Weekly in 2018. 

But he said the creators thought he'd be great for the role because of how important it was for viewers to understand Joe's humanity.

"To be honest, in the beginning of the process, I had no interest in humanizing [Joe]. Like, please, spare us," he added. "But then I realized the only thing you can do as an actor is bring a character to life, and all that means."

According to GQ, when Badgley was just a blimp on a sonogram, his dad was nervously squeezing a tennis ball — and the brand of the ball was Penn.

Badgley, therefore, is named after a brand of tennis balls, not the state of Pennsylvania, as some people might assume. 

Not everyone can say they started their career at Nintendo. Some of Badgley's first work included voicing over characters in Nintendo's Mario video game series, including "Mario Golf" and "Mario Tennis."

According to Intelligencer, in an old interview in Seventeen magazine, Badgley revealed his childhood crush was actress Parker Posey, who, like Badgley, hails from Maryland. 

"I graduated when I was 13," he told The Mirror in 2009. "It was really just to avoid the on-set tutor thing. I was taking community college courses when I wasn't working so I'd spend six months working and six months going to school, on and off."

He added that he was accepted to the University of Southern California but has yet to attend. 

Despite being asked by the show's co-creator Stephanie Savage herself, Badgley said he initially turned down the role of Dan on "Gossip Girl" because he was frustrated that he had already been typecast for multiple dramas. 

"I was frustrated and I was broke and I was depressed, and I was like, 'I cannot do that again. I can't,'" he told Vulture in 2012. He accepted the role in "Gossip Girl" just as he was about to accept a job as a waiter. 

Read More:

• All of Penn Badgley's movie and TV roles, ranked
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