Portrait of Penn Badgley

Birthday profile

Penn Badgley

Penn Badgley, American actor and television personality

Born
November 1, 1986
Age in 2026
40
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1986

About Penn Badgley

Penn Dayton Badgley (born November 1, 1986) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Dan Humphrey in The CW teen drama series Gossip Girl (2007–2012) and as Joe Goldberg in the Netflix psychological thriller series You (2018–2025). Badgley came to prominence playing Phillip Chancellor IV on the soap opera The Young and the Restless (2000–2001). He then featured in the comedy films John Tucker Must Die (2006), Drive-Thru (2007), and Easy A (2010), the thriller films The Stepfather (2009) and Margin Call (2011), the biographical film Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012), and the drama film The Paper Store (2016). Badgley has stated that his first name comes from the brand of tennis ball his father was holding during his mother's first sonogram. Badgley had his first screen acting credit on an episode of Will & Grace and he subsequently appeared on shows such as Daddio, The Brothers García, and What I Like About You.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Penn Badgley was born

Penn Badgley was born in 1986. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1986

  • #1 song"That's What Friends Are For" – Dionne Warwick & Friends
  • Top moviePlatoon
  • Top TV showThe Cosby Show
  • Best-selling bookIt – Stephen King

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMaradona's "Hand of God" goal at the World Cup
  • Top headlineSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster
  • Technology milestoneChernobyl nuclear disaster in Soviet Ukraine
  • Defining fadTop Gun aviator sunglasses
  • Notable inventionDisposable camera
  • World population4.94 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRonald Reagan
  • Sports championNew York Mets (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population240.1M

1986 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Penn Badgley's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19862026
Gas$0.93$3.45/gal
Average home$80,300$435,000
Average income$29,458$67,500
Minimum wage$3.35$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$3.71$11.95
Postage stamp$0.22$0.73
Population240.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.