How much do you know about Penn Badgley, star of Netflix series You? Before Gossip Girl, he voiced Nintendo characters and once dated Blake Lively and Zoë Kravitz …

Penn Badgley might star on Netflix’s You, but he first caught our attention back in the day on Gossip Girl. He’s only getting better at acting – and more handsome – but what other roles did he have before that? Here are 11 things you probably didn’t know about Badgley … Shiloh Jolie-Pitt’s red carpet makeover: from tomboy chic to Angelina’s mini-me He’s in a band 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 group has performed all over the world. He once dated his co-star, Blake Lively 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. He once had to shave his chest hair off While on Gossip Girl, Badgley said he had to shave his chest hair off. In 2008, Badgley said he envied the chest hair of co-star 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. Inside Priyanka Chopra’s glam yet cosy London home He’s written a song for every woman he’s ever been with 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 Zoë Kravitz. He was in John Tucker Must Die Badgley had a pretty successful career before 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.” He was conflicted about playing Joe on You “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 humanising [Joe]. Like, please, spare us,” he added. “But then I realised the only thing you can do as an actor is bring a character to life.” 2001 vs 2021: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s best couple looks His name has a unique origin According to GQ, when Badgley was just a blip 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. He did voice-over work for Nintendo 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. His childhood crush was Parker Posey 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. Not just Meghan Markle: 7 British royals who tried acting He graduated from high school when he was 13 years old “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. He turned down Gossip Girl twice 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. This article originally appeared on Insider Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.