Penn Badgley considered giving up acting following Gossip Girl success
Penn Badgley considered giving up acting twice after shooting to stardom with Gossip Girl.
The actor, who played Dan Humphrey in the series, became famous overnight when the teen drama premiered in 2007 and he found the press attention and lack of anonymity difficult to handle during the show's five-year run, so once it concluded in 2012, he considered turning his back on the industry, thinking it would give his life clarity.
"I do like what I do and I like being good at what I do," he told Mr Porter's The Journal. "I think there's no shortage of examples of people in our position struggling with mental health for very, very legitimate reasons. Being an actor is almost solely a psychological or emotional task. If you're any good or successful, your psychological health, mental health, spiritual health... It's really tested."
However, he decided to keep acting and has now become recognisable for another TV show - the Netflix series You, in which he plays stalker and serial killer Joe Goldberg. The show is now in its third season and Badgley is contracted for six, but outside of the thriller, he insisted he doesn't know where his career is going.
"The fact that (what I do is) acting couldn't be more sort of comically, surreally evident to me at any given moment," he stated. "I am never mistaken that I am in character. I'm not so precious about my own career. There are forces at work I can't control. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know. I actually think in some way people take acting far too seriously. It's like, just be present."
You season three is now streaming on Netflix.
