Penn Badgley sees his stint on Gossip Girl as an "endurance test of all kinds".
The 26-year-old actor won the hearts of fans as Dan Humphrey on the hit CW television series, alongside Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick.
Penn became a tabloid fixture during the six years he starred on the teen show, and the star has now revealed the best thing to come of his breakout role.
"I look at Gossip Girl as an endurance test of all kinds," he revealed in an interview with British newspaper The Guardian.
"Six years … I think the best part was a lot of what I have now – the lifestyle, the people in my life, living in New York – because otherwise I might still be living in LA."
Penn currently lives in New York City, where Gossip Girl was set. The handsome hunk says Los Angeles holds bad memories for him.
"I think that's probably pretty common for actors. Over time we all become very cynical and depressed, having to audition endlessly in LA," he explained.
"It's such a singular mindset: everyone has a script to sell you, which is fine – everyone has to pursue their dream – but it makes the town a very strange place."
Penn stars as singer Jeff Buckley in the new film Greetings from Tim Buckley, which follows Jeff in the lead-up to performing at his father's tribute concert.
The actor - who is also a keen musician - has laughed about a pop song he wrote as a young and inexperienced pre-teen.
"It wasn't released! How did you know that?" he exclaimed in the interview. "It was a little song. When you first go to LA as a kid, there are all these things you have to do, all these workshops you have to take, and a producer found me in one of them. I wanted to make music but as a 12-year-old, you have no idea.
"It was terrible. A 12-year-old boy singing about the beautiful night we spent together? Ha ha, yes. I didn't know what the hell it was about. It was… misguided."
