Penn Badgley dreams of playing Prince.

The 26-year-old hunk -who played Dan Humphrey in teen drama 'Gossip Girl' for six years - admits his ideal role would be as the 'Purple Rain' hitmaker because he has been his musical idol for as long as he can remember.

Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, Penn said: ''Let's put that out there. I'd love to play Prince. I could confidently play his hair.''

Penn is no stranger to musical biopics, starring as Jeff Buckley in 'Greetings From Tim Buckley', and he admits he was worried about the ''responsibility'' of playing late singer - who died aged 30 in 1997 from accidental drowning - but didn't really care about what people thought of his performance in the film as he felt so confident about it.

He explained: ''Taking on a role like this, and the story itself, will surprise people. It's a strange, quiet meditation on two artists, and I was much more worried about the responsibility of playing a dead artist than worrying about what people would think about the kid from 'Gossip Girl' playing Jeff.

''I'm well aware that no one would have any reason to think I could do it. But I knew this slice of Jeff that we were trying to convey, I could do. I felt it could be easy.''