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Kal Penn

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Kal Penn
Kal Penn in 2009
Born
Kalpen Suresh Modi

(1977-04-23) April 23, 1977 (age 47)
Occupation(s)Actor
Former Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
Former Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement
Years active1998-2009, 2010-present

Kalpen Suresh Modi (Gujarati: કલ્પેન સુરેશ મોદી; born April 23, 1977), best-known by his stage name Kal Penn, is an American film actor and politician. He is the first Indian-American to find a successful acting career among Hollywood's mainstream.[1]

As an actor, he is known for roles on the television programs House and 24, and for the Harold and Kumar comedy films. Penn also taught at the University of Pennsylvania as a visiting lecturer in the Cinema Studies Program.

On April 8, 2009, it was announced that Penn would join the Obama White House as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement.[2] This necessitated that his character Lawrence Kutner be written out of the TV series House.[2][3]

Early life and education

Penn was born as Kalpen Suresh Modi in Montclair, New Jersey, the son of Asmita, a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company, and Suresh Modi, an engineer.[4][5] Both of his parents are Gujarati immigrants from India.[6] He has stated that stories of his grandparents marching with Mahatma Gandhi for Indian independence were a significant influence on his interest in politics.[7]

He attended Marlboro Middle School in Marlboro, NJ and played baritone saxophone in the jazz band there. Penn attended The Fine and Performing Arts Academy (a magnet program) at Howell High School for freshman, sophomore, and junior years; he transferred to Freehold Township High School for senior year; both schools are part of the Freehold Regional High School District. He was active in the schools' theater productions and competed on the Freehold Township forensics team. He attended UCLA, where he double majored in film and sociology.[8]

Acting career

Penn's feature film debut came in 1998 in Express: Aisle to Glory. He has since appeared in American Desi, National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Malibu's Most Wanted, A Lot Like Love, Dude, Where's the Party?, Love Don't Cost a Thing, Superman Returns, National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, Epic Movie, The Namesake, the Harold and Kumar series, and an uncredited appearance in Deck the Halls. Penn was featured in The Lonely Island's rejected MTV comedy pilot for Awesometown.

Penn says that he derived his acting name, Kal Penn, as a lark: "Almost as a joke to prove friends wrong, and half as an attempt to see if what I was told would work (that anglicized names appeal more to a white-dominated industry), I put 'Kal Penn' on my resume and photos." His audition callbacks rose by 50 percent. He has stated that he prefers his birth name and uses "Kal Penn" only for professional purposes.

In January 2007, Penn appeared in the first four episodes of the sixth season of 24 as Ahmed Amar, a teenage terrorist. Penn says he nearly turned down the role due to personal ethics, stating, "I have a huge political problem with the role. It was essentially accepting a form of racial profiling. I think it’s repulsive. But it was the first time I had a chance to blow stuff up and take a family hostage. As an actor, why shouldn’t I have that opportunity? Because I'm brown and I should be scared about the connection between media images and people's thought processes?"[9]

Also in January 2007, he appeared in the spoof comedy Epic Movie as well as the television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In May 2007, Penn received the Asian Excellence Award for Outstanding Actor for his performance in The Namesake.[10]

In fall 2007, Penn joined the cast of the Fox medical drama House as a fellowship applicant.[11] E! reported that Penn had signed on as a regular on the show along with Olivia Wilde and Peter Jacobson and this was confirmed in the plot of the episode "Games". Penn continued with the series through to the episode "Simple Explanation", which aired April 6, 2009. He made an additional appearance as Lawrence Kutner on the fifth season finale, "Both Sides Now", that aired on May 11, 2009. However, due to his new job at the White House, Penn could not be present for the filming of this episode. The clip of him saying "Too bad it isn't true" was taken from a previous filming.

Beside his role on the T.V. series House, he is better known from his role on Harold & Kumar, Kumar Patel, a cannabis smoker who goes with Harold Lee (John Cho) to White Castle for a hamburger. Unlike his character, Penn is a vegetarian,[12] and does not smoke marijuana, claiming it is not for him.[13]

Political interests

A man giving a speech. He wears a white blouse with a dark label pin. In front of him, there are two microphones.
Kal Penn speaking at a rally for Barack Obama at the University of Maryland's Nyumburu Cultural Center.

Penn was an advocate for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008 and a member of Obama's National Arts Policy Committee.[14] He appears in the Barack Obama video "Sí Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche[15] and appeared with comedian George Lopez on January 18, 2009, at "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial".

In early 2009, Penn was offered the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement in the Obama administration, which he accepted. This necessitated his character Lawrence Kutner being written out of the TV series House.[2][16][17] In his new role with the Obama administration, Modi served as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.[18] He had gone back to using his birth name, Kalpen Modi.[19]

Penn left his post as Barack Obama's associate director of public engagement on June 1, 2010, to return to his acting career.[20]

Other activities

In 2008, Penn served as a visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.[8][21] He taught two courses, "Images of Asian Americans in the Media" and "Contemporary American Teen Films."[22]

Penn is currently working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University.[2][8]

Personal life

On April 20, 2010, Penn was held up at gun point, in Washington, DC's Dupont Circle, at 1:30 AM by an unidentified man who took his wallet and other belongings .[23][24]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Express: Aisle to Glory Jackie Newton
1999 Freshman Ajay
2001 American Desi Ajay Pandya
2002 Hector Kendal Cunningham
National Lampoon's Van Wilder Taj Badalandabad
Badger Sanjay
2003 Cosmopolitan Vandana's fiancé
Love Don't Cost a Thing Kenneth Warman
Malibu's Most Wanted Hadji
Dude, Where's the Party? Mo (Mohan Bakshi)
2004 Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle Kumar Patel
Ball & Chain Bobby
2005 Dancing in Twilight Sam
Son of the Mask Jorge
A Lot Like Love Jeeter
Sueño Raj
2006 Man About Town Alan Fineberg
Bachelor Party Vegas Z-Bob
Superman Returns Stanford
Deck The Halls Amit Sayid
National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj Taj Badalandabad
2007 The Namesake Gogol/Nikhil Ganguli
Epic Movie Edwardo
2008 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay Kumar Patel
Under New Management Wheeler
2010 Bhopal: Prayer for Rain TBA completed
2010 Butcher Jordan Tichenor completed
2011 A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas Kumar Patel pre-production

Television roles

Year Title Role
1999 Brookfield Kumar Zimmerman
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Hunt
2000 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Prajeeb
Spin City Buddy
2001 Angel Fez Boy
ER Narajan
NYPD Blue Solomon Al-Ramai
The Agency Malek
2003 All About the Andersons George
Tru Calling (Haunted) Steven
2004 Homeland Security Harrison
2006 The Danny Comden Project Max
2007 Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Henry Chanoor
24 Ahmed Amar
2007–2009 House, M.D. Dr. Lawrence Kutner

References

  1. ^ http://www.indiantvtoday.com/indian-american-actor-kal-penn-who-works-in-the-white-houses-office-of-public-liaison-has-been-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-washington-dc/2010/04/22/
  2. ^ a b c d Ausiello, Michael. "'House' exclusive: The shocking story behind last night's big death", Entertainment Weekly, 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  3. ^ It'll be the White House for Kal Penn now. Rediff.com, 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  4. ^ Chivukula, Som (2002-04-12). "Article: Kal Penn's do's and don'ts". India Abroad. Retrieved 2010-04-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ http://www.meniscuszine.com/issue24/asianam-arts-alliance-20081001/
  6. ^ Chhabra, Aseem. Kal Penn: Hollywood's Desi No1!. Rediff.com, 2005-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  7. ^ Kal Penn's The Rachel Maddow Show appearance (airdate April 10, 2009)
  8. ^ a b c Actor Kal Penn to Teach at the University of Pennsylvania. University of Pennsylvania Office of University Communications, 2007-03-26. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  9. ^ Yuan, Jada. "The White-Castle Ceiling". New York, 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  10. ^ Asian Excellence Awards - Winners (archive)
  11. ^ "CNN.com". House' gets a new group of trainees. Retrieved July 18, 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  12. ^ Freydkin, Donna (07-29-2004). "Penn and Cho go to NYC's Pop Burger". USA Today. USA Today. Retrieved 04-01-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  13. ^ "KAL PENN DOES NOT SMOKE MARIJUANA". The Insider. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  14. ^ Penn, Kal. "Open Letter to Two Undeclared College Superdelegates". The Huffington Post, 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  15. ^ Joshi, Monika. "Actor Kal Penn roots for Obama". Rediff.com, 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  16. ^ "It'll be the White House for Kal Penn now". Rediff.com, 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  17. ^ http://www.tvguide.com/News/Kal-Penn-House-1004799.aspx
  18. ^ "New role in Obama White House"
  19. ^ Choudhury, Uttara. "You can call me Kalpen Modi". DNA (Daily News & Analysis), 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  20. ^ "Kalpen Modi, aka Kal Penn, aka Kumar, leaves the White House, returns to showbiz". WashingtonPost.com. The Washington Post. June 22, 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Schwedel, Heather. "Kal Penn to teach at Penn". The Daily Pennsylvanian, 2007-03-26. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  22. ^ Asian American Studies Program at University of Pennsylvania
  23. ^ Everett, Cristina (2010-04-2010). "'Harold & Kumar' star Kal Penn held up at gunpoint in Washington D.C." NY Daily News. Mortimer Zuckerman. Retrieved 2010-04-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  24. ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20362430,00.html?xid=rss-fullcontent
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