 for Obama&videoType=YouTube&summary=Filmmakers Eric Byler and Annabel Park of Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) and Asian Americans for Obama catch up with actor Kal Penn ...&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/yJvw1-oZCNM&fs=1&hl=en&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://3.gvt0.com/vi/yJvw1-oZCNM/default.jpg&celebrity=Kal Penn)
![Kal Penn video Kal Penn interview
May 02, 08 clip](http://www.celebrityonlinenews.com/viewVideo.html?title=The Late Late Show "Kal Penn", 5.02 ( 08)&videoType=YouTube&summary=Kal Penn interview
May 02, 08&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/wVX7eVx6d88&fs=1&hl=en&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://3.gvt0.com/vi/wVX7eVx6d88/default.jpg&celebrity=Kal Penn)
Tater Tops 2009: What Was the Best Tearjerker?
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EOnline.com - Found Jun. 20, 2009 Westwick) on Gossip Girl ? Izzie's (Katherine Heigl) cancer battle on Grey's Anatomy ? Kutner's (Kal Penn) suicide and funeral on House... |
Kal Penn visits Stanford University
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The Paly Voice - Found Jun. 11, 2009 Kal Penn talks to Stanford and Paly students about sociology behind minority portrayals in American cinema. |
Kal Penn not "missing" from White House gig
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KIVI-TV - Found Jun. 7, 2009 Photo Galleries from TVGuide Entertainment News from TV Guide Kal Penn, who famously stepped away from his role on Fox's top-rated House to go work |
Kal Penn not "missing" from White House gig
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KNDO KNDU - Found Jun. 6, 2009 Photo Galleries from TVGuide Entertainment News from TV Guide Kal Penn, who famously stepped away from his role on Fox's top-rated House to go work |
Award winning comedian Don Barnhart and Hollywood Celebrities ...
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24-7PressRelease.com - Found May. 25, 2009 We meet up with the USO Hollywood Handshake Tour featuring actors Christian Slater and Kal Penn. |
An Evening with Kal Penn
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Events At Stanford - Found May. 23, 2009 Kal Penn looks at the intrinsically political nature of pop culture. |
Kal Penn not "missing" from White House gig
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Wave 3 - Found Jun. 6, 2009 Photo Galleries from TVGuide Entertainment News from TV Guide More>> Kal Penn, who famously stepped away from his role on Fox's top-rated House to go ... |
'House' star Olivia Wilde plays a princess in 'Year One'
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USA Weekend Magazine - Found Jun. 21, 2009 ... with the encouraging note: 'Oh, this would be so good if it had some meat in it!' Your co-star Kal Penn recently made headlines when he left... |
Leave a Comment
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AsianWeek.com - Found Jun. 29, 2009 ... presence there, including Tony Award winning B.D. Wong, Star Trek star George Takei and the Indian-American actor and House co-star, Kal Penn. |
Are ABC's Obama Plans Blurring the Lines?
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Indiewire - Found Jun. 16, 2009 3. Hey ...Where's Kal Penn?4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 0. Ah, Why Can't They Make Sci-Fi Like Back in '8? Primetime sports rule weekly ratings - Variety Does a 10 p.m. Nightline Make Sense? - Time CBS tops sleepy summer ratings race - Variety Lakers: Ratings Champs - New York Times Explore All |
Kal Penn Biography
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Kal Penn
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| Kal Penn | |
 Penn at a Barack Obama rally at the University of Maryland on February 8, 2008. |
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| Born | Kalpen Suresh Modi April 23, 1977 Montclair, New Jersey, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Actor; Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison |
| Years active | 1998–present |
Kalpen Suresh Modi (Gujarati: કલ્પેન સુરેશ મોદી, born April 23, 1977), best-known by his professional name Kal Penn, is an American film and television actor, and is the incoming Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison in the Barack Obama administration.1
On April 8, 2009, Penn announced that he would join the Obama White House as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. This necessitated that his character Lawrence Kutner be written out of the TV series House.12
Contents |
Early life
Penn was born as Kalpen Suresh Modi in Montclair, New Jersey, to a father who worked as an engineer and a mother who worked as a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company. Both of his parents are Hindu and Gujarati Indian immigrants.3 He has stated that stories of his grandparents marching with Mohandas Gandhi for Indian independence were a significant influence on his interest in politics.4
Education
He attended middle school at Marlboro Middle School 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. He attended UCLA, where he double majored in film and sociology.5
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, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, 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, and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and an uncredited appearance in Deck the Halls. Penn was featured in the 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. Penn has stated that he prefers his birth name and uses "Kal Penn" only for professional purposes.6
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?"7
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.8
In fall 2007, Penn joined the cast of the Fox medical drama House as a fellowship applicant.9 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 Kutner on the fifth season finale, "Both Sides Now", that aired on May 11, 2009.
Political interests
Penn was an advocate for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008 and a member of Obama's National Arts Policy Committee.10 He appears in the Barack Obama video "Sí Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche11 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 Liaison in the Obama administration, which he accepted. This necessitated his character Lawrence Kutner being written out of the TV series House.11213 In his new role with the Obama administration, Penn will serve as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.14
Personal life
Penn is a vegetarian and ate soy patties instead of hamburgers during the filming of Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle.15
In spring 2008, Penn served as a visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.516 He taught two courses, "Images of Asian Americans in the Media" and "Contemporary American Teen Films."17
Penn is currently working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University.51
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 | Edward | ||
| 2008 | Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay | Kumar Patel |
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 | |
| House (2007–2009) | Dr. Lawrence Kutner |
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ It'll be the White House for Kal Penn now. Rediff.com, 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Chhabra, Aseem. Kal Penn: Hollywood's Desi No1!. Rediff.com, 2005-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Kal Penn's The Rachel Maddow Show appearance (airdate April 10, 2009)
- ^ 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.
- ^ Ahmad, Nakasha. "Kal Penn Goes To Hollywood". Nirali Magazine, 2004-09-01. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Yuan, Jada. "The White-Castle Ceiling". New York, 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Asian Excellence Awards - Winners (archive)
- ^ "CNN.com". House' gets a new group of trainees. http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/18/television.house.reut/index.html. Retrieved on July 18 2007.
- ^ Penn, Kal. "Open Letter to Two Undeclared College Superdelegates". The Huffington Post, 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Joshi, Monika. "Actor Kal Penn roots for Obama". Rediff.com, 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ "It'll be the White House for Kal Penn now". Rediff.com, 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ http://www.tvguide.com/News/Kal-Penn-House-1004799.aspx
- ^ "New role in Obama White House"
- ^ Freydkin, Donna. "Penn and Cho go to NYC's Pop Burger". USA Today, 2004-07-29. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Schwedel, Heather. "Kal Penn to teach at Penn". The Daily Pennsylvanian, 2007-03-26. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Asian American Studies Program at University of Pennsylvania
External links
- Kal Penn at the Internet Movie Database
- Five Questions for Kal Penn, Nirali magazine, December 2006
- Kal Penn Goes to Hollywood, Nirali magazine, September 2004
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