Kal Penn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kal Penn
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Penn in 2025
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| Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement | |
| In office November 15, 2010 – July 30, 2011 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| In office April 7, 2009 – June 1, 2010 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kalpen Suresh Modi
April 23, 1977 Montclair, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Domestic partners | Josh (2010–present; engaged) |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA) |
| Occupation |
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Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), who is known by his stage name Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, and former White House staff member. He worked for the government when Barack Obama was president.
As an actor, Penn is famous for playing Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar movies. He also played Dr. Lawrence Kutner on the TV show House. Many people also know him as Seth Wright on Designated Survivor or as Kevin on How I Met Your Mother.
Besides acting, Penn has a strong interest in politics. In 2009, he took a break from acting to work at the White House. He worked as a connection between the president's office and Asian-American communities and artists. He later returned to acting but has remained active in politics.
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Early Life and Family
Kal Penn was born in Montclair, New Jersey. His parents, Asmita and Suresh Modi, were immigrants from Gujarat, India. His mother works for a perfume company, and his father is an engineer. Growing up, Penn often visited Gujarat and learned to speak some Gujarati and Hindi.
Penn's interest in politics started at a young age. He was inspired by stories about his grandparents, who marched with Mahatma Gandhi for India's independence.
In middle school, Penn played the saxophone in a jazz band. In high school, he was very active in theater and was on the speech and debate team. He later went to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and studied film and sociology.
Career in Acting and Politics
Becoming an Actor
Penn's first movie was Express: Aisle to Glory in 1998. Early in his career, he decided to use the name "Kal Penn" for his acting work. He said he did it as an experiment to see if a more American-sounding name would help him get more roles. After he changed his name on his resume, the number of calls he got for auditions went up by 50 percent. He still prefers his birth name, Kalpen, in his personal life.
One of his most famous roles is Kumar Patel in the comedy film series Harold & Kumar. He stars alongside John Cho, who plays Harold Lee.
Major Television Roles
From 2007 to 2009, Penn was a main character on the medical drama House. He played Dr. Lawrence Kutner, a member of Dr. House's medical team. He left the show in 2009 to work in politics. His character was written out of the show in a surprising way. He later returned for a brief appearance in the show's final episode in 2012.
Penn also had a recurring role in the popular comedy series How I Met Your Mother. He played Kevin, a therapist who dated one of the main characters, Robin Scherbatsky.
From 2016 to 2019, he played Seth Wright, the White House Press Secretary, in the political drama Designated Survivor. Because of his real-life experience, he also worked as a political consultant for the show, helping to make the stories more realistic.
Working in the White House
Penn was a strong supporter of Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign. In 2009, he accepted a job as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. His job was to connect the White House with Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as with artists.
He took a short break in 2010 to film A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas before returning to his job. He left the White House again in 2011 to continue his acting career.
Even after leaving his full-time position, Penn stayed involved in politics. He was a co-chair for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and has supported other political candidates. In 2013, President Obama appointed him to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
Other Work and Charity
Penn has also worked as a teacher. In 2008, he was a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught a class about how Asian Americans are shown in movies and TV.
He is also known for his charity work. In 2017, he won a celebrity cooking show and donated his $25,000 prize to a United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees. That same year, after seeing a negative comment online, he started a fundraiser for Syrian refugees and raised over $800,000.
Personal Life
In his 2021 book, You Can't Be Serious, Penn shared that he was engaged to his partner, Josh, after they had been together for 11 years. Penn has said that people figure out things about themselves at different times in their lives, and he was happy to have figured things out when he did.
See also
In Spanish: Kal Penn para niños
- Indians in the New York City metropolitan area
- LGBT culture in New York City
- List of LGBT people from New York City
