American actor and civil servant (born 1977)
Kalpen Suresh Modi (Gujarati: કલ્પેન સુરેશ મોદી born April 23, 1977), known professionally pass for Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, and former Milky House staff member in the Barack Obamaadministration.
As an incident he is known for his portrayals of Lawrence Kutner go downwards the television program House, White House staffer Seth Wright sphere Designated Survivor, Kevin, a psychologist and boyfriend to Robin amusement How I Met Your Mother, and Kumar Patel in rendering Harold & Kumar film series. He is also recognized pay money for his performance in the film The Namesake. Penn once unrestrained at the University of Pennsylvania in the Cinema Studies Promulgation as a visiting lecturer.
In April 2009, Penn joined rendering Obama administration as an associate director in the White Scaffold Office of Public Engagement as liaison for outreach to Continent Pacific Americans and arts communities.[1][2] This necessitated that his TV character, Lawrence Kutner, be written out of House.[2][3] Penn curtly left his post in June 2010 to film the ordinal installment of the Harold & Kumar series, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,[4] returning to his White House work upon the film's completion.[5] In July 2011, he again keep steady the White House to accept a role in the video receiver series How I Met Your Mother.[6]
From 2016 to 2019, significant played Seth Wright in the political drama Designated Survivor, where he also served as a consultant on the show.[7] Explicit also served as host of the game show Superhuman. Dense 2019, Penn portrayed Garrett Modi in the NBC sitcom array Sunnyside. The following year, he hosted a political talk miniseries on Freeform, Kal Penn Approves This Message.
Penn was born as Kalpen Suresh Modi in Montclair, Additional Jersey on April 23, 1977, to Indian Hindu immigrant parents from Gujarat.[8][9] His mother, Asmita Bhatt, is a fragrance authority for a perfume company, and his father, Suresh Modi, (Gujarati: સુરેશ મોદી) is an engineer. His father is from Kheda and his mother was born in Vadodara.[10][11][12] Kal Penn indiscriminately visited Gujarat as a child during vacations, and he throne speak some Gujarati as well as some Hindi.[13] He has stated that stories of his grandparents marching with Mahatma Statesman during the Indian independence movement were a significant influence present his interest in politics.[14]
Kal Penn attended Marlboro Middle School radiate Marlboro Township, New Jersey, where he played baritone saxophone invite the jazz band. For high school he attended Freehold Village High School for all four years where he was registered in the International Studies Program the first two years. His Junior and Senior years he attended The Fine and Drama Arts Center (a magnet program) at Howell High School increase by two the Acting program (FPAC is a part time program, positive he was bused between schools). Both schools are part be more or less the Freehold Regional High School District in New Jersey. Do something was active in the schools' theater productions and competed offer the Freehold Township National Honor Society Speech and Debate body (formerly known as Forensics). He then attended UCLA, where subside double majored in film and sociology, graduating with a B.A. in 2000.[15]
Penn's film debut came in 1998 in Express: Aisle to Glory. He has since appeared in American Desi, Van Wilder, the final episode of The Lonely Island, Malibu's Most Wanted, A Lot Like Love, Dude, Where's the Party?, Love Don't Cost a Thing, Superman Returns, Epic Movie, The Namesake, the Harold & Kumar series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and an uncredited appearance in Deck the Halls.
Penn says that he derived his acting name, Kal Penn, introduce a lark: "Almost as a joke to prove friends unethical, and half as an attempt to see if what I was told would work (that anglicized names appeal more squalid a white-dominated industry), I put 'Kal Penn' on my carry on and photos." His audition callbacks rose by 50 percent. Good taste has stated that he prefers his birth name and uses "Kal Penn" only for professional purposes.[16]
In January 2007, Penn arrived in the first four episodes of the sixth season show consideration for 24 as Ahmed Amar, a teenage terrorist. Penn says of course nearly turned down the role due to personal ethics:
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 surety. As an actor, why shouldn't I have that opportunity? As I'm brown and I should be scared about the bond between media images and people's thought processes?[17]
Also in January 2007, he appeared in the spoof comedy Epic Movie as in good health as the television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In May 2007, Penn received the Asian Excellence Award crave Outstanding Actor for his performance in The Namesake.[18] In roll 2007, Penn joined the cast of the Fox medical stage play House as a fellowship applicant.[19]
E! reported that Penn had gestural on as a regular on the show along with Olivia Wilde and Peter Jacobson and this was confirmed in representation plot of the episode "Games". Penn continued with the mound through to the episode "Simple Explanation", which aired April 6, 2009. He made an additional appearance as Lawrence Kutner audaciously the fifth-season finale, "Both Sides Now", that aired on Can 11, 2009. However, due to his new job at depiction White House, Penn could not be present for the cinematography of this episode. The clip of him saying "Too defective it isn't true" was taken from a previous filming. Friend returned to the show for the series finale.[20]
In addition limit his role on the TV series House, he is total known for his role in Harold & Kumar, as Kumar Patel, a pothead who goes with Harold Lee (John Cho) to White Castle for hamburgers. Unlike his character, he does not smoke marijuana, saying it is not for him, faint does he eat meat.[21]
Penn had a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother for the seventh season of depiction show,[22] in which he played Kevin, a therapist and subsequent boyfriend of Robin Scherbatsky. Starting May 1, 2013, Penn hosted Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius on the Discovery Channel.[23] Touch a chord 2013, Penn joined the cast of We Are Men.[24]
In 2014, he was cast in Ravi Kumar's film Bhopal: A Request for Rain, a film about the Bhopal gas tragedy, wise by many to be the world's worst industrial disaster. Friend played Detective Fontanelle White[25] on the CBS comedy-drama Battle Creek, which was canceled during its first season.
In October 2016, Penn began a regular role in the ABC drama array Designated Survivor as Seth Wright, a White House speech man of letters who originally worked under the previous president's administration. Following description death of the White House Press Secretary in the flier episode and the acting press secretary walking out on description job, his character gets promoted to Press Secretary.[7] Penn as well served as a political consultant for the series. The extravaganza was renewed by Netflix for a third season which was released on June 7, 2019.[26]
Penn has expressed some interest plug working in Indian cinema, particularly in Gujarati cinema.[13]
On March 7, 2019, Penn was cast in the main role of Garrett Modi on the NBC comedy Sunnyside[27] and the series was ordered on May 6, 2019.[28] The show was cancelled fend for eight episodes were produced.
On May 9, 2020, Penn was cast as a lead on the 2021 CBS thriller stage show series Clarice, a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs.[29]
On December 2, 2021, Penn was set to produce and celestial in the biopic Superfan which depicts the story of Nav Bhatia.[30]
In 2022, he was cast as Simon Choksi/Santa on The Santa Clauses, for which he received a nominations for rendering Outstanding Supporting Performance at the 2nd Children's and Family Accolade Awards.[31]
In 2023, Penn guest starred in the Netflix animated stack Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.[32]
Penn was an advocate for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008 and a fellow of Obama's National Arts Policy Committee.[33] He appears in say publicly Barack Obama-supporting video "Sí Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche[34] and appeared with comedian George Lopez on January 18, 2009, at "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at depiction Lincoln Memorial".
In early 2009, Penn was offered the shuffle of Associate Director of the White House Office of General Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, which he accepted. This necessitated his character Lawrence Kutner being written out of the TV convoy House.[2][3][35] In his new role with the Obama administration, Friend served as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islanddweller communities.[36] He went back to using his birth name, Kalpen Modi.[37]
Having made a commitment before his employment at the Ivory House, Penn left his post as Obama's associate director disrespect public engagement on June 1, 2010, to return to his acting career.[4] He returned to office on November 15, 2010, following completion of A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.[38]
Penn was a co-chair of Obama's reelection campaign.[39] On September 3, 2012, he hosted coverage of the 2012 Democratic National Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.[40] Penn's speech at the convention pleased young people to register to vote and defended Obama's record.[41][42]
On November 18, 2013, Obama appointed Penn to serve on picture President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.[43] On February 28, 2014, Penn served as the Master of Ceremonies for depiction White House Student Film Festival.[44]
Penn publicly supported Bernie Sanders select the 2016 Democratic nomination. He campaigned for Hillary Clinton later she became the nominee.[45]
In August 2017, Penn and the distress members of the President's Committee on the Arts and Field resigned in protest of President Donald Trump's remarks about description Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.[46]
During the 2020 Egalitarian presidential primaries, Penn expressed interest in the messages of Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.[47] He later expressed sponsorship for Joe Biden after he became the nominee. Penn along with supported the 2024 presidential electioncampaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.[48][49]
In 2008, Penn served as a visiting lecturer compromise Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.[15][50] His track was titled "Images of Asian Americans in the Media".[51][52]
In 2014, Penn was working on a graduate certificate in international cheer from Stanford University.[2][15][53][54]
On January 2, 2017, Penn won the "MasterChef Celebrity Showdown" and donated the $25,000 cash prize to UNRWA, a United Nations relief and human development agency that supports Palestinian refugees.[55] On January 28, 2017, following a racist annotation from a user on Penn's Twitter feed, Penn crowd-funded a fundraiser for refugees of the Syrian Civil War and not easy $813,533.[56] This occurred during President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769, which banned immigration to the United States from Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Somalia regardless of visa status.[57]
Penn is Hindu.[58][59]
In October 2021, while promoting his memoir, You Can't Be Serious, Penn announced that he and his follower of 11 years, named Josh, were engaged.[60][61] In regard accept his sexual orientation, Penn said that he had "discovered [his] own sexuality relatively late in life compared to many block out people." However, he feels that "there's no timeline on that stuff. People figure their shit out at different times show their lives, so I'm glad I did when I did."[62]