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Chhabra, Aseem. [http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/apr/22kal.htm Kal Penn: Hollywood's Desi No1!]. ''[[Rediff.com]]'', 2005-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-07.</ref> He has stated that stories of his grandparents marching with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] for [[India]]n independence were a significant influence on his interest in politics.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/30159949#30159949 Kal Penn's ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' appearance (airdate April 10, 2009)]</ref> |
Chhabra, Aseem. [http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/apr/22kal.htm Kal Penn: Hollywood's Desi No1!]. ''[[Rediff.com]]'', 2005-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-07.</ref> He has stated that stories of his grandparents marching with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] for [[India]]n independence were a significant influence on his interest in politics.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/30159949#30159949 Kal Penn's ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' appearance (airdate April 10, 2009)]</ref> |
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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 school|magnet program]]) at [[Howell High School (New Jersey)|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 [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]], where he double majored in [[film]] and [[sociology]].<ref name=UPenn/> |
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 school|magnet program]]) at [[Howell High School (New Jersey)|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 [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]], where he double majored in [[film]] and [[sociology]].<ref name=UPenn/> |
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==Acting career== |
==Acting career== |
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Kal Penn
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| 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 active | 1998-2009, 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]
Penn was born as Kalpen Suresh ModiinMontclair, 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 SchoolinMarlboro, NJ and played baritone saxophone in the jazz band there. Penn attended The Fine and Performing Arts Academy (amagnet 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]
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 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 24asAhmed 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]
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 serves as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.[18] He has 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]
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]
On April 20, 2010, Penn was held up at gun point, in Dupont Circle, at 1:30 AM by an unidentified man who took his wallet and other belongings .[23][24]
| 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 |
| 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 |
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