Kal Penn

At 47 years old, Kal Penn has this physical status:

Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), also known as Kal Penn, is an American actor, comedian, and civil servant.

He is best known for his portrayal of Lawrence Kutner on the television show House, as well as the actor and actress Karen Patel in the Harold & Kumar film series.

He has also been praised for his role in The Namesake.

As a visiting lecturer, Penn has taught at the University of Pennsylvania in the Cinema Studies Program. Penn began working with the Obama administration as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement in April 2009.

Lawrence Kutner, the actor's television character, was necessitated, so it was imperative that his House biography be written out of House.

In June 2010, Penn briefly stayed at his desk to film A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, the third installment of the Harold & Kumar series, returning to his White House post after the movie's completion.

He left the White House in July 2011 to attend a role in the television series How I Met Your Mother. Seth Wright appeared in the political drama Designated Survivor and served as the show's host.

In 2019, Penn played Garrett Modi in the NBC sitcom series Sunnyside.

Early life

He was born in Montclair, New Jersey, to Gujarati immigrant parents. Asmita Bhatt, the perfumer, is a perfume evaluator, and Suresh Modi, his father, is an engineer. His father is from Kaira, and his mother was born in Baroda. Modi used to visit Gujarat as a child, and he is able to speak Gujarati. He has stated that stories of his grandparents marching with Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian liberation movement had a major influence on his decision toward politics. He is Hindu.

Modi played baritone saxophone in the jazz band at Marlboro Middle School in Marlboro Township, New Jersey. He attended The Fine and Performing Arts Academy, a magnet program at Howell High School, for freshman year, and senior year; both classes are part of the Freehold Regional High School District. He was active in the schools' theater productions and competed on the Freehold Township National Honor Society's Speech and Debate team (formerly known as Forensics). In 2000, he graduated from UCLA and double majored in film and sociology, and psychoanalysis followed.

Personal life

Penn revealed that he and his partner of 11 years, Josh, are engaged to marry in October 2021, while promoting his book You Can't Be Serious. Penn said he "discovered [his] own sexuality in a relatively late age in life relative to many others." "There is no timeframe" for this stuff, he says. People make their shit out at different stages in their lives, so I'm glad I did when I did."

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Career

In Express: Aisle to Glory, Penn's debut film was released in 1998. He has since appeared in American Desire, Van Wilder's last episode, Love Don't Cost a Thing, The Namesake, the Harold & Kumar series, and an uncredited appearance in Deck the Halls.

"I derived Kal Penn" on his resume and photos to see if what I was told would work (that anglicized names appeal more to a white-dominated industry). His audition callbacks increased by 51%. He has stated that he prefers his birth name and uses "Kal Penn" only for professional needs.

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 almost resigned from the position due to personal ethics:

He appeared in the spoof comedy Epic Movie in January 2007, as well as the television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In May 2007, Penn was named the Outstanding Actor for his role in The Namesake. Penn became a fellowship holder in fall 2007 when she joined the Fox medical drama House as a student.

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Penn, Olivia Wilde, and Peter Jacobson had signed up as a regular on the show, and it was confirmed in the episode "Games" plot. Penn continued with the series through to the episode "Simple Explanation," which aired on April 6, 2009. Lawrence Kutner made an additional appearance on "Both Sides Now," the fifth-season finale, which aired on May 11, 2009. However, Penn could not attend the filming of this episode due to his new position at the White House. The video of him saying, "Too bad it isn't true," was taken from a previous filming. For the series's final, Penn returned to the theater.

He is best known for his role in Harold & Kumar as Kumar Patel, a pothead who goes with Harold Lee (John Cho) to White Castle for a hamburger, in addition to his TV appearance. Unlike his character, he does not smoke marijuana, saying that it is not for him or not eat meat.

In the seventh season of How I Met Your Mother, Penn appeared as Kevin, a doctor and later boyfriend of Robin Scherbatsky. On the Discovery Channel, Penn hosted Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius, beginning May 1, 2013. Penn appeared on We Are Men in 2013.

He was cast in Ravi Kumar's film Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, a film about the Bhopal gas tragedy that was considered by many to be the world's biggest industrial disaster. On the CBS comedy-drama Battle Creek, which was cancelled during its first season, Penn played Detective Fontanelle White.

Seth Wright, a White House speech writer who served under the previous president's administration, began appearing in Designated Survivor on ABC in October 2016. Following the White House Press Secretary's death and the acting press secretary's absence on the job, his character was promoted to Press Secretary. Penn also worked as a political consultant for the series. Netflix has revived the series for a third season, which was announced on June 7, 2019.

Penn has expressed an interest in working in Indian cinema, particularly in Gujarati cinema.

On March 7, 2019, Penn appeared in the main role of Garrett Modi on the NBC comedy Sunnyside and the series was ordered on May 6, 2019. After eight episodes were made, the show was cancelled.

Penn was a lead on the 2021 CBS thriller drama series Clarice, a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, on May 9, 2020.

Penn was supposed to produce and star in the biopic Superfan, which tells the tale of Nav Bhatia.

In 2007 and 2008, Penn served as an ambassador for Barack Obama's presidential campaign and as a member of Obama's National Arts Policy Committee. He appears in Andres Useche's "Se Puede Cambiar" video and performed with comedian George Lopez on January 18, 2009 at "We Are One: The Lincoln Memorial" in the United States.

Penn was first given the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs in early 2009, which he accepted. Lawrence Kutner's character was sorely written out of the TV series House of Commons. Penn served as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander groups in his current position in the Obama administration. Kalpen Modi, his birth name, was revived.

Penn resigned as Obama's associate director of public affairs on June 1, 2010, before committing to his acting career. Following the conclusion of A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, he returned to office on November 15, 2010.

She was a co-chair of Obama's reelection bid. He hosted coverage of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 3, 2012. Young people should vote and protect Obama's record, according to Penn's address at the convention.

President Barack nominated Penn to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities on November 18, 2013. Penn was named Master of Ceremonies for the White House Student Film Festival on February 28, 2014.

Bernie Sanders was overwhelmingly supportive of him for the 2016 Democratic nomination. After Hillary Clinton became the nominee, he ran for Hillary Clinton.

In August 2017, Penn and the other members of the President's Commission on Humanities resigned in reaction to President Donald Trump's remarks on the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Penn expressed concern with Pete Buttigieg's messages, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren's messages during the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. Since being the nominee, Joe Biden later expressed support for him.

Penn lectured at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 as a visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies. "Images of Asian Americans in the Media" was the subject of his lecture.

Penn was studying at Stanford University for a graduate certificate in international security in 2014.

Penn won the "MasterChef Celebrity Showdown" on January 2, 2017 and donated the $25,000 cash prize to UNRWA, a UN relief and human development organization that helps Palestinian refugees. Following a racial remark made by a Penn's Twitter feed, Penn crowd-funded a fundraiser for Syrian Civil War refugees of the Syrian Civil War, which earned $813,533. During President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769, which barred entry to the United States from Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Somalia, regardless of visa status.

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