Kal Penn
His television credits include a recurring role on Day 6 of the series 24, and he currently plays Dr. Lawrence Kutner on the series House.
Biography
Early life
Penn was born with the name Kalpen Modi in Montclair, New Jersey, to a mother who worked as a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company; both of his parents are Indian and Hindu He attended middle school at Marlboro Middle School and played baritone saxophone in the jazz band there.
Penn is an alumnus and graduate of Howell High School, which is part of the Freehold Regional High School District. He was active in the school's theater productions, and The Fine and Performing Arts Specialized Learning Center for three years.
He attended UCLA, where he double majored in Film and Sociology.
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 2, with an uncredited appearance in Deck the Halls.
Penn was featured in the The Lonely Island's rejected MTV music video for "Awesometown", along with his friend Brandon Routh.
Penn says that he chose the stage name Kal Penn (from Kalpen Suresh Modi) 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.
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.
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?"
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.
In fall 2007, Penn joined the cast of the FOX medical drama House as one of Dr. House's new fellowship applicants. 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".
In spring 2008, Penn served as visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught a course titled “Images of Asian Americans in the Media”.
Personal life
Penn is a vegetarian; during the filming of Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, technicians provided him with soy patties instead of hamburger.
He appears in the Barack Obama video "Sí Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche.
Penn was also a frequent campaigner for Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Appeared with comedian George Lopez on January 18, 2009 at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.
Filmography
Films
Television roles
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