Kalpen Suresh Modi ( , born April 23, 1977),
best-known by his
stage name Kal
Penn, is an Indian American film actor and politician who
is serving as the Associate Director of the
White House Office of Public Engagement in the
Barack Obama administration.
On April 8, 2009, it was announced that he would join the Obama
White House as Associate Director of the
White House Office of Public Engagement. This necessitated that
his character
Lawrence
Kutner be written out of the TV series
House.
Prior to
his political engagement, Modi taught at the University of
Pennsylvania
as an adjunct member in the Cinema Studies
Program.
Early life
Modi was
born as Kalpen Suresh Modi in Montclair, New
Jersey
, to a father who worked as an engineer and a mother
who worked as a fragrance evaluator for a
perfume company. Both of his parents are
Gujarati immigrants
from India.
He has
stated that stories of his grandparents marching with Mohandas Gandhi for Indian
independence
were a significant influence on his interest in
politics.
Education
He
attended middle school at Marlboro Middle School in Marlboro, NJ
and played baritone
saxophone in the jazz band there. Modi attended The Fine
and Performing Arts Academy (a magnet
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.
He attended UCLA
, where he double majored in film and sociology.
Acting career
Modi'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, and 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.
Modi 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. Modi has
stated that he prefers his birth name and uses "Kal Penn" only for
professional purposes.
In January 2007, Modi appeared in the first four episodes of the
sixth season of
24 as
Ahmed Amar, a teenage
terrorist. Modi 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?"
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, Modi received
the
Asian Excellence Award
for Outstanding Actor for his performance in
The Namesake.
In fall 2007, Modi joined the cast of the
Fox medical drama
House as a fellowship applicant.
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". Modi continued with the series
through to the episode "
Simple
Explanation", which aired April 6, 2009. He made an additional
appearance as 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, Kal Modi
could not be present for the filming of this episode. The clip of
him saying "Too bad it wasn't true" was taken from a previous
filming.
Political interests
Modi was an advocate for
Barack Obama's
presidential
campaign in 2008 and a member of Obama's National Arts Policy
Committee. He appears in the
Barack
Obama video "
Sí Se Puede
Cambiar" by
Andres Useche 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, Modi 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. In his new role with
the Obama administration, Penn serves as a liaison with the
Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities. He has gone back
to using his birth name, Kalpen Modi.
Personal life
In spring
2008, Modi served as a visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies
at the University of
Pennsylvania. He taught two courses, "Images of Asian
Americans in the Media" and "Contemporary American Teen
Films."
Modi is
currently working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford
University
.
Filmography
Films
Television roles
References
- Ausiello, Michael. "'House' exclusive: The shocking story behind last night's
big death", Entertainment Weekly, 2009-04-07.
Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- It'll be the White House for Kal Penn now.
Rediff.com,
2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- Chhabra, Aseem. Kal Penn: Hollywood's Desi No1!. Rediff.com, 2005-04-22.
Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- Kal Penn's The Rachel Maddow Show appearance
(airdate April 10, 2009)
- Ahmad, Nakasha. "Kal Penn Goes To Hollywood". Nirali
Magazine, 2004-09-01. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- Yuan, Jada. "The White-Castle Ceiling". New
York, 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- Asian Excellence Awards - Winners
(archive)
- Penn, Kal. "Open Letter to Two Undeclared College
Superdelegates". The Huffington Post, 2008-05-11.
Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- Joshi, Monika. "Actor Kal Penn roots for Obama". Rediff.com, 2008-02-04.
Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- "It'll be the White House for Kal Penn now".
Rediff.com,
2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- http://www.tvguide.com/News/Kal-Penn-House-1004799.aspx
- "New role in Obama White House"
- Choudhury, Uttara. "You can call me Kalpen Modi". DNA (Daily
News & Analysis), 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- Actor Kal Penn to Teach at the University of
Pennsylvania. University of Pennsylvania Office
of University Communications, 2007-03-26. Retrieved
2009-04-07.
- Schwedel, Heather. "Kal Penn to teach at Penn". The Daily
Pennsylvanian, 2007-03-26. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- Asian
American Studies Program at University of Pennsylvania
External links
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