Indian-American actor Kal Penn, who works in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison, has been robbed at gunpoint in Washington DC.
Posted on April 22, 2010
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Life report of Indian-American actor Kal Penn
Born in New Jersey, now resides in L.A.
He attended the Fine and Performing Arts Center at Howell High School in Farmingdale, New Jersey where he went though an intense study of the arts in acting, dance/movement, and vocal training.
Once directed Jason Allentoff in a short film for a college project.
Is a vegetarian, contrary to the role that he plays in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004).
Met future Where’s the Party Yaar? (2003) co-star Datta Dave and Dave’s current financial adviser Mihir Upadhyaya during college at UCLA. He assisted Dave in his pursuit of an acting career.
Has one younger brother.His father is an engineer and his mother, who has a master’s in chemistry, worked as a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company.When he was in 8th grade he was in a school production of the musical “The Wiz”.Is of Gujarati Indian descent.
Although he attended Howell High School’s performing arts program, he later transferred to Freehold Township (NJ) High School, where he graduated in 1995.Lives in same Los Angeles apartment building as director Christian Levatino.
Attended UCLA.Began using the name Kal Penn, a variation on his first name Kalpen, to get more roles; he believed that his difficult foreign name would scare away potential employers.
Is the first Indian-American actor to have a successful career in mainstream Hollywood.He Was offered a part in “Planet Terror,” the Robert Rodriguez segment of Grindhouse (2007), but turned it down due to the conflicting shoot of The Namesake (2006).
His favorite book is “The Namesake” and used to check into hotels under the pseudonym of “Gogol Ganguli”, the lead character of the book. When found out that Mira Nair was making a film out of it, despite her having already cast an actor in the part, Penn lobbied for the role and eventually won it.Studied acting under the same teacher (Reynold Forman) as Anthony Bradford.
During the Spring 2008 semester, he was an adjunct faculty member in the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania (familiarly called “Penn”) in Philadelphia. He taught a lecture course, “Images of Asian Americans in the Media,” and a seminar, “Contemporary American Teen Films,” both of which were cross-listed in the Cinema Studies department. He taught a sociology and cinema class at the University of Pennsylvania. His faculty listing on the Asian American Studies Program website gave his name as Kalpen Modi (his real name) first, with his stage name, Kal Penn, in parentheses.
Indian-American actor Kal Penn, who works in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison, has been robbed at gunpoint in Washington DC.
Indian-American actor Kal Penn, who also works in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison, has been robbed at gunpoint in Washington DC.The 32-year-old actor, best known for his roles in Hollywood film ‘Harold & Kumar’ and Mira Nair’s ‘Namesake’,was in the Dupont Circle area of the US capital on Tuesday when a gunman looted his wallet and other belongings.Penn, whose real name is Kalpen Modi.
According to a police crime summary, an armed robber forced a victim to lie on the ground and give up his cell phone and other possessions.
Penn played Kumar in the movie Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and had a recurring role on the Fox show House.
He has been working in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison Associate Director in its Office of Public Engagement for less than a year, focusing on connecting US President Barack Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.
Penn recently has resigned from the post of an associate-director in the White House Office of Public Engagement to make his comeback to the acting world with a Christmas-themed Harold and Kumar movie in the pipeline.
The reason he left white house - Conventional wisdom states that Washington DC insiders — White House and congressional staffers, and elected officials, use their positions of power to move to more lucrative options, from cable news commentators, to becoming lobbyists or even launching their own political careers.
Penn was a prominent campaigner during President Obama’s 2008 White Housebid, and was offered a job in the administration in 2009.
“A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” is scheduled to hit theatres in November.
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