Line #24 Creator/KalPenn


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kal-penn-2.jpg]]
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3	Kal Penn (full name Kalpen Modi, born April 23, 1977 in Montclair, New Jersey) is an Indian-American film actor well-known for playing Kumar in the ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'' movies, Taj in the ''Film/VanWilder'' movies and Dr. Kutner in ''Series/{{House}}''.
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5	In January 2007, Penn appeared in the first four episodes of the sixth season of ''Series/TwentyFour'' 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. It was essentially accepting a form of racial profiling. I think it's repulsive. But it was the first time [[AwesomeDearBoy 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?"
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7	Also in January 2007, he appeared in the spoof comedy ''Film/EpicMovie''. In May 2007, Penn received the Asian Excellence Award for Outstanding Actor for his performance in ''Film/TheNamesake''.
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9	In Fall 2007, Penn joined the cast of the Fox medical drama ''Series/{{House}}'' as fellowship applicant Lawrence Kutner.
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11	On April 8, 2009, it was announced that he would join the UsefulNotes/BarackObama White House as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. This caused mixed reactions from fans as this necessitated that his character be written out of the show, as well as controversy from opponents of Obama who thought that [[IAmNotSpock the President hired some pot-smoking goof-off to be on his staff.]] He took a break from this post from June to November 2010 to film ''Film/AVeryHaroldAndKumar3DChristmas''.
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13	Prior to his political engagement, Penn taught at the University of Pennsylvania as an adjunct member in the Cinema Studies Program.
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15	From November 2013 to August 2017, he served on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He came out as gay in 2021, and has been living with his partner Josh since 2010.
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17	He has [[CreatorBacklash nothing nice to say]] about ''Film/SonOfTheMask''.
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19	!!His Film Roles
20	* ''Film/VanWilder'' (2002) as Taj Mahal Badalandabad
21	** ''Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj'' (2006)
22	* ''Film/LoveDontCostAThing'' (2003) as Kenneth Warman
23	* ''Film/MalibusMostWanted'' (2003) as Hadji
24	* ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'' (2004) as Kumar Patel
25	** ''Film/HaroldAndKumarEscapeFromGuantanamoBay'' (2008)
26	** ''Film/AVeryHaroldAndKumar3DChristmas'' (2011)
27	* ''Film/SonOfTheMask'' (2005) as Jorge
28	* ''Film/TheNamesake'' (2006) as Gogol/Nikhil Ganguli
29	* ''Film/SupermanReturns'' (2006) as Stanford
30	* ''Film/EpicMovie'' (2007) as Edward Pervertski
31	* ''Film/TheSisterhoodOfNight'' (2014) as Gordy Gambhir
32	* ''Film/SpeechAndDebate'' (2017) as James
33	* ''Film/TheLayover'' (2017) as Anuj
34	* ''Film/Smile2022'' as Dr. Morgan Desai
35	----
36	!!His TV Roles
37	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (1999) as Hunt (1 episode)
38	* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' (2000) as Prajeeb (1 episode)
39	* ''Series/SpinCity'' (2000) as Buddy (1 episode)
40	* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' (2001) as Fez Boy (1 episode)
41	* ''Series/{{ER}}'' (2001) as Narajan (1 episode)
42	* ''Series/NYPDBlue'' (2001) as Solomon Al-Ramahi (1 episode)
43	* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' (2007) as Henry Chanoor (1 episode)
44	* ''Series/TwentyFour'' (2007) as Ahmed Amar (4 episodes)
45	* ''Series/{{House}}'' (2007-09, 2012) as Dr. Lawrence Kutner (Main role 2007-09; guest 2012)
46	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' (2011-14) as Kevin (10 episodes)
47	* ''Series/BattleCreek'' (2015) as Detective Fontanelle White (11 episodes)
48	* ''Series/{{Deadbeat\|2014}}'' (2016) as Clyde (13 episodes)
49	* ''Series/NewGirl'' (2016) as Tripp (2 episodes)
50	* ''Series/DesignatedSurvivor'' (2016-19) as Seth Wright
51	* ''WesternAnimation/FancyNancy'' (2018-21) as Mr. Singh (voice) (3 episodes)
52	* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' (2019) as Dr. Campbell (3 episodes)
53	* ''WesternAnimation/BluesCluesAndYou'' (2019) as himself (1 episode)
54	* ''WesternAnimation/MiraRoyalDetective'' (2020-21) as Mikku (voice)
55	* ''Series/{{Clarice}}'' (2021) as Shaan Tripathi
56	* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStory'' (2022-)
57	** ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryNYC'' (2022) as Detective Mac Marzara
58	* ''Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff'' (2023)
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60	!!Related Tropes:
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62	* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Kal has said that his real-life persona is the opposite of the loose, freewheeling stoner Kumar. He does not smoke marijuana as he has not expressed interest in it, although he advocates its legalization. He's a vegetarian, so the crew in the first Harold and Kumar Film made his sliders vegetarian. He is also gay, although he did not publicly come out until 2021.
63	* ItsPersonal: He devoured the book ''Literature/TheNamesake'' by Jhumpa Lahiri, and immediately set about acquiring the film rights so that Indian-American director Mira Nair could make it. He was ''devastated'' to learn that someone else had already bought the film rights. Until he learned that it was Mira Nair. He then begged to be part of the production and was given the lead role.
64	* StageName: His screen name is basically his first name, Kalpen, separated. He decided to make this his stage name as casting agents responded to this more than his birth name.

Context Creator / KalPenn