1. Kalpen Suresh Modi, known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration.
37 Facts About Kal Penn
1. 2.
Kal Penn is recognized for his performance in the film The Namesake.
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In 2019, Kal Penn portrayed Garrett Modi in the NBC sitcom series Sunnyside.
4.
Kal Penn's mother, Asmita Bhatt, is a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company, and his father, Suresh Modi, is an engineer.
5.
Kal Penn's father is from Kheda and his mother was born in Vadodara.
6.
Kal Penn regularly visited Gujarat as a child during vacations, and he can speak some Gujarati as well as some Hindi.
7.
Kal Penn attended Marlboro Middle School in Marlboro Township, New Jersey, where he played baritone saxophone in the jazz band.
8.
Kal Penn was active in the schools' theater productions and competed on the Freehold Township National Honor Society Speech and Debate team.
9.
Kal Penn has stated that he prefers his birth name and uses "Kal Penn" only for professional purposes.
10.
In January 2007, Kal Penn appeared in the first four episodes of the sixth season of 24 as Ahmed Amar, a teenage terrorist.
11.
Kal Penn says he nearly turned down the role due to personal ethics:.
12.
In May 2007, Kal Penn received the Asian Excellence Award for Outstanding Actor for his performance in The Namesake.
13.
In fall 2007, Kal Penn joined the cast of the Fox medical drama House as a fellowship applicant.
14.
Kal Penn continued with the series through to the episode "Simple Explanation", which aired April 6,2009.
15.
Kal Penn made an additional appearance as Lawrence Kutner on the fifth-season finale, "Both Sides Now", that aired on May 11,2009.
16.
Kal Penn had a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother for the seventh season of the show, in which he played Kevin, a therapist and later boyfriend of Robin Scherbatsky.
17.
Kal Penn played Detective Fontanelle White on the CBS comedy-drama Battle Creek, which was canceled during its first season.
18.
In October 2016, Kal Penn began a regular role in the ABC drama series Designated Survivor as Seth Wright, a White House speech writer who originally worked under the previous president's administration.
19.
Kal Penn has expressed some interest in working in Indian cinema, particularly in Gujarati cinema.
20.
On March 7,2019, Kal Penn was cast in the main role of Garrett Modi on the NBC comedy Sunnyside and the series was ordered on May 6,2019.
21.
On May 9,2020, Kal Penn was cast as a lead on the 2021 CBS thriller drama series Clarice, a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs.
22.
On December 2,2021, Kal Penn was set to produce and star in the biopic Superfan which depicts the story of Nav Bhatia.
23.
In 2023, Kal Penn guest starred in the Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
24.
Kal Penn was an advocate for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008 and a member of Obama's National Arts Policy Committee.
25.
Kal Penn appears in the Barack Obama-supporting video "Si 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".
26.
In early 2009, Kal Penn was offered the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, which he accepted.
27.
Kal Penn went back to using his birth name, Kalpen Modi.
28.
On November 18,2013, Obama appointed Kal Penn to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
29.
On February 28,2014, Kal Penn served as the Master of Ceremonies for the White House Student Film Festival.
30.
Kal Penn publicly supported Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic nomination.
31.
Kal Penn campaigned for Hillary Clinton after she became the nominee.
32.
Kal Penn later expressed support for Joe Biden after he became the nominee.
33.
Kal Penn supported the 2024 presidential election campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
34.
Kal Penn's course was titled "Images of Asian Americans in the Media".
35.
In 2014, Kal Penn was working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University.
36.
On January 2,2017, Kal Penn won the "MasterChef Celebrity Showdown" and donated the $25,000 cash prize to UNRWA, a United Nations relief and human development agency that supports Palestinian refugees.
37.
In October 2021, while promoting his memoir, You Can't Be Serious, Kal Penn announced that he and his boyfriend of 11 years, named Josh, were engaged.