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Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), known by his stage name Kal Penn is an Indian American actor and producer. He is known for his starring roles in National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, The Namesake (2007), and the recently released Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (2008). He currently plays the role of Dr. Kutner in the TV series House. Breaking into Hollywood as a leading actor has always been difficult, but for Asians it has been next to impossible. Though there has been plenty of opportunity for Indian actors to play cab drivers, 7-11 clerks or medical students with incoherent accents, the standard leading man has been out of reach. Kal Penn has experienced firsthand the latent racism that still pervades the Hollywood system, though he did manage to break through with a leading role in the raucously funny teen comedy, “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” (2004). Prior to his breakout, Penn was relegated to minor stereotypical roles, most notably in “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder” (2002), in which he played a geeky exchange student from India, complete with high-pitched lilting accent. Penn was born in Montclair, New Jersey to an engineer father and a mother who worked as a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company; both of his parents were immigrants of Indian Gujarati ancestry. Penn is an alumnus and graduate of Freehold Township High School, but is sometimes said to be a graduate of Howell High School where 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. While at UCLA, he was a founding member of the underground intellectual society, "6 South". He also played a big role in the on-campus club, Sangam, which has also disbanded. 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. Penn was featured in the The Lonely Island's rejected Awesometown MTV pilot music video, along with his friend Brandon Routh (who played Superman in Superman Returns). 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%. Penn has stated that he prefers his birth name and uses "Kal Penn" only for professional purposes. The exposure from “Harold and Kumar” allowed Penn to play more diverse roles in larger projects. He appeared in an episode of “Six Feet Under” (2001- ) and was cast in a few Hollywood blockbusters, including the decade-late sequel, “Son of the Mask” (2005), with Jamie Kennedy, and the lame romantic comedy “A Lot Like Love” (2005), both of which failed to spark a modicum of interest with critics and audiences. Meanwhile, Penn was cast to appear in the road comedy “Vegas Baby” (2005) and Lex Luthor's genius lackey Stanford in the long-awaited cinematic return of the Man of Steel, “Superman Returns” (2006). Meanwhile, Penn was set to star in the sequel “Van Wilder Deux: The Rise of Taj” (2006), reviving his character to take center stage, as Taj goes to Oxford University to study and show the uptight student body how to have a good time. For his next feature, “The Namesake” (2006), Penn went a different direction into drama, playing the son of Indian immigrants whose search for his own unique identity might cause him to lose touch with his heritage. 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. 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, where he played a recognition-starved rapist and murderer. 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. According to E!, Penn has 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”. In 2008, Penn campaigned for Senator Barack Obama's presidential bid with House co-star Olivia Wilde. He appears in the Obama video, Si Se Puede Cambiar by Andres Useche. Penn is also a noted vegetarian, this is noted as for filming of Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, technicans made veggie castles for him for the burger scenes. Born in New Jersey, now resides in L.A. He and the other students were banned from using the word "like" in his acting classes, this was to make them sound more intelligent during auditions. 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 'Leon Shanglebee'. 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. 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. Penn was a guest professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 2008. According to his students, he refuses to be called "Kal Penn," which he considers a sign of disrespect, and instead prefers "Professor Modi." Although he is a well known actor on film, at UPenn, he is as strict as any other professor. |
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