Kalpen Suresh Modi, better known by his stage name Kal Penn, is an American actor, novelist, academic lecturer, and former White House staff member in Barack Obama’s administration. He was born on April 23, 1977.
He is most known for his roles as Lawrence Kutner on the television show House, White House employee Seth Wright on Designated Survivor, and Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar film franchise. In addition, he is known for his role in the film The Namesake. Penn was a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Cinema Studies Program.
Penn joined the Obama administration in April 2009 as the White House Office of Public Engagement’s Principal Associate Editor. Lawrence Kutner, his TV character, had to be written out of House as a result of this.
Penn took a leave of absence from the White House in June 2010 to film the third edition of the Harold & Kumar franchise, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, before returning to his post. He departed the White House again in July 2011 to take a role in the television series How I Met Your Mother.
He starred as Seth Wright in the political drama Designated Survivor from 2016 to 2019, and also worked as a consultant on the show. He’s also known for hosting the game show Superhuman. Penn starred as Garrett Modi in the NBC sitcom Sunnyside in 2019. The next year, he hosted Kal Penn Approves This Message, a political talk miniseries on Freeform.
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