Whatever Happened To Kal Penn?
Kal Penn has been making us laugh for decades. In his early career, Penn was known for his breakout role in the movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle." Since then, he's played dozens of characters and found a particular streak of success on television. Though he's best known for comedic guest appearances in shows like "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory," Penn's contribution to dramas like "Designated Survivor" or, more recently, "American Horror Story: NYC" prove that he's not a one-trick pony.
Of course, anyone who's followed Penn's career closely knows that he didn't vanish into obscurity after making 2004's best stoner comedy. Shortly after making "Harold and Kumar," Penn landed on the series "House" where he portrayed Dr. Lawrence Kutner before surprising everyone with a sudden career change that took him to Washington, D.C., and the White House. Penn has spent the last couple of decades pursuing whatever he's passionate about. That's led him to wear many different hats, but he's never strayed far from the camera.
His early roles could have discouraged him
Considering the way that Kal Penn's career began, it's amazing that he's stuck around the movie business for over two decades. Penn found early on that most casting directors were entirely willing to pigeonhole him, usually by asking him to put on an exaggerated Indian accent. Some of his earliest major roles, like that of Taj Mahal Badalandabad in "National Lampoon's Van Wilder," were little more than a few stereotypes stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat.
Penn persevered, partly by looking for the good in every role offered to him and partly by being outspoken about what he saw. When Penn signed on to play the terrorist Ahmed Amar in the TV show "24," he didn't shy away at all from calling out the problems with the character. "I have a huge political problem with the role ... I think it's repulsive," Penn told New York Magazine. Despite that, he wanted to play a villain who got to kidnap families and blow up buildings. "As an actor, why shouldn't I have that opportunity?"
Penn has found success in having it both ways. By taking on problematic roles, he's been able to shine a light on the rampant biases in show business. He's an established actor now, but he's still bringing that same energy. "The reason I tell these stories is because I love the systems in which we work," Penn said in an interview with NJ Advance Media, adding, "I want to help make it better."
He briefly worked as a college professor
Kal Penn has always been able to wear multiple hats at once. Acting may be his primary focus, but there have been plenty of times that Penn has dipped into other career fields. Shortly after filming wrapped on the "Harold and Kumar" sequel, Penn was getting ready to shift gears and go back to school. This time, though, he'd be standing on a different side of the classroom.
In March 2007, the University of Pennsylvania announced that Penn would be coming to its campus as a guest lecturer for the spring semester in 2008. Some might have questioned Penn's qualifications as a professor, but the two classes he taught were undeniably in his wheelhouse. Penn offered "Images of Asian Americans in Media" and "Contemporary American Teen Films" to the students of the School of Arts and Sciences. The experience didn't cause Penn to leave Hollywood behind for a life in academics, but it did help him prepare for another massive career change that was right around the corner.
The Obama campaign got him involved in politics
Part of the energy that Kal Penn brought to his acting career came from his family. Though Penn might have had more interest in the arts than politics, he couldn't ignore his own family's political history. During the struggle for Indian independence from Great Britain, Penn's grandparents marched with Gandhi to make their commitment to the cause known. Penn brought that mindset with him to Hollywood, but in 2007, he got explicitly involved in politics.
Penn had the opportunity to meet a certain presidential candidate named Barack Obama, and their interaction must have left Penn seriously inspired. He joined the campaign as a celebrity volunteer and worked with Obama from caucus season in Iowa all the way through the election. Penn enjoyed working on the campaign so much that he wanted to find a way to keep working with the Obamas. He eventually landed a job at the White House, but thanks to a ridiculous mistake on his part, that almost never happened.
He spent years working in the White House
After working on the Obama campaign, Kal Penn wanted a job in the administration, but he didn't want to come off as someone playing up their celebrity status. He decided to go about getting the job like everyone else, so he filled out an application and sent in his resume. Penn didn't follow up on the application, and he specifically didn't mention it to the Obamas. He never heard back from anyone in the administration.
Penn thought his political dreams were dashed. Months later, he and his agent were at the inaugural concert, and Penn's agent mentioned to Michelle Obama that he'd been passed over for a White House job. Penn told The Hill that when Mrs. Obama heard he'd sent in a resume, "She gave me the look you'd give someone if they dropped a piece of pizza on the ground and then picked it up and ate it in front of you." After giving Penn a hard time about not talking to them about the application, the Obamas offered him a job.
Penn went on to work as an associate director of public engagement. He was responsible for doing public outreach to a variety of different groups, including young people, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and people working in the arts. When Obama's reelection came around, Penn co-chaired the campaign, and after that, he served on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
His political work has influenced his acting career
Obviously, Kal Penn didn't leave acting behind entirely for a new career in politics. He spent several years working in the Obama administration, but then it was back to the usual Hollywood grind. Show business hadn't changed all that much while Penn was away, but as he made his return to acting, he stumbled into a way to bring his political experience along with him.
In 2016, Penn took a role in the ABC show "Designated Survivor." The show follows Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland), a Cabinet member who finds himself unexpectedly elevated to the Oval Office after a massive attack kills everyone above him in the line of succession. Penn plays Seth Wright, a speech writer turned press secretary who aids the new President Kirkman at every step of the way.
Penn didn't just act on the show. He also worked as a political consultant. Thanks to the years that he spent working in the White House, Penn was able to offer a unique expertise. He could provide simple fact-checking about things like White House badges and basic processes, and he occasionally suggested changing parts of a scene for accuracy. The show leaned toward drama more than documentary, though, but for Penn, that was a relief. He told TV Insider that despite the White House sets, his work on the show barely reminded him of his time in politics. "Here, I'm walking onto a TV set with a latte. It's fun."
He wrote a memoir
After more than a decade working in show business and several years as a White House staffer, just about anyone would need a break. When Kal Penn left the White House, though, he didn't slow down. He got right back into acting, but even that wasn't enough for some people.
Penn told The New York Times about a big idea his agent had for Penn's post-politics career. He wanted Penn to write a book. At first, the actor was resistant to the idea. He hadn't gone to the White House with the intention of writing about it, and he didn't want to look like someone who had just taken the job for personal gain. Penn turned his agent down, but the idea didn't end right then and there.
As time went on, Penn started to really consider writing something, but he didn't have a political memoir in mind. Penn described the moment he turned around on the book idea in his interview with the Times. He thought, "I'd love to write a book for the 20-year-old version of me." That finally gave him a way into the story, and he started working on a book about how a young man of color found his way in Hollywood and went from playing stereotypes to really breaking new ground. Though he said he struggled with plenty of self-doubt while putting the book together, Penn got his memoir "You Can't Be Serious" published in 2021.
He got engaged and came out at the same time
When Kal Penn published his memoir, fans got to see a brand new side of the actor. In the book, Penn came out publicly for the first time and told the story of his disastrous first date with his longtime partner, Josh. Penn told The New York Times that telling the story of his relationship was a major part of his inspiration for writing the book. Penn and Josh first met while Penn was working in the Obama administration and living in Washington, D.C. "He showed up with an 18-pack of Coors and turned my TV from "SpongeBob" to NASCAR," Penn said. "I thought, 'This guy's leaving here in 40 minutes with 16 beers.'" Instead, they ended up dating and have been together for more than a decade.
It's not all marital bliss, though – at least not yet. In the memoir, Penn revealed that he and Josh are engaged, but the actor told People that there's some disagreement about how they should handle getting married. "I want the big-ass Indian wedding," Penn said. His partner doesn't exactly feel the same way. Whenever they work out their differences, odds are good that the wedding will be as un-publicized as their relationship has been.
He still visits the West Wing
Kal Penn spent two years working in the White House before returning to his acting career. Then, he came back to help with President Obama's reelection campaign before joining the administration in a different capacity as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Penn held onto that gig until 2017, a little way into then-President Trump's administration. Penn and others left the committee when Trump refused to condemn a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, but that wasn't Penn's last interaction with the executive branch.
Penn still knows plenty of people in Washington D.C., and one of them has gotten a serious promotion since Penn's time in the city. Penn got to know Joe Biden when he was still Vice President, but even though Biden has even more responsibility these days, he still makes time for old friends. As part of Penn's brief stint hosting The Daily Show, he sat down with President Biden for a lengthy interview. The two talked plenty of politics, but Biden also offered Penn some personal advice, urging him to get married and stop dragging out his engagement any longer.
He's still a regular on TV
Whatever happened to Kal Penn? By now, it should be obvious that there's a whole slew of complicated answers to that question. Since breaking out in teen comedies like "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," Penn has built a career in Hollywood and in Washington, D.C. He's worked as an author and a White House staffer. There are a number of ways to describe what happened to him, but one of the simplest is nothing at all.
Penn may have found time to pursue alternative careers, but he did that without ever giving up acting. Back when Penn still had his White House job, he briefly left on two occasions. First, he went to film "A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas," and later, he left to work on "How I Met Your Mother."
Since leaving the White House for good, Penn has starred in dozens of episodes of "Designated Survivor," but that's far from his only recent TV credit. He's also picked up roles on shows like "The Big Bang Theory," "American Horror Story," and "The Santa Clauses." He's even found time for a smattering of movies, most recently the 2022 horror flick "Smile." Whatever else has happened to Penn in the past, he's always remained a busy actor.
He's gotten into voice acting
Throughout all his years on screen, big and small, Kal Penn has mostly become known for his live-action performances. The longer his career stretches on, though, the more often Penn has been adding voice acting to his repertoire. Penn's talent for voice acting should hardly surprise anyone, least of all the people he auditioned for back in the early days of his career. Back when Penn was still being constantly asked to use a stereotypical accent in his auditions, he would first ask if he should perform in a variety of other accents — New York, Scottish, Irish, Italian — to see if he could get the casting directors to admit what they were really after.
Penn's mastery of different accents didn't exactly help him avoid Hollywood's racial biases, but these days, it's opening new doors for his career. Penn has made a number of vocal appearances in children's shows like "Sanjay and Craig," "It's Pony," and "Mira, Royal Detective." He's not limiting himself exclusively to voice work for kids, though. In May 2022, Penn joined the cast of "Jodie," an animated film spin-off of the MTV adult animation series "Jodie." Now that Penn is stepping into the world of animation for grown-ups, it's only a matter of time before he shows up in some of the biggest animated shows currently on the air.
He created his own TV series
In 2019, Kal Penn got to add "TV show creator" to his resume. Penn didn't just create the NBC comedy "Sunnyside," he also starred in it as Garrett Modi. Penn's character was once the youngest New York City councilman ever elected who now finds himself disgraced and out of a job. Garrett has had to move in with his sister while he tries to put his life back together, but his luck seemingly turns around when a group of immigrants hires him to help them gain U.S. citizenship.
In an interview with The New York Times, Penn recalled a conversation with his manager where he laid out his inspiration for creating the show in the first place. "Thematically, this sounds cheesy, but I love making people laugh, and I love America," Penn said. "It would be great if we could do a show that makes people do both of those together." Ahead of the show's premiere, Penn made a post calling it his dream project, but sadly, it wasn't meant to last.
"Sunnyside" was barely four episodes into its first season when NBC announced some bad news for the series. Thanks to extremely low ratings compared to other shows on the network, NBC decided to pull "Sunnyside" off the air immediately. The remaining episodes still exist, but fans have to track them down online now.