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Born in New Jersey, now resides in L.A. 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. Is a vegetarian, contrary to the role that he plays in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004). Has one younger brother. When he was in 8th grade he was in a school production of the musical "The Wiz". Although he attended Howell High School's performing arts program, he later transferred to Freehold Township (NJ) High School, where he graduated in 1995. Attended UCLA. Is the first Indian-American actor to have a successful career in mainstream Hollywood. 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. During the Spring 2008 semester, he was an adjunct faculty member in the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania (familiarly called "Penn") in Philadelphia. He taught a lecture course, "Images of Asian Americans in the Media," and a seminar, "Contemporary American Teen Films," both of which were cross-listed in the Cinema Studies department. His faculty listing on the Asian American Studies Program website gave his name as Kalpen Modi (his real name) first, with his stage name, Kal Penn, in parentheses. In April 2009, Penn told Entertainment Weekly Magazine that the writers killed off his character on "House M.D." (2004) because he had asked to be allowed to leave the show to go work for the Barack Obama Administration as the Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. Kal Penn was invited for an audition for the role of Gogol Ganguly in the movie Namesake, because Mira Nair's(director) son, Zohan and her agent's son Sam were big fans of Kal Penn's earlier movie - Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.