Yet another Indian actor is entering politics. But this one is hoping to chart a slightly different course. Indian-American actor Kal Penn is giving up what is considered a fairly successful acting career to plunge full-time into politics. Make no mistake. Penn, 32, is not seeking a ticket to the impending general elections, but is entering the White House as an associate director of public liaison in the Barack Obama administration.

But who is Kal Penn?

SEEN HIM AROUND: The fast-food chasing, pot-smoking Kumar of the popular Harold and Kumar series. The Indian audience, however, best knows him as Gogol Ganguli in Mira Nair’s 2007 film The Namesake.

ROOTS: Kal Penn was born Kalpen Suresh Modi in Mont Clair, New Jersey on April 23, 1977, to Gujarati-Hindu immigrant parents. With an engineer father and a mother who worked as an evaluator in a fragrance company, the boy was far removed from the world of showbiz. But he discovered a talent for — and interest in — the performing arts very early on in life. He was not only active in theatre productions in school, but also played bari-saxophone in the school jazz band. He secured a double major in film and sociology from UCLA.

KALPEN TO KAL PENN: Having made up his mind right after college to pursue a career in acting, Penn found himself thrown into the sometimes tiring, often demoralising process of knocking on producers’ doors. Very soon, however, he realised that his Indian name was proving to be a major deterrent.

And so Kalpen Modi became Kal Penn, a name that the actor says he chose for 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 Anglicised names appeal more to a white-dominated industry), I put ‘Kal Penn’ on my resume and photos.”

It worked. His audition call-backs rose by 50 per cent.

IN THE ACT: Penn’s film debut came in 1998 with Express: Aisle to Glory. Roles — some big, some small — in films like American Desi, Van Wilder, Malibu’s Most Wanted, A Lot Like Love, Love Don’t Cost A Thing, Superman Returns and Epic Movie followed. But it was as Kumar Patel in the 2004 comedy Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (with a 2008 sequel Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo Bay) that Penn caught the eye.

Apart from films, Penn also has a lot of television to his credit, significant among them being Buffy The Vampire Slayer and 24 (which Anil Kapoor has now been signed on for).

His popular character of Dr Lawrence Kutner in the Golden Globe nominated television series House M.D. was compelled to “commit suicide” when Penn got the all-important call from the White House.

THE NAMESAKE: It was his transition from a boy confused and ashamed of his Bengali roots — and his unique name — in a yuppie American environment to a man who discovers himself in The Namesake, that Penn came into his own. “The role of Gogol Ganguli was extremely close to my heart, it was me in a way,” Penn has been quoted as saying.

Director Mira Nair had already cast for the role. “His insistence impressed me nonetheless and I am glad I auditioned him, because he turned out to be perfect for the role of Gogol,” says the critically-acclaimed filmmaker.

“I enjoyed working with Kal Penn. We are almost of the same age…. After the shoot, we would be partying but the next day, it would be like, ‘Hey Mom’,” says Tabu who played Penn’s mother in the film.

THE OBAMA MAN: Though never actively involved in politics in his college days, Penn has gone on record saying that stories of his grandparents marching along with Mahatma Gandhi during India’s struggle for Independence greatly influenced him. However, he was till some years ago, not a Democrat or a Republican — he even confesses to having voted for both at different points of time.

But that was until a certain Barack Obama came into the running for the American presidency. Especially one evening when he was watching television at home. “It was Senator Obama’s keynote, and he said: ‘After 9/11, we should not be divided between blue states and red states. We should be focused on being the United States’.”

That impressed the actor so much that he began to campaign actively for Obama, not only providing a fresh, recognisable face to the Obama Express, but also using social media tools like blogs and Twitter to help energise America’s youth vote.

WHITE HOUSE CALLING: And early this month, the White House beckoned. “I got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there…. They (his department) do outreach with the American public and with different organisations. They’re basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It’s similar to what I was doing on the campaign,” an elated Penn revealed just after he was called to the White House.

All this means that Penn’s acting career is now on hold (although he does say he still has a “passion” for it) as he gets busy with what he calls “far more important issues”. And no, he isn’t deterred by the fact that the pay isn’t as great. “There’s not a lot of financial reward in these jobs. But, obviously, the opportunity to serve in a capacity like this is an incredible honour,” he smiles.

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