Talk:Kal Penn

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Article Name[edit]

Given the White House position, it would seem more suitable for the article's title and URL to be his real name "Kalpen Modi" instead of his stage name "Kal Penn". "Kal Penn" should redirect to this article.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.109.96.247 (talk) 15:50, 9 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have moved the page. --Stalfur (talk) 11:09, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism about death[edit]

There seems to be an edit war going on about whether or not Penn is dead. Could someone perhaps protect this article? Sephirothrr (talk) 01:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Good call. In tonight's episode of house the character died. Fox did a very weird thing and posted an online memorial for the character ([1]). Some people must have read that and mistook Kutner for the real person Penn. That must have sparked the edits. I was refreshing the page as they were being made. Awefully funny. Now I see why my professors won't accept Wikipedia as a primary source for research.76.111.251.134 (talk) 01:55, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
so... just making sure... kal penn ISN'T dead? and (im assuming he is alive and well), does anyone know why he left house? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.252.191.40 (talk) 01:32, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There is nothing in any other media that I can find saying anything about his death. He seems to be focusing more on his movie acting considering the stuff to be released this year. Maybe like Tohper Grace he left to pursue other works.76.111.251.134 (talk) 01:55, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
We need to change his House dates so it doesn't list it as "2007-present" but from "2007-2009." jlk —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jenastaire (talk • contribs) 01:44, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Another good point. We should wait to unlock the edits until the media attention dies down.76.111.251.134 (talk) 01:55, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Whenever this page gets unlocked, please add the following information. Actor Kal Penn left the cast of the show House because he has accepted a position in the Obama Administration, where he will serve as Associate Director of in the office of Public Liaison for the White House. He revealed this is the reason for leaving House in an interview just published on Entertainment Weekly's website. He further indicated that for the time being, he will not be doing any acting work, though he hasn't ruled out a return to acting once his job at the White House ends.
Here's a link to the relevant interview: http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/04/house-exclusive.html#more —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.130.204.39 (talk) 07:25, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Just cleaned up the conversation, so that it didn't stretch the screen.--THobern 01:32, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Birthdate[edit]

This article lists two different years of birth: 1978 (in the infobox) and 1977 (at the beginning of the article). Does anyone know for sure which one is right? IMDb says 1977, but I'm not sure that I should automatically go with that since they've been wrong about birthdays before. kane2742 (talk) 15:49, 9 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Role in House link[edit]

At the beggining of the article there's a link to the character page of House M.D when there is an entire wikipedia article devoted exclusively to Penn's character. Should it not directly link to the latter page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.33.193.107 (talk) 16:22, 3 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Marlboro Middle School?[edit]

really? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.20.17.42 (talk) 20:34, 1 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Coincidence?[edit]

In house he plays as one of Dr. House's new fellowship applicants (correct right?) while he played a Med school applicant student in Harold & Kumar go to white castle, somewhat of a coincidence or am I reading into this too much

  • Lots of Indian people are encouraged to become doctors. Part of the reason I (as an Indian) was against it so much. :P --V2Blast (talk) 23:41, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Kal Penn interview...[edit]

I recently participated in an interview with Kal Penn. One thing I wanted to note is that he's stated the title of the "Harold and Kumar" sequel is not "Harold and Kumar go to Amsterdam". Figured that should be noted here, because it's really not official. At present, he said, it's "untitled". You can see the interview here.

High School[edit]

I am almost positive that he went to Howell High School. I knew he lived in Howell, and Howell HS has the Fine and Performing Arts Center. (FPAC)

Also, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0671980/bio

I will change it to Howell High School.

Hal06 22:12, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you check the Howell High School (New Jersey) and Freehold Township High School pages, it says that Penn went to the Howell learning center for 3 years, then went to FTHS for his senior year and graduated there. Someone should verify and change this information and make it consistent between these three pages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.109.96.247 (talk) 15:49, 9 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Non-user 11:49 9 March 2009


I have the 1992 and 1993 Freehold Township yearbooks, and Kal is in both of them. I believe (am not certain about this) that he went to FTHS, but took magnet courses at Howell (drama). Back then, the schools in the Freehold Regional District system each had special programs (eg - Marlboro had business, FTHS had International Studies, etc), and I think the Howell one just required taking classes there (as opposed to the others, where you would actually switch schools). In any case, I have the yearbooks so I know he spent at least his first two years enrolled at FTHS. --Stevehim (talk) 00:50, 7 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I remember him (very vaguely) from forensics when he went to Freehold, and my recollections support Stevehim's yearbook. However, just to be pedantic, none of these sources are Reliable Sources in the wikipedia sense, not even IMDB. Freehold is well attested, and if you want to add anything else, you'll need to cite a source. 131.96.47.17 (talk) 20:37, 31 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

wtf[edit]

there are a load of movies not in this article. just check his imdbc71.62.10.130 23:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Other Movies[edit]

I'm pretty sure I saw him in another movie, though I can't remember which. He spoke with a British accent and played some kind of scientist or researcher that was working at tracking station and giving updates on conditions. I really can't remember anything else, but I'm sure I saw him in this type of role. Does anyone know which movie I'm referring to? Please tell me if you know. Thanks 209.244.30.43 18:07, 8 February 2007 (UTC)George[reply]

Inconsistent[edit]

Filmography is in ascending order by year while tv appearances is in descending order by year. inconsistent — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.78.142.219 (talk) 04:18, 12 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

agreed. but please sign your posts. rhetoric 19:00, 3 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

And you please indent your posts when responding to someone. They are now consistent, but almost all of the filmography tables on Wikipedia are in descending chronological order (oldest at the top). This makes more sense, and the tables should be inverted to match the standard. Dfsghjkgfhdg (talk) 01:01, 21 December 2008 (UTC).[reply]

Biography assessment rating comment[edit]

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- KrakatoaKatie 01:21, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hindi Name[edit]

Ok, so he's of Indian descent, but he was born here in the USA. Is it appropriate to have the Hindi version of his name given? I'm of Italian, Scots, German and Swedish ancestry, but if there was a Wikipedia article about me, I'd expect it to show my name only in English. Wilybadger (talk) 02:39, 24 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

~~ Yes, but the context is different. To Indians, he is still very much an Indian, even though he is born and bred here. So his name written in Hind is important culturally. If you were Castilian, and your name were Antonio, it would be Antonio in any language. He doesn't have a separate name in Hindi, its just written in Hindi for Indians to identify with. Maybe it would be revalent for his grandchildren, if he marries a non-Indian and they whatever....But for him, his name written in Hindi is just as important as for Aishwarya Rai or John Abraham. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.219.174.202 (talk) 05:42, 24 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Where are you guys getting a Hindi version of his name? It's written in Gujarati and checked the previous edits and it's always been in Gujarati.

I'm putting the Gujarati spelling of his name in the article again, because Gujarati is written in a non-Latin script. To Wilybadger, Italian, Scots, German and Swedish are all written in the Latin script, so it is redundant to do so. You should check out other articles like Jolin Tsai's and complain there on why she has her Chinese name written in the article. That would be great. Signed, kotakkasut 03:16, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Error in Filmography[edit]

Note how the words '2007' 'Epic Movie' and 'The Namesake' have been placed in the wrong columns. I looked at the Edit page but I'm not very sure how to edit tables like that so if someone could correct it...? --Eviltimmehempire (talk) 20:45, 16 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Dead?[edit]

Why does the article have him as dying 4/6/08? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.240.64.130 (talk) 01:09, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

  • Spoiler for the show*

Penn's character dies in an episode, but there is no indication that the actor died. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.233.93.240 (talk) 01:13, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

He's not dead. Apparently Fox's peculiar out-of-story "memorial" for the character has confused some people. - Jason A. Quest (talk) 11:32, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

sorry I don't know how to start a new topic here, maybe someone can do this for me- I thought he didn't eat burgers during the filming of the white castle movie not because he was vegetarian, generally speaking, but because of his Hindu background (Hindus traditionally don't eat beef).. not sure if it got switched around, urban legend or whatnot, but worth researching... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.146.66.74 (talk) 20:49, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You're confused: Hindus are traditionally vegetarian, and vegetarians don't eat beef. Hence, Kal Penn is hindu, is vegetarian, doesn't eat beef, and ate soy burgers in 'Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle'.

Actor Kal Penn's surprise suicide on 'House' opens way to job with Obama White House[edit]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/04/07/2009-04-07_actor_kal_penns_surprise_suicide_on_hous.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.240.64.130 (talk) 02:12, 8 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

He didn't major from UCLA[edit]

It's false. Look at the reference, 3. It mentions only: "N.J., Penn received his B.A. in sociology with a specialization in theater, film and television from the University of California, Los Angeles"

In consequence, only one qualification, not 2 diploma qualification, with only specialization. No reference to his place. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.128.33.207 (talk) 07:10, 8 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

appeared on Buffy 4x05[edit]

Kal Penn had a bit part in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, season 4, episode 5, titled "Beer Bad". The character he played was named "Hunt", in the credits. AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 01:30, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

smoker or non smoker[edit]

It says in the article: Modi is a non-smoker, teetotaler and strict vegetarian since birth. Can I please have the source of this? I can't find it anywhere. 77.165.218.101 (talk) 13:22, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Leaves White House to return to Acting[edit]

Kal will be leaving his post at the White House to return to acting. He is set to star in Harold and Kumar 3 which is slated to start filming in late June of this year. Feel free to add this information to the article. [2] AcePuppy (talk) 18:09, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'd propose that the article be moved back to Kal Penn. If acting is again his primary career he'll almost certainly be using the stage name more.Bjones (talk) 17:47, 4 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
WP:Crystal Just wait until Penn confirms he'll leaving the White House. TbhotchTalk C. 19:55, 4 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Confirmed. Requesting a move back to Kal Penn. Why in the world did they even switch it in the first place? [3] Tktru (talk) 03:09, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Because "There were proper for a government worker". TbhotchTalk C. 03:12, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

 Done TbhotchTalk C. 03:58, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Have any of you confirmed that he's switching back to his old stage name? Unless you have, WP:CRYSTAL still applies. And even if he does resume the old name when working on films, what if he spends the rest of his life making occasional films under the name Kal Penn but also engaged in serious work as Kalpen Modi? In that case, I think the article should be under his real name. —Largo Plazo (talk) 16:02, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Was confirmed by Reuters, and is his stage name, always was and always will be, and his next work will be on H&K series. TbhotchTalk C. 16:08, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
"Always was an always will be"? You mean, like the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, or Roseanne Barr/Roseanne Arnold/Roseanne, or John Cougar Mellencamp/John Cougar/John Mellencamp? :-) —Largo Plazo (talk) 16:21, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yep. He has over 30 years perhaps at his 50th years he would change his name to one "more serious". TbhotchTalk C. 16:34, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The info box at the top of the page still lists him as working in the Obama administration. DFS (talk) 07:39, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's because he's resumed his post.Angry Mustelid (talk) 08:17, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, thanks! I didn't see that. DFS (talk) 08:59, 1 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Robbed at gun point[edit]

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/04/20/2010-04-20_harold__kumar_star_kal_penn_held_up_at_gunpoint_in_washington_dc.html heres the link that says he was robbed at gun point —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.176.63.140 (talk) 19:12, 20 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

 Done TbhotchTalk C. 19:20, 20 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]


Why is this notable? People get mugged all the time. DFS (talk) 02:51, 6 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
He's notable. What you're worried about is undue weight. A sentence is more than enough to devote to this factoid unless it someday becomes some kind of Defining Moment. 131.96.47.17 (talk) 20:40, 31 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting the section on Personal Life (Robbed at Gunpoint)[edit]

This should be deleted. It is not notable. The reason listed for undoing the edit is original research and based purely on a hunch. "I find it notable - such a traumatic event may have triggered hiatus" It doesn't matter if you find it notable because it may have caused something. You need to provide a reason why this information should be included in this article.

I also deleted the section Personal Life as the mugging is the only aspect of his personal life listed. Normally, sections on Personal Life talk about where they live, who they date, and who their family is. Getting mugged is insignificant detail compared to that kind of information. DFS (talk) 00:57, 11 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • Concur: "I think the mugging may have cause the hiatus" is a pretty obvious case of WP:SYNTH being used as justification for including the information. If Penn makes a statement in which he says such, then it would be notable for inclusion. - The Bushranger One ping only 18:43, 11 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Users who keep reverting this edit: You need to stop this edit war if you are not going to come on the talk page and discuss why you think this information is necessary to an encyclopedic understanding of the life of Kal Penn. The reasons you keep giving are bordering on personal attacks and this action is completely inappropriate and makes no sense. Why is this information important? Please answer the question!!DFS (talk) 18:48, 11 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The attack would have had an effect on Kal, possibly leading to his decision to take a break from politics and return to acting for a few films and appearences. From my standpoint and with a lack of direct evidence, this would be OR, but if anyone can find a ref (of an interview in which Kal directly says such, not tabloid speculation) then the section should stand and be modified to reflect the outcome. As it stands, wipe it, I just don't care anymore.Angry Mustelid (talk) 20:52, 11 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The 4th citation states that he left his position to fulfill his contract to appear in the third Harold and Kumar film. There is no evidence that the mugging had anything to do with his hiatus. DFS (talk) 22:09, 11 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

At this point, we have three people who have provided sound reasons for the section to be removed and nobody who has provided a sound reason to keep it. Would anyone like to provide anymore input? DFS (talk) 22:28, 11 December 2010 (UTC) Wiped. Until we get more info or the opinion of Kal himself, then...Angry Mustelid (talk) 22:50, 11 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Photo cutline[edit]

The cutline for the top photo is ambiguous. Whose inauguration is it referring to? Where is he? If these details can be found, the cutline will be much stronger. fdsTalk 17:12, 24 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not defiinitively sourced, moved here for discussion[edit]

The ad's narrator sounds a little like Kal Penn, but he doesn't appear, or receive credit. This can go in the article with a better source.

In 2012, Penn narrated a television commercial for Amazon.[1]
  1. ^ "We're the People with the Smile on the Box" (Amazon TV Commercial). Amazon.com Kindle YouTube channel. Retrieved November 13, 2012.

--Lexein (talk) 23:50, 16 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

barrack obama/ dnc[edit]

Many political advisors of Barack Obama were chosen to tranish his reputation, eg actors which would be used politically to ridicule him — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.49.157.227 (talk) 03:26, 11 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Association with Vice News[edit]

Found a relatively new video where Kal is reporting on the "Mississippi Battle Flag" controversy. I can't find much else related so he may have been a guest host.

("Heritage and Hate: Mississippi's State Flag". Youtube.com. Vice News. Retrieved 2 November 2015.)

Dmsdjing (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 04:48, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

How to update article[edit]

Kal Penn just sent a letter to Trump yesterday on behalf of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, which just disbanded itself. How should the article be updated? 98.14.15.215 (talk) 17:00, 19 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

IS he still Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement, given that he resigned from PCAH? 98.14.15.215 (talk) 17:06, 19 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Article says Kal Penn and his fiance are engaged, but he says on Daily SHow he's married?[edit]

He mentions his "Husband" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWR_VZClO5I

Date is uncertain.--KimYunmi (talk) 05:22, 16 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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