Actor Kal Penn joining the Obama administration

[echarcha]

Last night as I watched the show House on Fox, the episode showed that the character played by Kal Penn had committed suicide. I was wondering what happened? Why did Kal Penn leave the show? Or was he booted? Well here is the answer --

Actor Kal Penn joining the Obama administration
Posted: 04:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Actor and longtime Obama supporter Kal Penn is joining the Obama administration, the White House confirmed to CNN Tuesday.

The actor will be part of the White House Office of Public Liaison, which is run by Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. Penn will be primarily involved in dealing with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and the arts community.

Penn's new gig was first reported by EW.com (http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/04/house-exclusive.html), which shares parent company Time Warner with CNN.

Penn told EW.com that the new position comes after some soul-searching.

There was "'something aching in me to do something completely different and take a break from the acting thing for a while'" Penn said he told the executive producers of the TV series "House" when he explained his decision to get involved with politics full-time.

The actor also said his interest in politics has deep roots. "I've been thinking about [moving into politics] for a while. I love what I do as an actor. I couldn't love it more. . . . .probably from the time I was a kid, I really enjoyed that balance between the arts and public service."

"It's probably because of the value system my grandparents instilled in me. They marched with Gandhi in the Indian independence movement, and that was always in the back of my head. So the past couple of years I thought about it a little more."

But Penn also is leaving the door open to returning to acting at some later point. "Who's to say where any path leads? I still have a passion for it. But for the time being, I won't be acting," Penn told EW.com

Penn endorsed Obama's White House bid in late 2007, and was a frequent campaign surrogate on the trail last year.

LINK (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/07/actor-kal-penn-joining-the-obama-administration/)

Read more on EW.com (http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/04/house-exclusive.html)

[swami]

Is he the same one who worked in Namesake ?

[echarcha]

Is he the same one who worked in Namesake ?
YEs he is.

[chitrala]

YEs he is.
When he came on Late Late Show he claimed that he was actively involved with Obama campaign...calling people and stuff... looks like time to get rewarded...

[DesiBaba]

Last night as I watched the show House on Fox, the episode showed that the character played by Kal Penn had committed suicide. I was wondering what happened? Why did Kal Penn leave the show? Or was he booted? Well here is the answer --

yeah i was damn pissed last night..i guess i have my answer now

[tantric_yogi]

"It's probably because of the value system my grandparents instilled in me. They marched with Gandhi in the Indian independence movement, and that was always in the back of my head. So the past couple of years I thought about it a little more." --

I keep telling you guys ... GUJUBHAIS are smart ... very smart. And this Kalpennbhai is not only a gujju but Mody as well. Lord Krisna for sure was a gujjubhai.

Never occurred to me ... I can claim in my bio-data ... my parents and grand parents were close associates of Mahatma Gandhi and participated in independence march!

I won't be lying either ... cause my father did wear KHADI pagdi and dhoti to support Mahatma Gandhi and so did my grandfather. Come to think of it ... my great-grand-father was close associate of Gandhi even before Gandhi was born. And we often had less salt in our food to support Gandhiji's salt yatra.

[DesiBaba]

'House': The Truth Behind the Shocking Surprise (http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/house-the-truth-behind-the-shocking-surprise--229)

As you've probably heard by now, Kutner killed himself because Penn got offered a job at the White House and has chosen to put acting on hold for a bit to take the gig. We're totally serious. Obviously, this is all a huge surprise, so Kal and the two EPs got on a media call today to help us all understand it a little better. We still think it was a cheap, sensationalistic stunt that made little sense whatsoever, but that's just our opinion. See what you think...



Were you taken aback at all when they told you they were going to kill you off?
Kal Penn: Obviously, yeah. I mean, you're connected to the character you play, and I loved playing Kutner, so there's a little bit of shock and loss -- more than a little bit of shock and loss -- when I found that out also. So yeah. I was probably as shocked as the audience was when I first found out.



When exactly did you find out Kutner was going to kill himself?
KP: I think I found out when we were shooting episode 17 or maybe halfway through 18, and the first thing I asked David Shore was 'Do you want me to change anything? Do you want this to be informed that he's struggling with something?' And the answer was you know -- not really. This is something that comes out of left field in episode 20, and we don't want to lead anyone on and we don't want to mislead anyone, it just is what it is and there's no explanation for it.



Were those your legs [when Foreman and Thirteen found Kutner]?
KP: They were, yeah.

Can you talk about your decision to leave the show and how long this has been in the works?
KP: Growing up I always had two interests and two passions, one being public service and the other being arts and acting, so it's always been on my mind, I always try to engage in different public service projects, and in the last 18 months having had the opportunity to serve on the Obama campaign, I certainly started thinking about that possibility, and then when that opportunity came up I went to David and Katie and sort of talked about it. It is a little insane because this was an incredible show to have been a part of -- there were certainly no problems -- if anything I was having a great time. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the writers and other actors and obviously David and Katie, so it was tough all around. The word I still use to describe it is bittersweet.



What exactly is the new job?
KP: The job itself is that I will be an associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison, and what the OPL does is similar in a sense to what I was doing on the campaign. What they try and do is take the administration itself out of Washington, so they go into communities across the country, continue the sorts of dialogue people had started during the campaign and basically ensure that a bunch of citizens' views about their elected officials, about their government are all happening and that they're working effectively. Make sure that a lot of these new voices that have emerged -- especially during the campaign season -- are brought to the table -- Democrats, Republicans, everyone in between - and to build those relationships and kind of embody the types of changes that President Obama had run on.



Just to clarify -- you did talk to the President about this?
KP: Yes, we discussed it briefly.



Does this mean no more "Harold & Kumar" movies?
KP: [Laughs] That's probably true, yeah.



Do you have any plans to run for office some day?
KP: [Laughs] No.



Does the job allow for any acting projects during your tenure at all?
KP: I won't be acting while I'm working at the White House, no. There's no set time limit -- I definitely intend to go out there for at least a year or two and figure it out. So we'll see. I'm certainly not retiring. I'm not packing up and saying, 'I'm leaving Hollywood' or anything, it's just pursuing another passion right now.



Was it really a suicide for sure, going forward?
Katie Jacobs: Oh, it was a suicide. It was a suicide.



Why have Kutner kill himself, instead of sending the character off another way?
David Shore: I guess obviously stirring the pot brings something to any show. Look, Kal came to us with his opportunities and we were very excited for him, but it created a creative problem for us. I'm very happy with the way it worked out. It gave us an opportunity to do something unexpected, and what's fascinating about it is it's a question that House can't answer, and he's the man who has the answers to everything. And it's just so unexpected for the Kutner character and that was what was really exciting about it -- the unexpected nature of it, and the fact that there are no simple answers, and nothing that House can figure out.



Will someone be brought in to replace Kutner?
KJ: There is no replacement for Kutner.



Did you consider any other ways to have the character leave?
DS: We considered many ways to have the character leave. Ultimately this was the story that allowed us to really have the greatest impact on House in particular. There's an impact on everybody, but in particular the man who craves answers not having an answer. That is what really excited us about this story.

[dhurandhar]

I keep telling you guys ... GUJUBHAIS are smart ... very smart. And this Kalpennbhai is not only a gujju but Mody as well. Lord Krisna for sure was a gujjubhai.



He was a "bhaiyya" from UP. It's just that his cowardice (retreating prematurely from battle against the king Jarasandha) resulted in mass emigration from UP to Dwarka, Gujarat:D. That is why Krishna is also called Rannchhod (Rann means battleground and chhod means to leave):D

During times of Siddharaj Jaysingh, Gujarat used to project its power upto parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra:D

[echarcha]

I feel Kal Penn was just getting into the limelight, i.e. he was getting noticed and hence getting more roles. Namesake was not a mainstream Hollywood movie but it got him some recognition. His Harold and Kumar movies were a hit with the college crowd. His role on Fox show House was quite good. The fact that he is being noticed can be seen in Superman where he was a key side kick to the villain Lex Luthor.

If I were him, I would have stuck to getting more roles. Even George Clooney was on ER for so many years before he hit the big times.

I dont know what this 'liason' job means in reality. Anyway, I am sure Kal Penn has more insight and I wish him all the success.

[milanfanabhi]

he has done what his namesake could not do..his namesake just gives lectures when he gets oscar award for best actor