KAL PENN

Actor, Writer, Producer, and former Associate Director of The White House Office of Public Engagement

Kal Penn is an Emmy-nominated actor, and a writer, producer, and former Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

He is known for his starring roles in Designated Survivor, House, Mira Nair’s The Namesake, the Harold & Kumar franchise, and the Christmas comedy The Santa Clauses for Disney +.

Kal most recently guest hosted two weeks of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show following the departure of Trevor Noah.

From 2009 to 2011, Penn took a sabbatical from the private sector to serve in the White House as the President’s Liaison to Young Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and the Arts community. In these three outreach roles, he worked on a team focused on issues that included the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Affordable Care Act, Pell Grants, the DREAM Act, and rapid response to the BP Oil Spill.

Kal served on the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities, focusing on arts education and cultural diplomacy, including the first-ever US Government arts delegation to Cuba.

Kal received his BA in Sociology with a concentration in Theater, Film, and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Graduate Certificate in International Security from Stanford University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Penn has been an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Los Angeles.

He recently Executive Produced & starred in Bloomberg Green’s climate change docuseries, Getting Warmer, and is in preproduction on the independent feature film, Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.

His bestselling book & audiobook You Can’t Be Serious, about systemic change in Hollywood and politics, is on shelves now.