Since I’m half-Indian, I do tend to keep track of the Indian-Americans who are doing well in Hollywood. I’m always pleasantly surprised when Mindy Kaling ends up in a movie, I was thrilled beyond belief to see Sarita Choudhury on this past week’s episode of Homeland, and I’m very happy that Kal Penn exists and continues to work in Hollywood, even with his job in the Obama White House (he keeps taking leaves to work in Hollywood). Kal is promoting A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (and he’s also on How I Met Your Mother, apparently), so he decided to do one of my favorite tabloid features, Us Weekly’s “25 Things You Don’t Know About…” I’ll admit to laughing at several of these, especially the Djibouti one.

1. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. I still do.
2. My favorite drink is water.
3. Once I was in line behind a woman who was telling her friend what a horrible actor Kal Penn is. I tapped her on the shoulder and told her I agreed.
4. I’m fascinated with countries that aren’t universally recognized, and I want to visit Transnistria.
5. I think books are the perfect gifts.
6. I’ve always wanted to be on Sesame Street.
7. I love making people laugh.
8. I’m terrible at math and science.
9. I’m finishing up a graduate program in international security.
10. I like Nascar.
11. I think science is cool.
12. If you follow me on Twitter (@Kal_Penn) I’ll try to entertain you.
13. One of my favorite books is The Mole People.
14. I think almonds, pistachios and cashews are disgusting.
15. I love to cook, without any of the above.
16. I once talked about elections to someone who said his Ls like Rs. It was hard to keep a straight face.
17. I went to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. Sadly, no T-shirts say I WAS ALL UP IN DJIBOUTI.
18. I want to know who decided to run those commercials with a panicked man saying, “Stop using those old, dirty catheters now!”
19. I’m a fan of the high-five.
20. I’d like to adopt a brown Lab.
21. I went snowboarding at a mall in the United Arab Emirates.
22. Tacos are the perfect food.
23. Sometimes people ask me if I’m Harold. Sometimes I say yes.
24. I have one of those leg lamps from A Christmas Story.
25. I am thankful every day for the blessings we all have.

[From Us Weekly]

Yeah, I’ll also admit to finding Kal very sexy, and I usually don’t go for Indian dudes (I have a type, and it’s Michael Fassbender). CB thinks he’s hot too – it’s probably because he seems like such a political nerd. Wonks are so HOT. I can’t believe he’s doing more post-graduate work too – he already has an MA, right? Let me check. Oooh, guess not. He just has a bachelor’s from UCLA, and now he’s doing his post-graduate at Stanford, according to his Wikipedia. Good for him. Hot stuff. He can get all up in my Djibouti.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Indian-American actor Kal Penn has left Hollywood – for the White House. The star of the two Harold & Kumar films was abruptly written off his co-starring role in Monday’s episode of House. The casting change was unexpected, and Kal Penn spoke to Entertainment Weekly (story via US Magazine) about why he left the hit television show.

Penn is taking the position of associate director of The Office of Public Liaison & Intergovernmental Affairs. Penn describes the position, saying, “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.” So it’s a position that will deal with the public, the media, the bureaucracy, all while being very media-savvy. Very Hollywood. Good hire, President Obama.

Warning: Spoilers for Monday’s show in quoted text below

Kal Penn has left Fox’s House for the White House.

The 31-year-old actor — whose character, Dr. Kutner, committed suicide on Monday’s show — tells Entertainment Weekly that it was his decision to leave the hit show to work for President Obama.

Penn will be the associate director in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison & Intergovernmental Affairs — a similar job he had while campaigning for Obama last year.

“They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations,” Penn explains. “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.”

Penn — known for his role in the stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle — says he had been “thinking” about moving into politics “for a while.”

He took several political science courses in college and even participated in an online international studies program at Stanford in 2006.

“I love what I do as an actor. I couldn’t love it more. But probably from the time I was a kid, I really enjoyed that balance between the arts and public service,” he says. “I thought this might be the right time to go off and do something else.”

Penn — who called his new gig “a relatively recent development” — doesn’t mind taking a pay cut.

“There’s not a lot of financial reward in these jobs,” he says. “Obviously, the opportunity to serve in a capacity like this is an incredible honor.”

[From US Magazine]

Penn is a rarity in Hollywood – he’s very politically and socially active, and he’s always put his time and his money where his mouth is. This is a really cool gig for him, but I’ll miss him on House and in films. He’s a talented comedic and dramatic actor, but I can see how he wouldn’t want to pass up an opportunity to work in the Obama White House. I hope he comes back to Hollywood after his stint in Washington!

Here’s Kal Penn at the SAG awards on January 25th. Images thanks to WENN .

Actor Kal Penn from the Harold & Kumar movies is working a guest lecturer in Asian American studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches two courses, “Images of Asian Americans in the Media,” and “Contemporary American Teen Films.” Penn has an undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of California and is working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford.

Penn contacted the department after he gave a speech for the college during Asian Pacific American Heritage week. Somehow a deal was reached to hire him, and while the director of the Asian American Studies program will not reveal Penn’s salary it is thought to be more than an average guest lecturer. He’s not doing it for the money, but it’s not a pittance either:

[Asian American Studies program director] Kao would not reveal how much more it cost to hire Penn versus the average adjunct professor, but he said that the Asian American Studies Program contributed a significant portion of its yearly budget, as did the Cinema Studies department contributed funding.

Penn is “really doing this because he wants to. He’s not going to get rich doing this,” Kao added.

The ASAM Program is relatively small, and students and administrators say that Penn’s arrival could increase its prominence.

“Kal Penn coming to Penn for a semester is going to be huge for the ASAM program,” College sophomore Rahima Dosani wrote in an e-mail.

[From the Daily Pennsylvanian]

A lot of students signed up for Penn’s class due to his celebrity status, but he says his popularity only goes so far when it comes to showing up for class and doing the work. Penn told MTV news that a lot of students dropped his class when they realized how early it was: “It’s a Monday, early morning class and there’s a lot of reading and papers, so a lot of people dropped the class.” [via Contact Music]

The University of Pennsylvania was hoping that Penn’s guest lecturing gig would bring more attention to the Asian American studies department, and it surely did, but it seems it didn’t take long for students to realize that a famous teacher doesn’t necessarily make a class easier. I tried to take “Blacks in Films” when I was in college and the requirements were too hard so I dropped it. Entertainment-related subject matter doesn’t make a class any less demanding.

SFGate has an article about pop culture university classes, and they include `”The Simpsons: Sitcom as Political and Social Satire,” and “Droppin’ Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture” at UC Berkeley.

Kal Penn is currently starring in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, which is out in the US on 4/25/08. Here’s the trailer. Warning NSFW language and adult subject matter.