Kalpen Suresh Modi was born on 23 April 1977, in Montclair, New Jersey USA, the son of Gujarati immigrants from India, and as Kal Penn is a well-known name in show business as an actor, and in politics, but due inparticular to his work in television series ‘House’ and film series ‘Harold & Kumar’, which can also be regarded as the main sources of his success as well as his net worth.
So just how rich is Kal Penn? Authoritative sources estimate that his careers have added a lot to Kal Penn net worth, which now reaches over $15 million as of mid-2016, accumulated from his varying careers.
Kal Penn Net Worth $15 Million
Kel was educated at Marlboro Middle School, where his interest in entertainment showed as he played baritone saxophone in the jazz band there. Penn then attended The Fine and Performing Arts Academy at Howell High School before transferring to Freehold Township High School for sophomore, junior, and senior years, where he participated in the schools’ theater productions. He subsequently graduated from UCLA in 2000, double majoring in film and sociology.
Kal Penn adopted his stage name to help gain entry into a white-dominated industry, and subsequently debuted on the big screen thus opening his net worth account in ‘Express: Aisle to Glory’ (1998) written and directed by Jonathan Buss. Later, Kal appeared as a star of the films “Dude, Where’s the Party?” (2003) film directed by Benny Mathews, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” (2004) directed by Danny Leiner, and sequels ‘Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay’ (2008) written, produced and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and ‘A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas’ (2011) directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson, meantime also appearing in ‘Ball & Chain’ (2004) directed by Shiraz Jafri, ‘The Namesake’ (2006) directed by Mira Nair, ‘Epic Movie’ ( 2007) written and directed by Jason Friedberg. His net worth was rising steadily.
The most important role in a television series Penn took in ‘House’ created by David Shore which increased Penn’s popularity and net worth the most. Another significant role he played in a television series was the role of Kevin in the series ‘How I Met Your Mother’ created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. Since 2013 Kal has also been the host of the television show ‘The Big Brain Theory’.
In addition to these, Kal added to his net worth appearing in a number of episodes of the television series ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, as well as ‘Sabrina, the Teenage Witch’, ‘Spin City’, ‘NYPD Blue’, and ‘The Lonely Island’ among others, which all boosted his net worth.
In 2014, Kal also joined the main list of the cast of the historical docudrama film ‘Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain’ directed by Ravi Kumar, depicting the gas leak and explosion which created a major industrial disaster.
Kal’s involvement in politics has also been considerable. Having worked on future President Obama’s campaign, in early 2009 Penn was offered the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement in the Obama administration, which he accepted. This necessitated his character Lawrence Kutner being written out of the TV series “House”. In his role with the Obama administration, Penn served as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities. During this period of employment, he went back to using his birth name, Kalpen Modi.
Having made a commitment before his employment at the White House, Penn amicably left his post as President Barack Obama’s associate director of public engagement in June 2010, to return to his acting career, but he returned to office in November 2010, following completion of “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas”.
In February 2012, it was announced that Penn would be a co-chair for the re-election campaign of President Obama. Penn’s speech at the Democratic convention encouraged young people to register to vote, and defended Obama’s record. In November 2013, President Obama appointed Penn to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. In February 2014, Penn served as the Master of Ceremonies for the White House Student Film Festival.
Aside from acting and politics, since 2008, Penn has been lecturing the course Images of Asian Americans in the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 2014, Kal has also been working on a graduate certificate at Stanford University.
In his personal life, Kal Penn is in a long term relationship with actress Danneel Ackles. There were rumours about him being a homosexual but obviously not!
