March 26, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
Kal Penn Guest Stars at UPenn
The actor will teach two classes at the University of Pennsylvania in Spring '08.
Actor Kal Penn, nee Kalpenn Modi, has taken on a new role, that of "guest professor" at the University of Pennsylvania. The actor will instruct two courses within the college's Asian American studies program: "Images of Asian Americans in the Media," and "Contemporary American Teen Films."
The New Jersey native is currently commanding big screens in the excellent, not-to-be-missed film The Namesake - an adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's eponymous novel - but Penn is most famous for his role as "Kumar" in 2004's racial identity-and-roach-clips hit Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Penn recently filmed Kumar 2, while simultaneously pursuing a graduate certificate in international security at Stanford. He received his undergraduate degree in sociology with a specialization in theater, film and television, at UCLA.
Grace Kao, Penn's Asian American Studies program director, said, "Mr. Modi is one of the leading Asian American actors of his generation and is particularly aware of how his racial and ethnic identification has affected his professional experiences." Penn is scheduled to begin his professorial stint in the Spring 2008 semester.
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