Born on April 23, 1977 in Montclair, New Jersey as Kalpen Suresh Modi, Kal Penn was educated at The Fine and Performing Arts Specialized Learning Center and the University of California, Los Angeles, where he double majored in film and sociology.
In 1988, Penn debuted on the feature film, Express: Aisle to Glory. Since then, he has appeared on American Desi, National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Malibu's Most Wanted, A Lot Like Love, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Dude, Where's the Party?, Love Don't Cost a Thing, Superman Returns, National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, and Epic Movie. He was also in the film adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. He later appeared in the Harold & Kunmar sequel, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
In 2007, Penn made a television appearance in the sixth season of 24 as Ahmed Amar. He also appeared in Law & Order: SVU, where he played a recognition-starved rapist and murderer. He then received the Asian Excellence Award for Outstanding Actor for his work on The Namesake. He soon joined the cast of FOX's medical drama, House, where he plays Lawrence Kutner.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Penn said of his character on House, "Lawrence is a fan of trying random methods of exploration and life saving, and isn't afraid to break the rules a little bit."
In 2008, Penn is to venture into teaching the arts as he will be lecturing in two classes at the University of Pennsylvania under the University's Asian American Studies Program. He will be teaching a lecture course tentatively titled "Images of Asian Americans in the Media," and a seminar entitled "Contemporary American Teen Films." While filming House, he signed on for roles in the TV production Two Sisters, and worked on movie Under New Management.
“I just go nuts every time I am in a coffee shop and someone walks up and says, ‘Can I get a chai tea latte?’ Lady, do you know how redundant that is—chai and tea—and there’s already milk in the chai, so what’s a chai tea latte? You just know she is going to do yoga and watch a foreign film she rented.”