Washington D.C.----Kal Penn, the Indian-American actor best known as part of the wacky stoner duo of the Harold and Kumar movies, is heading to the White House. Penn, who also starred in Mira Nair’s international smash THE NAMESAKE, will join President Barack Obama’s staff as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison. His job will be to keep Obama connected with arts groups and with the Asian-American and Pacific Island communities in the United States. Penn, who last year taught a course at the University of Pennsylvania on “Asian-Americans In The Media”, has become one of the best known Indian-American faces on both the big and small screens. His next role is in the Indian-produced social issue drama BHOPAL: PRAYER FOR RAIN, in which he plays a young rickshaw-puller who gets a menial job at a chemical plant where a spill takes the lives of almost 15,000 people and injured more than 100,000. His future film plans are now on hold as he moves to Washington DC to help President Barack Obama’s ambitious agenda.

Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor