Actor and former White House staff member Kal Penn has raised more than $877,000 for Syrian refugees in the name of a man who told him he did not belong in the US.

Penn, who served as the White House's Associate Director of Public Engagement during Barack Obama’s presidency, launched the fundraiser three days ago after he received a hateful message on his Instagram page.

"You don’t belong in this country you f---ing joke," the Instagram comment read.

Penn, who was born and raised in the US, responded by announcing he had started a fundraiser for Syrian refugees.

"To the dude who said I don't belong in America, I started a fundraising page for Syrian Refugees in your name," Penn tweeted.

"Look, I’m a pretty privileged guy but I was reading that comment thinking, ‘What about the 14-year-old me? Or the kids who look like me out there and don’t have the luxury of this type of platform,'" he said in an interview with CNN.

"I thought maybe we could raise $2500 and show guys like that we are better than this, because I know we are better than this," he said.

Penn's effort quickly went viral and $877,800 has been raised to date.

"All I did was put up a page. It just speaks to the tens of thousands of people who felt the same way as I did," he said.

"These are Americans who are coming out and saying, 'I want to show with ten bucks this is not who we are'.

"I think everyone should speak out."

The 39-year-old actor, who currently plays the role of the White House Press Secretary in the US drama Designated Survivor, said he has not heard back from the original Instagram commenter.

"I'm instead focusing on the 12,000 amazing people who have brought the pot up to more than $500,000," he said.