Kal Penn to leave White House, return to Hollywood



You can call him Kal: Kalpen Modi, the White House staffer a.k.a. Kal Penn. (Reuters/Jason Reed)

UPDATED 5 p.m. with White House comment/non-comment:

After just less than a year, Kalpen Modi is reportedly ready to be Kal Penn again.

The actor best known as Kumar from the "Harold and Kumar" movies stunned Hollywood last year when he announced he'd leave his role on the hit series "House" -- they had to kill his character off -- to take a job with the Obama administration.

But after nine months after Penn joined the White House's Office of Public Engagement as an associate director -- and dropped his Hollywood name for his birth name -- Entertainment Weekly reported Friday that the 32-year-old actor will resume his film career.

Hollywood trade publications report the movie will start filming mid-summer, so Penn's departure isn't necessarily imminent. Asked about the reports, a White House spokesman said "Mr. Modi is honored to serve in this Administration and has no announcements to make about his tenure here at this point."

The news shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. While his tenure seems to have sped by, Penn had said at the outset that he'd likely give a year or two to the job. And well, apparently, they just can't make the "Harold and Kumar" Christmas movie without him. (It's due out in 2011, and just might be filmed in 3-D, says EW.)

But during his time here, Penn seemed to make good on his plan to be treated like any other young executive-branch staffer, largely keeping a low profile and blending in, only occasionally being recognized by fellow pedestrians on his short commute from the Logan/Dupont area to the White House complex. He did manage to score an invitation to the November state dinner for the prime minister of India -- but also managed to avoid getting photographed with crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi.

Read more about Kal Penn as Kalpen Modi, executive branch staffer at WhoRunsGov.com