Kal Penn's sleeper hit "Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle" made him a sort of celebrity last year and now he's breaking away from the stereotyping that has dogged his career.
"Harold and Kumar" was the popular independent film about about two doped-up Asians who go across town one night in search of the perfect hamburger. What they experience is as epic journey of deep thought and even deeper inhaling.
As one of Hollywood's most famous Indian-American actors, Kal Penn is used to the stereotyping -- he's been around it all of his life. Penn relates that when he saw "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" as a kid, he noticed that the other kids no longer wanted to sit next to him during lunch. "They were convinced I had monkey brains in my lunch box," he says. , But Kal, 28, is not from India exactly, even though his immigrant parents are. His real name is Kalpen Modi and he was born in Montclair, New Jersey.
In his very first audition for a commercial when he arrived in L.A. that he wondered if he'd ever be accepted just as an actor, and not an Indian-looking actor.
"I walked into the audition and the casting director said 'Where's your turban?' I said, 'I don't wear a turban; I am not a Sikh.' I started to explain the difference but she got very upset and said, 'Well, can you go home and put on a bed sheet or something?'
"It is a true story. It was ridiculous, which is why I like telling it."
Mercifully, Penn's days of being asked to wear turbans are past him, even though the American-born actor has pet peeves about his cultural background. “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?" Then he adds, "You just know she is going to do yoga and watch a foreign film she rented."
As for his role in "Harold and Kumar" and his character's lust for micro-sized burgers, Penn remained a good little vegetarian during filming. He reveals that the burgers he and co-star John Cho inhaled in the movie were actually soy burgers. "I said I’d be okay taking a bit of the beef burger and using the spit bucket. But they said, wouldn’t you rather not have to put it in your mouth?"
The pot the guys constantly toke on was also fake, but that was the real Penn butt in the nude scene at the beginning of the movie. "I had a roommate who did things like that,? says Penn. "So it didn’t seem unreal." Penn sent the script of Harold and Kumar to his parents like he does with all his roles. "I am sure my mom would prefer I didn’t have to do things like that," says Penn. "But I believe what she said was, ‘I know what you kids do.’"
He's currently appearing in Ashton Kutcher's "A Lot Like Love" and will begin filming "Superman Returns" this summer. There is even talk about a sequel to "Harold And Kumar." Penn says the script is ready, but the financial backing to make the film is not.
But Kal, 28, is not from India exactly, even though his immigrant parents are. His real name is Kalpen Modi and he was born in Montclair, New Jersey.
In his very first audition for a commercial when he arrived in L.A. that he wondered if he'd ever be accepted just as an actor, and not an Indian-looking actor.
"I walked into the audition and the casting director said 'Where's your turban?' I said, 'I don't wear a turban; I am not a Sikh.' I started to explain the difference but she got very upset and said, 'Well, can you go home and put on a bed sheet or something?'
"It is a true story. It was ridiculous, which is why I like telling it."
Mercifully, Penn's days of being asked to wear turbans are past him, even though the American-born actor has pet peeves about his cultural background. “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?" Then he adds, "You just know she is going to do yoga and watch a foreign film she rented."
As for his role in "Harold and Kumar" and his character's lust for micro-sized burgers, Penn remained a good little vegetarian during filming. He reveals that the burgers he and co-star John Cho inhaled in the movie were actually soy burgers. "I said I’d be okay taking a bit of the beef burger and using the spit bucket. But they said, wouldn’t you rather not have to put it in your mouth?"
The pot the guys constantly toke on was also fake, but that was the real Penn butt in the nude scene at the beginning of the movie. "I had a roommate who did things like that,? says Penn. "So it didn’t seem unreal." Penn sent the script of Harold and Kumar to his parents like he does with all his roles. "I am sure my mom would prefer I didn’t have to do things like that," says Penn. "But I believe what she said was, ‘I know what you kids do.’"
He's currently appearing in Ashton Kutcher's "A Lot Like Love" and will begin filming "Superman Returns" this summer. There is even talk about a sequel to "Harold And Kumar." Penn says the script is ready, but the financial backing to make the film is not.
