Kal Penn: Hangs up 'House' coat for government job

Kal Penn: Hangs up 'House' coat for government job

Actor Kal Penn has taken the decision of leaving the high-profile, high-paying job in order to join the Obama administration.

However Penn acknowledges that it is "a little insane" to leave a popular show for the White House Office of Public Liaison. He himself admits that public service and acting have always been his twin passions.

Details about this news on Kal Penn have been inferred from quite a number of sources. According to them, this thirty one year old actor added that his ‘House’ co-star Olivia Wilde invited him to an Obama fundraiser in October 2007, and he found the candidate inspiring. He started doing campaign and reached to artists, young voters and Asian Americans, and he decided to pursue a job after the election. Penn continued, “It's always been on my mind," says Penn, who plans to return to acting at some point.

Earlier he spoke to Mr. Obama about the potential move and also made friends in the administration. However it is reported that he "filled out an application on change.gov, the same thing as a lot of other folks did."

The star of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle Penn remarked that he hasn't been treated differently because of his background.

Penn will be an associate director in the public liaison office, "the front door of the White House," and will continue to work with artists' and Asian-American groups.

All the producers said that they are happy for Penn but that his departure gave them a creative problem. They decided in December on suicide, a plot twist that comes out of the blue with no explanation of why the seemingly happy House subordinate would shoot himself in the head.

The departure of Kal Penn "gave us the opportunity to do something unexpected, and what's fascinating about it is it's a question House can't answer. And he's the man who has the answers to everything," creator David Shore says.

House is going to explore how Kutner's suicide affects all the characters, he says.

Regarding the new job, he expects the same long hours but a stricter dress code. Jokingly Kal added, “I'm going to need to do some suit shopping."