Penn likes politics on the lighter side
Designated Survivor
Wednesdays, CTV/ABC Kal Penn isn’t just a (former) White House employee — he now also plays one on TV. The actor, who was the associate director for the Office of Public Engagement under U.S. President Barack Obama, is waxing political on the TV drama Designated Survivor.
His character, Seth Wright, is a speech writer-turned-press secretary for newly installed president Thomas Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland), who was thrown into the gig after an attack on U.S. soil left the previous commander-in-chief and other elected officials dead.
But though the show deals in themes that buoy the current U.S. election cycle, Penn insists that’s not the show’s main focus.
“I told myself I was not going to do a political show until well after Obama left office, because I didn’t want there to be any confusion between the two. But I read it and realized it is Conspiracy Theory 101 — it isn’t a political show at all,” he says. “(The themes are) much less political and more the process. The stories are all family and conspiracy.”
Penn and Sutherland crossed paths briefly on the clock-ticking counter-terrorism drama 24. Sutherland was agent Jack Bauer and Penn was the mouse to his gunslinging cat.
“When I worked on 24, we only overlapped for a day. We only had one scene together and no dialogue together. I think he pulls out his gun and tells me to drop my weapon — that’s the extent of it.”
Though Penn has also made an impact on TV with his portrayal of the suicidal Dr. Kutner in House, and as Robin’s therapist-turnedboyfriend on How I Met Your Mother, he’s perhaps best known for playing the stoner Kumar in the Harold & Kumar film franchise, which began with 2004’s Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
“I love (Kumar). He is way cooler than I will ever be. John Cho, who played Harold, he and I joke sometimes that we could be 80 years old and doing Harold & Kumar 50, and I’d be happy just ’cause they’re such silly characters and I love making people laugh,” Penn says.
Outside of acting, and aside from his stints in the public sector, Penn taught a 2008 class on Asian-Americans in the media at the University of Pennsylvania. Last year he fronted a UCLA class on young Americans and the Obama administration. But when pressed, the actor is clear about his calling.
“Filmmaking and acting will always be my first love. Storytelling is my first love,” says Penn, who cites the diverse careers of Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington as particularly inspiring.