October 24, 2008

Contact:   Stacey Schmeidel

Actor and Political Activist Kal Penn—of “House” and “Harold and Kumar”—Will Speak Saturday at Davidson College for Presidential Candidate Sen. Barack Obama

Davidson, NC—Kal Penn—the actor who plays Kumar in the “Harold & Kumar” movies and Dr. Lawrence Kutner on the TV series “House”—will speak at Davidson College on behalf of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, in the 900 Room of the Alvarez College Union. Sponsored by the Young Democrats, a student organization, the event is open to the public at no charge.

Penn has become well known not only as an actor, but also as a producer and a political activist. Best known for his roles in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” and “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder,” he has been nominated for two MTV Movie Awards and a Teen Choice Award. Earlier this year, he taught courses on “Images of Asian Americans in the Media” and “Contemporary Teen Films” at the University of Pennsylvania.

Born in New Jersey, Penn says that he took his stage name (a variation of his given name, Kalpen Suresh Modi), almost as a lark, to see whether he would be more successful with an anglicized name.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,700 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.

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Posted By: Bill Giduz