Kal penn born as Kalpen Suresh Modi on April 23rd, 1977 in Montclair, New Jersey; is a wonderful American actor and producer. Kal Penn says that he chose the shortened version of his name because, "Almost as a joke to prove friends wrong, and half as an attempt to see if what I was told would work [that anglicized names appeal more to a white dominated industry], I put 'Kal Penn' on my resume and photos." He also said that he uses his stage name 'Kal Penn' for his professional purposes only. He also stated that his audition callbacks rose by 50% since he switched to his stage name.

Kal Penn was born to engineer father and mother who worked as a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company. His parents were of immigrant Indians hailing from Gujarati ancestry. Kal Penn attended UCLA and double majored in Film and Sociology.