American actor and political aide Kal Penn, was BOTD in 1977. Born Kalpen Modi in Montclair, New Jersey to an Indian immigrant family, he studied film and sociology at the University of California Los Angeles. He began acting in film and television while a college student, adopting the name Kal Penn in the (correct) belief that using an Anglicised name would improve his audition opportunities. In 2004, he appeared in the film Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, the first “buddy comedy” to feature a majority Black and Asian cast. He rose to prominence in 2007 playing a teenaged terrorist in the TV series 24, writing later about the difficulties of playing a racially stereotyped role. In 2008, he reprised his Kumar role in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, satirising American foreign policy and racist perceptions of Black and Asian men as potential terrorists. He then joined the cast of medical TV dramedy House, leaving the show in 2009 to join the White House staff for Barack Obama’s first presidential term. Penn co-chaired Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, and was appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. In 2016, art imitated life when he starred in the TV series Designated Survivor, playing a White House speechwriter who is promoted to chief press secretary. He left politics following the election of President Donald Trump, resuming his acting career, appearing in the TV series The Big Bang Theory, Clarice and American Horror Story: NYC. In 2021, he released a memoir, You Can’t Be Serious. During his press tour, he divulged that he was gay and was engaged to his boyfriend of 11 years.