Kal Penn on writing his memoir, being brown in America, and coming out

Kal Penn’s breakout role came in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. He also acted with Irrfan Khan and Tabu in Mira Nair’s The Namesake, spent two years in the White House as associate director at the Office of Public Liaison, lectured in sociology and has now written a book. Born Kalpen Modi, to Gujarati immigrant parents in New Jersey, his recently released memoir is titled You Can’t Be Serious. It’s self-deprecatingly funny, and it’s also where he announced to the world that he is gay and engaged to his partner of 11 years. Excerpts from a video interview.