Kal Penn Leaves House for White House

Kal Penn, who played Dr. Lawrence Kutner on House, say he approached executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs with a desire to leave the show for politics.

Kal says he "remembers David saying, "Are you telling me that you’re unhappy with the show and that you want to leave so you can go off and do a different show?" And I was like, "Not at all. I’m actually saying the exact opposite, which is I’m having an incredible time, but there’s something aching in me to do something completely different and take a break from the acting thing for a while." And with their blessing, we were able to work it out."

Kal said he did not expect the suicide, and found it "incredibly violent and incredibly depressing thing that happens to my character," but calls his departure "bittersweet."

The Associated Press reports that President Barack Obama’s adminstration has hired the actor as a a liaison between the administration and Hollywood.

White House spokesman Shin Inouye says will join the staff as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison. He’ll focus on connecting Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as arts and entertainment groups.

Kal’s character on House, Dr. Lawrence Kuntner, was killed off in last night’s episode, who was at first the victim of an apparent suicide. Hugh Laurie’s Dr. House then set out trying to prove it was a murder.

Fox created an obituary for Kunter here.