Actor Kal Penn, who plays Dr. Lawrence Kutner on House and also starred in the Harold and Kumar movies, is taking a break from showbiz for politics, at least for the next few years.

After working on the Obama campaign, and getting to know the President and his staff, Penn expressed an  interest in a position with the administration and as a result was recently appointed the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. Kal explained to EW what the office does and what his position will entail.

They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They’re basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It’s similar to what I was doing on the campaign.

Kal admits that his new position does mean a pay cut but he is excited to balance his artistic life with public service.

It’s probably because of the value system my grandparents instilled in me. They marched with Gandhi in the Indian independence movement, and that was always in the back of my head.

Though Penn did admit he is open to returning to acting after the current administration moves on, his role on House is definitely over. In Monday night’s episode, his character killed himself with no explanation to the dismay of fans. Hopefully, they can understand that  in this case, he really is moving on to bigger and better things.