Los Angeles  - After a sudden suicide in the hit US TV medical drama House MD, actor Kal Penn found a new role Wednesday in the White House where he will work as a liaison to several ethnic communities and the arts world.

Penn, 31, who also starred as an inveterate stoner in the hit Harold and Kumar film franchise, told CNN that he will "do outreach with the American public and with different organizations."

A White House spokesman told reporters that he was tapped to work as the link to Asian-American and Pacific-Islander communities, and that he would also serve as a liaison to the arts community. His official title will be associate director in the Office of Public Liaison.

Penn was a prominent campaigner for Obama during the run-up to the presidential election. His parents immigrated to the US from India.

To take up his new post, the actor was abruptly written out of the prime-time medical drama. His character Dr Lawrence Kutner committed suicide on the show Monday night, leaving the other characters shocked and puzzled over his drastic movie.

At the end of the show, the lead character of the physician Dr Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie, refuses to accept that it was suicide and believes Kutner was murdered.

Besides appearing in House, Penn also starred in the satirical stoner movies Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo, and is expected to take a massive pay cut in his new job, where the salary is believed to be between 41,000 dollars per year and 91,000 dollars.

"There's not a lot of financial reward in these jobs," he said. "But, obviously, the opportunity to serve in a capacity like this is an incredible honour."

He told reporters that he would likely return to acting in the future. "I certainly intend to come back, but right now I just felt my calling was in public service." (dpa)