(NewsNation Now) — From starring in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” to becoming an adviser in the Obama administration, actor Kal Penn made it big — but not before enduring a few decades of cliché casting directors.

“I think the thing that kept me going, like many other artists, is this intangible of how do you explain to somebody who doesn’t do what we do for a living that you have to do it? You know, it’s that crazy part of you that makes you an artist,” Penn said Monday on “Banfield.”

The actor joined the show to discuss his new book called “You Can’t Be Serious,” which features stories from his life, including struggles in Hollywood.

“That chapter, I think that has a lot of those stories, is literally called ‘Auditioning to be Latino,’” Penn said.

Penn is a child of Indian immigrants. He was born in New Jersey.

The actor, who studied at UCLA, also described the conversation he had with friends about changing his name.

“They said, ‘Why don’t you think of a screen name? Something that’s a little more catchy. Maybe that’ll help you get an agent’ because I had been trying for about three and a half years (and) couldn’t get my foot in the door,” Penn said.

Penn’s first name is actually Kalpen.

“A lot of those guys had called me Kal in the past, and they said, ‘Well, what about Kal Pacino and just started off with these terrible puns for the next half hour,” Penn said. “And then we ended up with Kal Pen, splitting my first name in half and we joked, you know, adding a second n to Kalpenn would stand for not gonna play a stereotypical cab driver.”

In the book, Penn also discusses his boyfriend of 11 years.

“It’s chapter 18 in the book about how our third date, which is what convinced me that the relationship wasn’t gonna move forward, was more about NASCAR and beers than anything else,” Penn said. “So it’s just one of those light fun chapters that I’m happy to share with everybody.”

As for Bob Saget’s recent passing, Penn said he only met the “Full House” star maybe twice, but he “made me smile and laugh on the occasion that I met him.”

He added, “my thoughts go out to his loved ones, and his family.”