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Christopher Ashton Kutcher (pronounced /ˈkʊtʃər/;
born February 7, 1978), best known as Ashton Kutcher, is an American film actor,
television actor, producer and former fashion model, best-known for playing
Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. He also created, produced and
hosted Punk'd, and played lead roles in the Hollywood films Dude, Where's My
Car?, Just Married, The Butterfly Effect, The Guardian, and What Happens in
Vegas. He is also the producer and co-creator of the supernatural TV show Room
401 and the reality TV show Beauty and the Geek, as well as appearing as the
guest host of WWE Monday Night Raw. He is married to actress Demi Moore.
****
Born Christopher Ashton Kutcher
February 7, 1978 (1978-02-07) (age 32)
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.
Occupation Actor/Producer
Years active 1998–present
Spouse(s) Demi Moore (2005-present)
****
Early
life
Kutcher was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Larry
Kutcher, a worker at a General Mills factory, and Diane (née Finnegan), a
Procter & Gamble worker.[1][2][3] He is of part Irish ancestry on his mother's
side.[2] Kutcher was raised in a Roman Catholic family,[4][5] with an older
sister, Tausha, and a fraternal twin, Michael, who had a heart transplant when
the brothers were young children. Kutcher attended Washington High School in
Cedar Rapids for his freshman year, before his family moved to Tiffin, Iowa,
where he attended Clear Creek-Amana High School. In high school he played on the
football team as a wide receiver and appeared in school plays.[6] However, his
brother suffering from cardiomyopathy caused his home life to become
increasingly stressful. He has stated that "I didn't want to come home and find
more bad news about my brother" and "kept myself so busy that I didn't allow
myself to feel".[7] Kutcher admitted that during adolescence, he contemplated
committing suicide. At thirteen, he attempted to jump from a Cedar Rapids
hospital balcony, with his father intervening in the incident.[8] Kutcher's home
life worsened as his parents divorced when he was sixteen. During his senior
year, he broke into his high school at midnight with his cousin in an attempt to
steal money; he was arrested leaving the scene. Kutcher was convicted of
third-degree burglary and sentenced to three years' probation and 180 hours of
community service. Kutcher stated that although the experience "straightened him
out", he lost his girlfriend and anticipated college scholarships, and he was
ostracized at school and in his community.[6]
Kutcher enrolled at the University of Iowa in
August 1996, where he majored in biochemical engineering, motivated by the
desire to find a cure for his brother's heart ailment.[3] At college, Kutcher
was kicked out of his apartment for being too "noisy" and "wild".[9] Kutcher
stated, "I thought I knew everything but I didn't have a clue. I was partying,
and I woke up many mornings not knowing what I had done the night before. I
played way too hard. I am amazed I am not dead."[10] He is a member of the Delta
Chi fraternity. To earn money for his tuition, Kutcher worked as a college
summer hire in the cereal department for the General Mills plant in Cedar
Rapids, and sometimes donated blood for money.[11] During his time at UI he was
approached by a scout at a bar called "The Airliner" in Iowa City and was
recruited to enter the "Fresh Faces of Iowa" modeling competition. After placing
first, he dropped out of college and won a trip to New York City to the
International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) Convention. Following his
stay in New York City Ashton returned to Cedar Rapids before relocating to Los
Angeles to pursue a career in acting.[9]
Career
After participating as a modeling contestant in an
IMTA competition (losing to Josh Duhamel) in 1998, Kutcher signed with the Next
modeling agency in New York, appeared in ads for Calvin Klein, modeled in Paris
and Milan, and appeared in a Pizza Hut commercial. [citation needed]
After some success in modeling, Kutcher moved to
Los Angeles and, after his first audition, was cast as Michael Kelso in the
television series That '70s Show, which debuted in 1998 and ended in 2006.
Kutcher was cast in a series of film roles; although he auditioned but was not
cast for the role of Danny Walker in Pearl Harbor (2001),[12] he starred in
several comedy films, including Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Just Married
(2003), and Guess Who (2005). He briefly appeared in the 2004 family film,
Cheaper By The Dozen, playing a self-obsessed actor. His 2004 film The Butterfly
Effect was an unusually dramatic role for Kutcher, playing a conflicted young
man who fell in love with a girl called Kayleigh; the film received mixed to
negative reviews, but was a box-office success.[6]
In 2003, Kutcher produced and starred in his own
series on MTV's Punk'd as the host. The series involved various hidden camera
tricks performed on celebrities. Kutcher is also an executive producer of the
reality television shows Beauty and the Geek, Adventures in Hollyhood (based
around the rap group Three 6 Mafia), and The Real Wedding Crashers and the game
show Opportunity Knocks. Many of his production credits, including Punk'd, come
through Katalyst Films, a production company he runs with partner Jason
Goldberg.[13]
Because of scheduling conflicts with the filming of
The Guardian, Ashton was forced not to renew his contract for the eighth and
final season of That 70s Show, although he did appear in the first four episodes
of it (credited as a special guest star) and returned for the show's series
finale.[6]
Kutcher was part of the management team for Ooma, a
tech start-up launched in September 2007. Ooma is in the Voice over Internet
Protocol business and Ashton's role was as Creative Director. He was
spearheading a marketing campaign and producing viral videos to promote this
service. Kutcher has also created an interactive arm of Katalyst called Katalyst
Media with his partner from Katalyst Films, Jason Goldberg. Their first site is
the animated cartoon Blah Girls. Ooma revamped its sales and marketing strategy
with a new management team in the summer of 2008, replacing Ashton Kutcher as
their creative director. Rich Buchanan, from Sling Media, became Ooma's Chief
Marketing Officer.
Kutcher produced and starred in the 2010 action
comedy, Killers, in which he played a hitman.[14]
Kutcher guest hosted WWE Monday Night Raw on May
31, 2010.
He also currently advertises for Nikon cameras.
Personal life
Kutcher dated actresses January Jones (from 1998 to
2001), Ashley Scott (from 2001 to 2002), Monet Mazur (2002), and Brittany Murphy
(from 2002 to 2003). Following his break-up with Murphy in early 2003, Kutcher
began dating Demi Moore. Moore and Kutcher married on September 24, 2005 in a
private ceremony conducted by a rabbi of the Kabbalah Centre; the wedding was
attended by about 150 close friends and family of the couple, including Bruce
Willis, Moore's ex-husband.[15]
Kutcher has invested in an Italian restaurant,
Dolce[6] (other owners include Masterson and Valderrama) and a Japanese-themed
restaurant named Geisha House whose YouTube video can be seen here is located in
Atlanta and Los Angeles. Kutcher is a Chelsea F.C. fan.[16]
Kutcher is a self described fiscal conservative and
social liberal.[17]
On September 17, 2008, Kutcher was named the
assistant coach for the freshman football team at Harvard-Westlake School in Los
Angeles. However, he was unable to return in 2009 because he was filming
Spread.[18][19]
Twitter
presence
On April 16, 2009, Kutcher ("aplusk") became the
first user of Twitter to have more than 1,000,000 followers,[20] beating out CNN
in the "Million followers contest".[21][22][23] Kutcher announced via Twitter
that he would be donating $100,000 to a charity to fight malaria. However, there
have been several reports that Twitter manipulated the contest's results by
preventing users from "unfollowing" Kutcher or CNN.[24]
Filmography
Actor
Year Film Role Notes
1998–2006 That '70s Show Michael Kelso 180 episodes
1999 Coming Soon Louie
2000 Down to You Jim Morrison
Reindeer Games College Kid
Dude, Where's My Car? Jesse Montgomery III
2001 Just Shoot Me! Dean Cassidy 1 episode
Texas Rangers George Durham
2002 Grounded for Life Cousin Scott 1 episode
2003–2007 Punk'd Himself/Host
2003 Just Married Tom Leezak
My Boss's Daughter Tom Stansfield
Cheaper by the Dozen Hank Supporting
2004 The Butterfly Effect Evan Treborn Main Role
2005 Guess Who Simon Green
A Lot Like Love Oliver Martin
Robot Chicken various voices
2006 Bobby Fisher
The Guardian Jake Fischer
Open Season Elliot Voice
2008 Miss Guided Beaux 1 episode
What Happens in Vegas... Jack Fuller lead role
2009 Spread Nikki Harper
Personal Effects Walter Simmons main role
2010 Valentine's Day Reed Bennet
Killers Spencer Aimes
Producer
Year Title Episodes Notes
2003–2007 Punk'd 69 Episodes executive
producer/host
2003 My Boss's Daughter co-producer
2004 The Butterfly Effect executive producer
You've Got a Friend 8 Episodes executive producer
2005–2008 Beauty and the Geek 48 Episodes executive
producer
2007 Adventures in Hollyhood 8 Episodes executive
producer
Miss Guided 7 Episodes executive producer
Game Show in My Head executive producer
The Real Wedding Crashers 7 Episodes executive
producer
Room 401 8 Episodes executive producer
2008 Pop Fiction executive producer
2008–2009 Opportunity Knocks TV series (executive
producer)
2009 True Beauty executive producer
The Beautiful Life 2 Episodes
Spread
2010 Killers executive producer
Video
games
Open Season Game as Elliot (Voice)
Awards
Kids'Choice Awards
2004 -Favorite Movie Actor for Just Married, My
Boss's Daughter and Cheaper by the Dozen -Nominated
2005 -Favorite TV Actor for That '70s Show and
Punk'd - Nominated
2007 -Favorite Voice in a cartoon- Nominated
2004 -Favorite Television Actor for That '70s Show
and Punk'd - Winner
People's Choice Awards
2010 -Favorite Web Celeb - Winner
Las
Vegas Film Critics Society Award
2000 -Sierra Award Best Male Newcomer for Dude,
Where's My Car? - Nominated
MTV
Movie Awards
2001 -Breakthrough Male Performance for Dude,
Where's My Car? - Nominated
References
1.^ "Ashton Kutcher Biography". Filmreference.com.
http://www.filmreference.com/film/49/Ashton-Kutcher.html. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
2.^ a b "DVD Interview: Ashton Kutcher". Movies.ie.
http://www.movies.ie/html/article.aspx?articleid=2327. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
3.^ a b "Interview With Ashton Kutcher - Part 2".
America's Intelligence Wire. 2006-09-06. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18727013_ITM.
Retrieved 2008-10-29.
4.^ "Living The Dream – The Making of Spread"
(Commentary with Ashton Kutcher saying; "I'm from the Mid West. I'm from a
catholic family, from a relatively conservative environment."), Spread on DVD,
Katalyst Films, 2009.
5.^ "itn". www.itn.co.uk. http://itn.co.uk/0c74c75dfcdaa29bc124727ef55227d8.html.
6.^ a b c d e "Ashton Kutcher: More than meets the
eye?"
7.^ "USA Weekend". Profile: Ashton's great
balancing act. http://www.usaweekend.com/05_issues/050410/050410ashton_kutcher.html.
Retrieved September 23, 2006.
8.^ "Hollywood.com". Profile: Ashton Kutcher
Contemplate. Archived from the original on 2005-04-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20050414182642/http://www.hollywood.com/news/detail/article/2439108.
Retrieved October 6, 2007.
9.^ a b Meers, Erik (2001). "Dude - He's a star."
Papermag.com; accessed October 6, 2006
10.^ "Cosmopolitan". Profile: Ashton Kutcher on
past party days and his rock-solid relationship. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-11778752_ITM.
Retrieved October 11, 2007.
11.^ Weitzman, Elizabeth (March 2000). "Kutcher in
the Rye". Interview. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_3_30/ai_60025371.
Retrieved 2007-02-02.
12.^ "Pearl Harbor (2001)". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213149/trivia.
Retrieved 2008-10-29.
13.^ "Two New Producers, Lots of New Projects"
14.^ "Ashton Kutcher to Shoot 'Five Killers'"
15.^ "Changing of the 'Guardian'". USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-09-26-kutcher-costner-chat_x.htm.
Retrieved 2006-09-30.
16.^ Daily Mail report
17.^ Real Time with Bill Maher. August 14, 2009.
18.^ L.A. Times report on Kutcher
19.^ L.A. Times blogsite
20.^ "Inside Ashton Kutcher's world of Twitter".
The Guardian. 2009-04-21. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/21/ashton-kutcher-celebrity-twitter.
Retrieved 2009-04-22.
21.^ CNN report on Kutcher
22.^ Fox News report on Kutcher
23.^ MTV article on Kutcher
24.^ How to unfollow Ashton Kutcher
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