Ashton Kutcher

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Ashton Kutcher in The Butterfly Effect, 2004.

Ashton Kutcher (born Christopher Ashton Kutcher on February 7 1978) is an American actor, former male fashion model and television producer.

Biography

Early life

Kutcher was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Larry Kutcher (an employee of General Mills) and Diane Finnegan (who worked for Procter & Gamble). He is of Irish descent on his mother's side, and has distant Native American and Bohemian ancestry on his father's side. Kutcher has an older sister, Tausha, and a fraternal twin, Michael, who suffers from cerebral palsy and had a heart transplant at age thirteen immediately after cardiomyopathy-induced seizure. Kutcher desperately considered committing suicide so that Michael could have his heart, but a doctor rushed in and announced that a woman died in Georgia in a car accident, and the operation successfully went forward.

Kutcher grew up on a farm in rural Homestead, Iowa. As a teen, he worked as a floor sweeper for a General Mills plant, and once donated blood for money. Kutcher, whose brother's condition caused much stress in the family and eventually his parents' divorce, said in USA Weekend, "I saw some stuff I probably shouldn't have seen, and I didn't want to be involved, and I didn't want to have to take a side. I didn't want to come home and find more bad news about my brother ... I kept myself so busy that I didn't allow myself to feel." in 1994 Chris went to Orlando, Florida to landed the Nickelodeon sketch comedy All That and left the show in 1996 however, after left the show "All That" He attended Clear Creek-Amana high school, where he was an avid competitor in soccer and wrestling, and took part in every play the school staged. He was expelled from the school for underaged drinking and was arrested at age 18 for breaking into the school with a friend and stealing money from a vending machine. Kutcher majored in biochemical engineering and was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity at the University of Iowa. In 1997, he dropped out in order to pursue a modeling career, some of which involved working in underwear ads. Because there were already several well-known models named Chris, Kutcher was asked to use "Ashton" as his professional name.

Career as actor

After some success in modeling, Kutcher had planned to move to Hollywood, but was asked to return to college by his mother. However, a month later, he was discovered in a bar in Iowa City, Iowa, and cast as "Michael Kelso" in the television series That '70s Show, which became a long-running success. He left the show (along with Topher Grace) after the seventh season in order to pursue other endeavors. Kutcher achieved some stardom and 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), he starred in a few comedy films, including Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Just Married (2003), and Guess Who (2005). In addition, he appeared in the family film Cheaper By The Dozen as Piper Perabo's boyfriend Hank, a self-obssessed actor who values his talents and good looks above his girlfriend's family, quite a contrast from the goofy yet well-intentioned funnymen he used to play. His 2004 film The Butterfly Effect was an unusually dramatic role for Kutcher as a conflicted young man; even though it got negative reviews it became a box-office success.

Kutcher recently filmed The Guardian, a thriller co-starring Kevin Costner, in which the two play United States Coast Guard rescue swimmers who are involved in a deadly race for their lives.[2]

Career as producer

In 2003, Kutcher used his status as a television star to produce and star in his own series on MTV's Punk'd. The series involves various hidden camera tricks performed on celebrities which at times leads to behind-the-scenes controversy; not all celebrities are good humored about being pranked by Ashton's television show. Kutcher is also the producer of the reality television show Beauty and the Geek, which began in 2005.

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Kutcher and Demi Moore on SNL, poking fun at their age difference

Personal life

Kutcher has dated a variety of celebrities, including singer Nelly Furtado and actresses January Jones (from 1998 to 2001), Ashley Scott (from 2001 to 2002), Monet Mazur (2002) and his Just Married co-star, Brittany Murphy, whom he dated from 2002 to 2003. Following his break-up with Murphy in mid-2003, Kutcher began dating actress Demi Moore; the media was fascinated with their age difference (approximatly 15 years). Both would eventually spoof the public's fascination with their age difference during a monologue on the March 19, 2005 episode of Saturday Night Live. Kutcher, who served as guest host, brought Moore on stage while Moore was made up to appear like an old woman who constantly babied Kutcher and mentioned that she likes it "up the bum". Moore and Kutcher were married on Saturday, September 24, 2005 in a lavish, private ceremony conducted by a rabbi of the Kabbalah Centre; the wedding was attended by about 100 close friends and family, including Bruce Willis, Moore's ex-husband.

Both Kutcher and Moore are followers of the Kabbalah Centre, a controversial California-based organization which claims to teach Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). Kutcher has been reported to celebrate traditional Jewish holidays by taking time off from filming , and was married in a Kabbalistic ceremony. Kutcher became the stepfather of Moore's three daughters from her previous marrige with Bruce Willis. [3]

Kutcher is good friends with his former That '70s Show costars/Punk'd victims Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama. Kutcher also owns an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles named Dolce (other owners include Masterson and Valderrama) and a Japanese-themed restaurant Geisha House (which Kutcher introduced during the Punk'd Season 4 premiere, and the site of actress Salma Hayek's appearance on Punk'd, which Kutcher helped Hayek's friend, Penélope Cruz, with the bathroom trick). He also maintains a close friendship with Seann William Scott.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	The Guardian	Jake Fischer	in production
	Open Season	Elliot	(voice-over)
2005	A Lot Like Love	Oliver Martin		The Ed, Edd n Eddy Movie-(film)	[[Alex	(voice-over)	Guess Who	Simon Green	also producer
	2004	The Butterfly Effect	Evan Treborn	also executive producer
2003	Cheaper by the Dozen	Hank	(uncredited)
	My Boss's Daughter	Tom Stansfield
	Just Married	Tom Leezak
2001	Texas Rangers	George Durham
2000	Dude, Where's My Car?	Jesse Montgomery III	first lead role
	Down to You	Jim Morrison

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998-2006	That '70s Show	Michael Kelso	left in 2005
2003-Present	Punk'd	Himself

Awards

Kids' Choice Awards

• 2005 - Favorite TV Actor for "That '70s Show" and "Punk'd" - Nominated
• 2004 - Favorite Movie Actor for Just Married, My Boss's Daughter and Cheaper by the Dozen - Nominated
• 2004 - Favorite Television Actor for "That '70s Show" and "Punk'd"

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

Interviews

• USA Weekend interview (April 10, 2005)
• BlackFilm interview (March, 2005)
• About.com interview (March, 2005)
• Filmmonthly interview (January 22, 2004)
• UnderGroundOnline interview (January, 2004)
• CinemasOnline interview (2003)

External link

• Ashton Kutcher at IMDb
• AKO - Ashton Kutcher Online