Ashton Kutcher
Christopher Ashton Kutcher (/ˈkʊtʃər/; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer and entrepreneur. Kutcher began his acting career portraying Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show (1998–2006). He made his film debut in the romantic comedy Coming Soon (1999), followed by the comedy film Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), which was a box office success. In 2003, Kutcher starred in the romantic comedies Just Married and My Boss's Daughter. That year, he created and produced the television series Punk'd, also serving as host for the first eight of its ten seasons. Kutcher starred in the science fiction film The Butterfly Effect (2004) and had a voice role in Open Season (2006).
Ashton Kutcher
- Actor
- producer
- entrepreneur
1998–present
2
Kutcher appeared in more romantic comedies, including Guess Who (2005), A Lot Like Love (2005), What Happens in Vegas (2008), and No Strings Attached (2011). From 2011 to 2015, he starred as Walden Schmidt on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. In 2013, Kutcher portrayed Steve Jobs in the biographical film Jobs. He also led the Netflix sitcom The Ranch (2016–2020). He has since starred in the comedy thriller Vengeance (2022).
Beyond entertainment, Kutcher is also a venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of the venture capital firm A-Grade Investments. At SXSW in March 2015, Kutcher announced Sound Ventures, the successor to A-Grade Investments, managing a fund backed by institutional funding. Kutcher has also invested in several high technology startups. He has investments in the companies Skype, Foursquare, Airbnb, Path and Fab.com. Kutcher has invested in six startups as of August 2017: Neighborly, Zenreach, ResearchGate, Duolingo, Kopari Beauty, and Lemonade.
Early life
Kutcher was born on February 7, 1978, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Diane (née Finnegan), a Procter & Gamble employee, and Larry M. Kutcher, a factory worker.[1] He has Czech, German, and Irish ancestry.[2][3]
Kutcher was raised in a "relatively conservative" Catholic family.[4] He has an older sister named Tausha and a fraternal twin brother named Michael, who had a heart transplant when the brothers were young children.[5] Michael also has cerebral palsy and is a spokesperson for the advocacy organization Reaching for the Stars.[6] Michael's cardiomyopathy caused Kutcher's home life to become increasingly stressful. He has said he "didn't want to come home and find more bad news" about his brother, stating, "I kept myself so busy that I didn't allow myself to feel."[7] Kutcher stated that, when he was 13, he contemplated committing suicide to save his brother's life with a heart transplant; when he told his father he was considering jumping from a Cedar Rapids hospital balcony, his father dissuaded him from doing so shortly before doctors announced that a transplant had become available from an accident victim in another state.[8]
Kutcher attended Washington High School in Cedar Rapids for his freshman year, before his family moved to Homestead, Iowa, where he attended Clear Creek–Amana High School. During high school, he developed a passion for acting and appeared in school plays. 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 of 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 was ostracized at school and in his community.[9]
Kutcher enrolled at the University of Iowa in August 1996, where his planned major was biochemical engineering, motivated by the desire to cure his brother's heart ailment.[1] At college, Kutcher was kicked out of his apartment for being too "noisy" and "wild".[10] 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."[11] To earn tuition money, Kutcher worked as a college summer hire in the cereal department for the General Mills plant in Cedar Rapids and sometimes sold his blood plasma.[12] While at the University of Iowa, he was approached by a model scout at The Airliner bar in Iowa City, Iowa,[13] and entered the "Fresh Faces of Iowa" modeling competition. Placing first, he won a trip to New York City's International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) Convention. Leaving Iowa for a stay in New York City, Kutcher then returned to Cedar Rapids, before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.[10]
Career
Modeling
After participating in an IMTA competition in 1998, Kutcher signed with Next modeling agency in New York, appeared in commercials for Calvin Klein, and modelled in Paris and Milan.[14]
Personal life
Relationships
In February 2001, Ashley Ellerin, whom Ashton Kutcher was dating at the time, was murdered. While never a suspect, Kutcher testified at the 2019 trial of serial killer Michael Gargiulo. Kutcher stated that on the night that Ellerin was murdered, Kutcher had arrived to pick her up for a date, but that she had not answered the door. His information helped establish the time of death.[56][57] Gargiulo was found guilty and sentenced to death on July 16, 2021, for her murder.[58]
In late 2002, he began dating Brittany Murphy, his co-star in Just Married.[59]
Kutcher and Demi Moore met in 2003[60] and married on September 24, 2005.[61] Six years later, on November 17, 2011, Moore announced her intention to end the marriage.[62] After more than a year of separation, Kutcher filed for divorce from Moore on December 21, 2012, in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.[63] The divorce was finalized on November 27, 2013.[61]
Kutcher began dating his former That '70s Show co-star Mila Kunis during the first half of 2012.[64] After they became engaged in February 2014,[65] she gave birth to a daughter in October 2014.[66][67] Kunis married Kutcher in July 2015.[68] She gave birth to a son in November 2016.[69] The family resides in a sustainable farmhouse, designed by the couple and architect Howard Backen, in Beverly Hills.[70]
Interests and beliefs
In 2009, Kutcher described himself as a fiscal conservative and socially liberal.[71] He is a gun owner but supports new gun laws to help stop mass shootings. Following the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, he said on Twitter "I've had a gun since I was 12 yrs old but enough is enough. I'm a hunter and a sportsman but nobody needs assault rifles. Let's pray. Then let's change the law."[72]
He trains in the martial art Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and is a brown belt under Rigan Machado.[73]
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.[74][75]
In February 2011, Kutcher sold his Hollywood Hills home, which he originally bought in 2004 for $1 million.[76][77]
Kutcher grew up as a Roman Catholic. As an adult, he practices Kabbalah, and has visited Israel and studied the Torah; his wife Mila Kunis stated that he "taught [me] everything I never knew" about her religion, Judaism, though as of 2018, he has not converted.[78][79][80] On trips to Israel, Kutcher visited Kabbalah centers in Tel Aviv and in Tsfat.[79] In 2013, Kutcher remarked, "Israel is near and dear to my heart ... coming to Israel is sort of coming back to the source of creation – trying to get closer to that. And as a creative person, going to the source of creation is really inspiring. And this place has been really inspiring for me – not only on a spiritual level, but also on an artistic and creative level."[81]
In April 2012, Kutcher became the 500th paying customer to sign up to ride Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.[82][83]
On November 6, 2022, Kutcher ran and completed the 2022 New York City Marathon in 3:54:01.[84]
Social media presence
On April 16, 2009, Kutcher became the first Twitter user to reach more than 1 million followers,[85] beating CNN in the site's "Million followers contest".[86][87] There were reports indicating that Twitter prevented users from "unfollowing" Kutcher or CNN.[88]
In November 2011, Kutcher received heavy criticism for his tweet in response to the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal, calling the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno "in poor taste".[89] Kutcher subsequently turned over management of his Twitter account to his team at the Katalyst Media company.[90]
On March 8, 2015, Kutcher sparked a national debate regarding the lack of equal access to diaper changing facilities in men's restrooms with this Facebook post: "There are NEVER diaper changing stations in mens [sic] public restrooms. The first public men's room that I go into that has one gets a free shout out on my FB page!"[91]
Kutcher has leveraged his social media presence, particularly on Facebook, to post and promote content published by A Plus, a social media-driven content platform and associated company of which he is the chairman.[47]
In April 2011, Kutcher and then-wife Demi Moore began a public service announcement campaign to end child sex trafficking.[92] Kutcher claimed that 100,000 to 300,000 American children were sold into sexual slavery. The number was criticized by newspaper The Village Voice. Kutcher and others including The New York Times, C-SPAN, and CNN used a peer-reviewed study referring to minors at risk for sexual exploitation.[93] The Village Voice, from their research, said it was only hundreds of children.[94] Kutcher claimed the criticism by the Village Voice promoted child prostitution and used Twitter to request that Village Voice advertisers withdraw their advertising from publications owned by its parent company.[95][96]
Health
In August 2022, Kutcher revealed that two years earlier he had been diagnosed with vasculitis, which had impaired his hearing, vision, and mobility during the course of a year.[97]
Danny Masterson trial
After the conviction of That '70s Show and The Ranch cast mate, Danny Masterson, for rape, Kutcher, along with Mila Kunis, wrote letters to the judge in support of Masterson.[98] The letters stated that Masterson was a good person and that he treated people with "decency, equality, and generosity."[99] After the letters were made public, Kutcher and Kunis received immediate backlash and criticism for their support of Masterson, especially due to Kutcher and Kunis' involvement in Thorn, a charity to expose the sexual exploitation of children. After the backlash, Kutcher and Kunis apologized in a video, in which the two claimed that the letters were only intended for the judge and not for the public. The apology was similarly criticized as "performative and insincere."[100] In response to the further backlash, Kutcher stepped down as chairman of the board of Thorn.[101]