Ashton Kutcher Biography
He began his career as a model and later moved to television. Kutcher achieved stardom on the Fox television show That 70's Show and has gone on to star in his own MTV hidden camera show Punk'd. He decided not to continue with the show after 2 seasons.
He has also starred in the films Dude, Where's My Car (2000) and more recently Just Married (2003).
Early life
Ashton Kutcher was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Larry Kutcher (an employee of
General Mills) and Diane (who worked for Procter & Gamble); his ancestry is
mostly Irish American, as well as distantly Native American and Bohemian (the
origin of his surname). Kutcher has an older sister, Tausha and a fraternal
twin, Michael, who is younger by five minutes. He grew up on a farm in rural
Iowa.
As a teen, Kutcher worked as a floor sweeper for a General Mills plant, and
donated blood for money. He was expelled from Clear Creek-Amana, his high
school, for underaged drinking, and 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.
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 in the television series That
'70s Show, which became a success. Kutcher achieved some stardom and was cast in
a series of film roles; although he auditioned but was not cast in the role of
Danny Walker in Pearl Harbor (2001), he starred in a few financially successful
comedic films, including Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Just Married (2003) and
Guess Who (2005). His 2004 film, The Butterfly Effect, was an unusually dramatic
role for Kutcher and was also deemed a box office success.
Career as producer
In 2003, Ashton Kutcher used his status as a television star to produce and star
in his own series on MTV, Punk'd. The series involves various hidden camera
tricks performed on celebrities; the series has sometimes led to controversy, as
when New York Yankees' third-baseman Alex Rodriguez and actor Michael Vartan,
both victims of the show's pranks, threatened to sue Kutcher. In order to avoid
the lawsuits, the videotaping of Rodriguez's prank was destroyed without any
release and Vartan's prank has not been aired.
Kutcher is also the producer of the reality-television show, Beauty and the
Geek, which began in 2005.
Private life
Kutcher has dated a variety of celebrities, including 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, whom he married on September 24, 2005 in a lavish ceremony in Los
Angeles, California.
Both Kutcher and Moore are fairly devout followers of Kabbalah, a mystical
off-shoot of the Jewish religion. Kutcher has been reported to celebrate
traditional Jewish holidays, take time off from filming and was married in a
Kabbalah ceremony by a rabbi.
Kutcher also owns an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles named Dolce; he has two
toes that are fused together on his left foot
This Ashton Kutcher Biography Page is Copyright © 2004 - 2006 Chuck Ayoub