Ashton Kutcher

Christopher Ashton Kutcher (born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, investor and former model. Kutcher began his career as a model. He began his acting career portraying Michael Kelsoin the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, which aired for eight seasons. He made his film debut in the romantic comedy Coming Soon and became known by audiences in the comedy film Dude, Where's My Car?, which was a box office hit. In 2003, he appeared in romantic comedies Just Married and My Boss's Daughter and the same year created, produced and hosted Punk'd which aired on MTV for five seasons until its revival in 2012 which has since completed its ninth season. In 2004, Kutcher starred in the lead role of the psychological film The Butterfly Effect and gained public recognition. Subsequently, Kutcher appeared in more romantic comedies including Guess Who (2005), and A Lot Like Love (2005), his recent ones include What Happens in Vegas (2008) and No Strings Attached (2011). Since 2011, he has starred as Walden Schmidt on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, replacing Charlie Sheen. In 2013, Kutcher portrayed Steve Jobs in the biographical film Jobs. Early life Kutcher was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Diane (Finnegan), a Procter & Gamble employee, and Larry M. Kutcher, a factory worker. His father is of Czech descent and his mother is of Irish, German, and Czech ancestry. Kutcher was raised in a "relatively conservative" Catholic family. 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. Michael also hascerebral palsy and is a spokesperson for the advocacy organization Reaching for the Stars. Michael's cardiomyopathy caused his home life to become increasingly stressful. He has stated that he "didn't want to come home and find more bad news about" his brother, and "[I] kept myself so busy that I didn't allow myself to feel". Kutcher stated that when he was 13, he contemplated committing suicide in order 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. 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. However, Kutcher's home life worsened as his parents divorced when he was 16. 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. Kutcher enrolled at the University of Iowa in August 1996, where his planned major was biochemical engineering, motivated by the desire to find a cure for his brother's heart ailment. At college, Kutcher was kicked out of his apartment for being too "noisy" and "wild". 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." 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. 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, Kutcher returned to Cedar Rapids before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Career After participating in an IMTA competition (losing to Josh Duhamel) in 1998, Kutcher signed with Next modeling agency in New York, appeared in commercials for Calvin Klein, and models in Paris and Milan. After his success in modeling, Kutcher moved to Los Angeles after his first audition, was cast as Michael Kelso in the television series That '70s Show, from 1998 to 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) (replaced by Josh Hartnett), he starred in several comedy films, including Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Just Married (2003), and Guess Who (2005). He appeared in the 2003 family film, Cheaper By The Dozen, as a self-obsessed actor. In the 2004 drama film The Butterfly Effect Kutcher, played a conflicted young man who time travels. The film received mixed to negative reviews, but was a box office success. In 2003, Kutcher produced and starred as the host in his own series, MTV's Punk'd that involved hidden camera tricks performed on celebrities. He 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), 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. A 2004 interviewer described Kutcher as a "hunky young actor [who] is heading in all different directions at once", including "the hot L.A. restaurant Dolce": "If anything, I'm a trier," says Kutcher between puffs of filtered Lucky Strikes. "I think, more than anything, it comes from the fact that my father always had several irons in the fire. Also, I don't want to fail. If something doesn't work out—if That '70s Show got canceled or if I wasn't going to have a film career—I always wanted to have backup contingency plans. So I just started doing other things; and on a half-hour sitcom, you're really only working for 30 hours a week. It allows a lot of time for sitting around, which I always kind of filled with work." In May 2011, Kutcher was announced as Charlie Sheen's replacement on the series Two and a Half Men. Kutcher's contract was for one year and was believed to be worth nearly $20 million. His debut as the character Walden Schmidt, entitled "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", was seen by 28.7 million people on September 19, 2011. The Nielsen ratings company reported that figure was more than any episode in the show's first eight seasons, when Sheen starred in it. As of August 2013, Kutcher earns $750,000 an episode. Personal life In 2003, Kutcher began dating actress Demi Moore. Moore and Kutcher married on September 24, 2005, in a private ceremony conducted by a Rabbi of the Kabbalah Center. The wedding was attended by about 150 close friends and family of the couple, including Bruce Willis, Moore's ex-husband.  On November 17, 2011, Moore released a statement announcing her intention to end her marriage to Kutcher. After over a year of separation, Kutcher filed for divorce from Moore on December 21, 2012, in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on November 27, 2013. Kutcher began dating his former That '70s Show co-star Mila Kunis in April 2012. After they became engaged in February 2014, she gave birth to their daughter Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher on September 30, 2014.