Ashton Kutcher

**Christopher Ashton Kutcher** (born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, model, producer, and entrepreneur. He 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). He will reprise his role as Kelso in the upcoming series, *That '90s Show* as a special guest star.

## Early life

Kutcher was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Diane (*née* Finnegan), a Procter & Gamble employee, and Larry M. Kutcher, a factory worker. He has Czech, German, and Irish 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 has cerebral palsy and is a spokesperson for the advocacy organization Reaching for the Stars. 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." His parents divorced when he was 16.

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.

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. 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 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. While at the University of Iowa, he was approached by a model scout at The Airliner bar in Iowa City, Iowa, 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.

## Career

Following his success in modeling, Kutcher moved to Los Angeles after his first audition. He was cast as Michael Kelso in the television series *That '70s Show*, from 1998 to 2006.

On April 30, 2022, it was announced that Kutcher would have a guest appearance in the follow-up sitcom, *That '90s Show*.

Kutcher is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Critics' Choice Movie Award.

## 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. He stated that on the night that Ellerin was murdered, he (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. Gargiulo was found guilty and sentenced to death on July 16, 2021, for her murder.

Kutcher and Demi Moore married on September 24, 2005. Six years later, on November 17, 2011, Moore announced her intention to end the marriage. 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. The divorce was finalized on November 27, 2013.

Kutcher began dating his former *That '70s Show* co-star Mila Kunis during the first half of 2012. After they became engaged in February 2014, she gave birth to a daughter in October 2014. Kunis married Kutcher in July 2015. She gave birth to a son in November 2016. The family resides in a sustainable farmhouse, designed by the couple and architect Howard Backen, in Beverly Hills.

### Interests and beliefs

In 2009, Kutcher described himself as a fiscal conservative and social liberal. He is a gun owner; however, he 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."

He trains in the martial art Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and is a brown belt under Rigan Machado.

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*.

In February 2011, Kutcher sold his Hollywood Hills home, which he originally bought in 2004.

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. On trips to Israel, Kutcher visited Kabbalah centers in Tel Aviv and in Tsfat. 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."

In April 2012, Kutcher became the 500th paying customer to sign up to ride Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.

### Social media presence

On April 16, 2009, Kutcher became the first Twitter user to reach more than 1 million followers, beating CNN in the site's "Million followers contest". However, there have been several reports that Twitter manipulated the contest's results by preventing users from "unfollowing" Kutcher or CNN.

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". Kutcher subsequently turned over management of his Twitter account to his team at the Katalyst Media company.

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!"

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.

In April 2011, Kutcher and then-wife Demi Moore began a public service announcement campaign to end child sex trafficking. 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*, CSPAN, and CNN used a peer-reviewed study referring to minors at risk for sexual exploitation. *The Village Voice*, from their research, said it was only hundreds of children. 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.