Ashton Kutcher

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and son of Diane and Larry Kutcher, Ashton has fulled many accomplishments thus far. His entry into the entertainment business came about in a rather roundabout way. Approached by a talent scout in an Iowa bar, he was invited to enter a competition called the 'Fresh Faces of Iowa'. Ashton came first in the competition winning a trip to New York in order to participate in an International Modelling and Talent Association (IMTA) Convention. Ashton lost out to Josh Duhamel, but then succeeded in getting signed up to the Next modelling agency in New York, where he launched his modelling career. He appeared in ads for Calvin Klein and Versace, and was even engaged for modelling jobs in Paris and Milan. Having pursued a successful career as a male model, turning his hand to acting seemed like the logical next step. In 1997, Ashton decided to move to Los Angeles and try his luck on the audition circuit. It didn't take long for Ashton to receive his first big break. He was cast as Michael Kelso in the television series, 'That '70s Show', which made its TV debut in 1998. The show was highly successful and ran until 2006. Following his runaway success on the small screen, it was only a matter of time before the Hollywood producers began calling for Ashton. Breaking through movie acting in a succession of comedy roles to begin with,'Dude, Where’s My Car?' and the romantic comedy 'Down To You'. Ashton followed up this early movie success with the family film 'Cheaper By The Dozen', where he played a narcissistic young actor. In 2004, Ashton branched out into a more serious role 'The Butterfly Effect.' Although the film received mixed reviews from the critics, it was a substantial box office success. Briefly departing from his comedic roles,he teamed up with Kevin Costner for action-adventure drama 'The Guardian', but was soon back onside with computer-animated comedy 'Open Season' in which he played a voice role. Although many of the characters he played before were never lead roles, this was soon to change. 'What Happens in Vegas' (2008) saw him become a leading man when he appeared alongside Cameron Diaz in the romantic comedy, which paved the way for 'Spread' and 'Personal Effects' in (2009). 2010 saw him join an ensemble cast including Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner in 'Valentine's Day', which was a commercial success. With his box office appeal increasing, Ashton also appeared alongside Katherine Heigl in 'Killers' (2010). As well as being a leading Hollywood actor, Ashton has also proved to be a talented businessman and producer. In 2003, he produced and starred in his own MTV series, called 'Punk'd'. The program involved various hidden cameras being used to play tricks on unsuspecting celebrities and proved to be very popular. Ashton also took the role of executive producer on the series 'Beauty And The Geek', which was launched in 2005. He has since served as executive producer in a number of productions including 'Adventures in Hollywood', 'The Real Wedding Crashers', 'The Beautiful Life' and his 2010 film 'Killers'. Ashton now runs a production company called Katalyst Films, in conjunction with his partner Jason Goldberg, through which he has obtained many of his production credits, including Punk'd. Very few actors succeed in creating a career path that combines not only TV and movie acting, but producing too, but Ashton has achieving great success in all three and is to be congratulated on his achievements, even if those coveted Academy Awards have eluded him so far.