Ashton Kutcher is a man of many hats. Actor, entrepreneur, heartthrob, and father are only a few of those, and it seems every week he’s adding another to his collection. Whether he’s investing in a tech start-up, hanging with the gang on Shark Tank, or playing everyone’s favorite idiot in That 70s Show, it seems there isn’t much that the man can’t do. Kutcher is among the most well-loved celebrities out there, and for good reason. But life wasn’t always easy for the star, and his success came as the result of hard work and determination. The man is more than just a pretty face. Here are 42 facts about everyone’s favorite heartthrob, Ashton Kutcher.
1. There’s Two Of Them!
Ashton Kutcher has a fraternal twin brother named Michael! They’re fraternal, though, so they don’t necessarily share Ashton’s distinctive looks. Sorry, people.
2. A Conservative Upbringing
Kutcher grew up in a Catholic family that he has described as relatively conservative. This probably helped fuel his acting expertise in The Ranch.
Netflix, The Ranch (2016–2020)
3. The Ultimate Bro-Move
Kutcher’s brother Michael suffers from heart problems and cerebral palsy. Wanting so badly to fid a cure for his brother, Ashton went to school for Biochemical Engineering. I’m not crying, you are.
JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US, Wikimedia Commons
4. The Wine Stain
Few people know, but Kutcher was once closely involved in a notorious and disturbing crime. Ashley Ellerin, a girl who once went on a date with Kutcher, was murdered by “The Hollywood Ripper” back in 2001. Kutcher testified in court about the murder 18 years later, saying he had showed up to the girl’s home late for the date, saw what he thought was a wine stain on the carpet through the window, and left thinking she stood him up.
5. 23 And Me Superstar
Ashton Kutcher has a rich ancestry, being part German, Irish, and Czech. That’s the 23-And-Me royal flush!
6. What Could Have Been
Ashton Kutcher has always been troubled by his twin brother’s ailments—and it’s taken him to some truly dark places. He was so distraught that at the age of 13 he even contemplated suicide. He considered jumping off a hotel balcony with the hopes that his heart would be given to his brother.
TechCrunch50-2008, Wikimedia Commons
7. Of Course He Was a Model
Kutcher is best known for his acting, but he started out as a model! Kutcher modeled for Calvin Klein, appearing in a series of ads for the company before he ever acted on film or television. Is anyone surprised?
O Boticário SPFW, Wikimedia Commons
8. It’s Chris, Actually
Ashton is actually the star’s middle name! His first name is Christopher, but he started going by Ashton after launching his modeling career.
9. Punk’d Yourself
Before the success of Punk’d, Kutcher and MTV were working on a similar show called Harassment. An early prank for the show backfired in a truly disastrous way. The incident resulted in the couple the show had targeted suing Kutcher and MTV for $10 million. They decided the show would be better if it only involved celebrities from then on.
Ashton Kutcher vs. Evangeline Lilly, Zac Efron & Chuck Liddell | Punk'd, MTV Vault
History's most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily.
10. Producer Extraordinaire
Ashton Kutcher has produced a slew of TV shows, including Adventures in Hollyhood, The Real Wedding Crashers, and Beauty and the Geek.
The CW, Beauty and the Geek (2005-2008)
11. Kutcher’s Big Venture
There’s not much Kutcher can’t do, including being a venture capitalist. He has invested in some pretty hefty tech start-ups, including ResearchGate and Lemonade, both highly successful now.
12. Cool Tablet, Kutcher
Need more proof Ashton Kutcher can do anything? He was hired as a product engineer at Lenovo, where he helped create the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, a tablet with a projector in it.
13. Child Savior
Kutcher is the founder of Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children. The organization looks to catch child predators and end the exploitation of minors.
14. A-Plus Work
Kutcher, along with Evan Beard, created the app A Plus. The app looks to share positive news and journalism with people rather than negative stories. The majority of the app was bought by Chicken Soup for the Soul three years after its launch.
15. Sexiest Janitor Ever
During college, Kutcher worked in a General Mills plant as a janitor, sweeping up in the cereal department. Sounds like a pretty crummy job to me.
16. The Popchips Problem
No celebrity comes without their controversy, and Kutcher got some flack after an ill-thought-out Popchips ad campaign. For the ads, Kutcher dressed as an Indian man, featuring full brown-face and a thick accent. Understandably this didn’t really fly with Indian Americans.
Ashton Kutcher Popchips advert: Racism storm after actor plays Indian man, On Demand Entertainment
17. Superstar Marriage, Superstar Divorce
Ashton Kutcher was married to fellow actor Demi Moore for six years before the two got divorced due to “irreconcilable differences.” Shortly after, he started dating Mila Kunis.
18. That ‘70s Wedding
Kunis and Kutcher got married three years after they started dating, and now have a daughter named Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher, and a son named Dmitri Portwood Kutcher. And on that day, That ‘70s Show fans cheered.
Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images
19. Friends Til The End
Ashton Kutcher remains friends with a lot of his That ‘70s Show co-stars, including Wilmer Valderrama, who played Fez, and Danny Masterson, who played Hyde. That fact gives me a warm fuzzy feeling all over.
20. Does It Help You Swim?
On a talk show, Kutcher revealed a bizarre secret. He said that two of his toes are technically “webbed.” He even showed the toes off on live TV for everyone to enjoy. Does that change anyone’s mind about his heart-throb status? No? Didn’t think so.
21. Butt-Kicker Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher likes to stay in shape, and part of that routine involves training in the self-defense form called Krav Maga—which he’s been learning for a chilling reason. He claimed to Men’s Fitness Magazine that he does it to stay prepared for when all heck breaks loose on earth, and only the strongest will survive. That’s as good a reason as any.
Photographer: Jennifer Jacquemart, Wikimedia Commons
22. Coach Kutcher
At one point, Kutcher was made the assistant coach for the high school football team attending Harvard-Westlake School. He only did this for a year, however, as the gig interrupted his filming schedule.
23. Out Of This World… Eventually
Kutcher has signed on to ride Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, a space-tourism ship that looks to send those who can pay up to space for a visit. Safe travels, Mr. Kutcher.
24. Twitter-Famous
Shortly after the launch of Twitter, Kutcher became the first user to reach one million followers. His main competition was CNN, who he was competing with to reach one million first. Take that, news media!
25. He Makes A Good Point
Ashton Kutcher made headlines when he wrote a Facebook post calling out for more changing stations in men’s washrooms. He said, “The first public men's room that I go into that has one gets a free shout out on my FB page!" Get on it, people.
David Shankbone, Wikimedia Commons
26. MTVs Most Wanted
Kutcher is the seventh most-awarded actor of the MTV Movie Awards, right behind the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez. Among the awards he’s won are Choice Reality Hunk, Choice TV Male Personality, and Ultimate Choice Award.
27. Plagiarizing From The Best
The principal of a West Virginia high school plagiarized a speech Kutcher had made during the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. The principal apologized for what he did, saying he wished he had cited his sources more and made it clearer that he was “borrowing” from Kutcher.
28. We Ain’t Santa Claus
Kunis and Kutcher revealed to Entertainment Tonight that they do not give their children gifts for Christmas. The couple told relatives that if they must give gifts to limit it to one per child. Kunis said the reason for this is that they don’t want to “raise a**holes”.
29. Fruit Kills
One of Kutcher’s most famous roles is Steve Jobs in the biopic Jobs. To get into character, Kutcher took up Jobs’ infamous fruit-only diet. As a result, the star lost 20 pounds and ended up in the hospital with pancreas issues. Probably not the best move.
30. Sheen Who?
Many fans thought that Two and a Half Men would fail after Charlie Sheen’s departure, but then Kutcher joined the cast. Kutcher’s premiere episode attracted almost 28-million viewers. That’s a 90% boost in ratings compared to their previous season.
CBS, Two and a Half Men (2003–2015)
31. Making The Best Kind Of Bread
Speaking of Two and a Half Men, the show was highly responsible for Kutcher being awarded the top spot in Forbes magazine’s highest-paid TV actor list of 2013. The star made $24-million per year for his appearance on the show.
CBS, Two and a Half Men (2003–2015)
32. Sharing The Faith
Ashton Kutcher is a Roman Catholic, but has also heavily studied the Jewish book the Kabbalah. Natalie Portman claims that Kutcher “taught [her] more about Judaism than I think I have ever learned from anyone else". The man clearly has a passion for learning.
33. Nobody Needs Assault Rifles
Kutcher is a known gun owner and hunter, but is also an outspoken supporter of gun control. Following a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in LA, he stood up for gun reform, touting that nobody needs assault rifles, not even hunters. Listen up, government.
34. If You Can Get Kutcher, Get Kutcher
Among his tech-start-up ventures, Kutcher was the creative director for Ooma. He oversaw the creation of viral promotional videos for the service. The company was one of the fastest-growing private companies in 2015, so clearly, this was a pretty good move for the company.
35. Katalyst Klosed
With the help of Jason Goldberg, Kutcher founded the company Katalyst Network. It was a production company behind shows like Punk’d and Beauty and the Geek. The company is now closed.
Andrew Mager, Wikimedia Commons
36. Privileged Enough
No Christmas presents sounds traumatic enough for a kid, but it turns out Kunis and Kutcher don’t even plan on leaving their kids a trust fund. They say they’d rather give their money to underprivileged kids who need it. Somehow, I think their kids will do just fine even without the fund.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin, Getty Images
37. Shoes For Everyone!
Kutcher, among other celebrities, recently gave out a public cellphone number that you can text at any time. One mother sent him a text asking for help getting her son’s school cross-country team new shoes, and to her surprise he came through. He set the whole team up with new shoes. Maybe those numbers aren’t just some big scam!
Photographer: Jennifer Jacquemart, Wikimedia Commons
38. Missing Star
Ashton Kutcher was a staple of That ‘70s Show the whole series up until season eight, where he was only in five episodes. This was due to scheduling conflicts with the movie The Guardian. If you ever wondered where he disappeared to in that final season, there’s your answer.
Carsey-Werner Distribution, That ‘70s Show (1998–2006)
39. Most Handsome Shark In The Sea
Powered by his love of investing in tech start-ups, Kutcher joined the cast of Shark Tank as a guest investor for the seventh season of the show. Mark Cuban convinced the actor to join the show for the season.
Ashton Kutcher's Tough Evaluation | Shark Tank In 5, CNBC Ambition
40. Sharing The Wealth
With The Ranch’s final season filmed, Kutcher is moving on to a new project, this time as executive producer. Titled Going From Broke, the show looks to help young people facing massive amounts of debt find their way to financial success and freedom. The show is currently available on Crackle.
Going from Broke | Official Trailer | Crackle, Crackle
41. A Bad Boy In A Bad Way
Ashton Kutcher attended Clear Creek Amana High School—and he was quite the rebel. Accompanied by his cousin, the actor broke into his school one night during senior year with the intention of stealing money. Kutcher was caught and detained, ultimately sentenced to three years' probation and 180 hours of community service. Perhaps even worse for a young man, the incident lost him his girlfriend and potential scholarships. At least he learned his lesson.
42. Not A School Guy
The school troubles didn’t stop there. While going to college for biochemical engineering, Kutcher was kicked out of his apartment for partying too much and making too much noise. During this time, he would routinely sell his blood plasma for money. Thankfully he was approached by a modeling agency shortly after, the start to his runaway success of a career.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
