Part of That '70s Show featuring Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, and Wilmer Valderrama.
Rise to Fame
He was studying biochemical engineering at the University of Iowa when a model scout spotted him at a bar and entered him in a local competition. He won, went to New York, dropped the engineering degree, and landed in LA. His first audition week, he got That '70s Show. The role of dopey, beautiful Michael Kelso ran eight seasons and made him one of the most recognizable faces on TV in the early 2000s. Punk'd followed in 2003, a show he co-created and produced for MTV that was essentially institutional pranking. It cemented the version of him the early 2000s wanted.
In the Spotlight
He pivoted to tech investing in 2010 when most celebrities were still just doing product endorsements. His firm A-Grade Investments made early bets on Airbnb, Spotify, and Uber, turning a $30 million fund into roughly $250 million. At that point, acting became optional. Then in 2023, he and wife Mila Kunis wrote character letters supporting That '70s Show co-star Danny Masterson, who got convicted of rape and sentenced to 30 years to life. Kutcher called him 'a role model.' The backlash forced him to resign as board chair of Thorn, the anti-sex-trafficking nonprofit he co-founded. Nobody missed the contradiction.
Side Notes
He co-founded Thorn, the anti-trafficking nonprofit, with first wife Demi Moore. Moore was about 15 years his senior, which made the marriage a tabloid fixture from 2005 to 2011. He married That '70s Show co-star Mila Kunis in 2015. He enrolled at the University of Iowa to study biochemical engineering because his twin brother Michael was born with a heart defect, and he's said he wanted to find a cure. The tech investing pivot wasn't random. He just swapped one kind of problem-solving for another.