Ashton Kutcher

Born: February 7 1978
Where: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

The former model made his big screen breakthrough in the the stoner comedy Dude, Where's My Car.

He went on to star in the romantic comedy Just Married and supernatural thriller The Butterfly Effect - but it's been his relationship with Demi Moore that's kept him in the headlines.

He has also acquired legions of American female fan as the randy-but-dimwitted Kelso in the TV series That 70s Show.

As a youngster, he starred in high school productions of Annie before studying biochemical engineering at the University of Iowa.

During college he took a variety of odd jobs including sweeping Cheerios dust from the floor of a General Mills plant for $12 an hour.

He got his modelling break when he won the Fresh Faces of Iowa contest in 1997 and subsequently headed for New York.

Kutcher entered the International Model and Talent Agency competition before being signed to the Next agency and relocating to Los Angeles.

His face became familiar from Calvin Klein jeans adverts and TV campaigns for the likes of Versace and Pizza Hut.

Kutcher's profile soared after he was cast in That 70s Show and he also made his first big screen appearances in Down to You and Reindeer Games in 2000.

In Dude, Where's My Car? he teamed up with American Pie's Sean William Scott to play a couple of stoners who lose their car after a party.

In 2001, he took on more serious fare alongside James Van Der Beek in Texas Rangers and returned to comedy in the much delayed My Boss's Daughter.

(at the same time, he also lost out to Josh Hartnett for a lead role in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor).

Teaming up with Britanny Murphy, he scored a minor box office hit with newly-wed comedy Just Married.

However, it was his fledgling romance with Bruce Willis's ex-wife Moore and the MTV prank show Punk'd that was raising his profile.

Subsequent big screen appearances included an uncredited role in the holiday comedy Cheaper By The Dozen.

Switching genres, he went on to star in the commercially successful thriller The Butterfly Effect.

Recent work includes Guess Who, the 2005 remake of Guess Whose Coming To Dinner, alongside Bernie Mac.

The same year he starred alongside Amanda Peet in the rom-com A Lot Like Love and went on to appear in the ensemble drama Bobby about the shooting of Bobby Kennedy.

He next starred in the US Coastguard drama The Guardian opposite Kevin Costner and returned to the rom-com with 2008's What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz.