Kutcher’s stupid smarts
The onetime model is often mistaken for the lovable boneheads and stoners he plays in movies.
Ashton Kutcher doesn’t care if people think he’s an idiot, said Mickey Rapkin in Elle. The onetime model is often mistaken for the lovable boneheads and stoners he plays in movies like Dude, Where’s My Car? and on TV’s That ‘70s Show. “People fill in the blanks really fast,” says the 35-year-old actor. “They go, ‘Oh my God, he’s on a show and [plays] stupid, so he must be stupid.’ I can’t control that, nor do I try to, nor do I want to.” Offscreen, Kutcher is actually something of a tech-investing savant. He bought a stake in Skype in 2009 when it was valued at $2.75 billion; the Internet firm was later sold for more than three times that. His venture capital fund A-Grade Investments has backed promising Web startups like music site Spotify and couch-surfing tool Airbnb. Kutcher says that his dumb reputation only helps his business career. “There’s something advantageous about having people underestimate your intellect, insomuch as a lot of things are revealed to you.” Executives will blab in front of him, thinking he won’t understand their corporate talk. “And the next thing you know, you have information you wouldn’t normally have.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Make legal immigration a more plausible option'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published