Working with Ashton Kutcher
Between the ages of 14 and 18, the actor hit the road with his mother, working alongside her as they traveled from racetrack to racetrack.
He later attended Santa Monica College but eventually moved to Los Angeles. A friend from Santa Barbara, Kareem Elseify, introduced him to The Groundlings improv troupe, where he decided to audition — marking his first time acting.
Improvisation and sketch comedy classes followed, and after about five years, he joined The Groundlings’ Sunday Company, alongside talents like Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Fortune Feimster, Tate Taylor, and Nat Faxon.
From 2003 onward, he appeared on the improv-style, Candid Camera-inspired show Punk’d with Ashton Kutcher, continuing with the series when it was revived in 2012.
A small breakthrough on the big screen came with the comedy Without a Paddle. Despite negative reviews, the film was a commercial success, raking in over $65 million worldwide by 2009.
The movie that changed his life
A few years later, he continued appearing in films, landing his first leading role in Let’s Go to Prison (2006) alongside Will Arnett and Chi McBride. He then had a main role in the 2008 comedy Baby Mama, starring opposite Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Everything changed when he landed a supporting role in the romantic comedy When in Rome, playing one of the female lead’s would-be suitors. Though small, the part had a huge impact. The woman he acted opposite would become his future wife — none other than Kristen Bell.
The couple announced their engagement in January 2010 but chose to delay their wedding until California legalized same-sex marriage.
In the early part of his career, the actor said that, aside from a single year in high school when he experimented with drugs, he didn’t have a substance abuse problem until he turned 18. After that, he struggled for years with alcohol, cocaine, and prescription pills.
In an interview with Playboy, the star reflected on his turbulent past and how his early relationship with Bell faced its challenges.
“Kristen’s a good girl. She grew up very Christian, went straight to college, did great in school and started work immediately. She’s charitable and philanthropic and rescues dogs,” he said.
“All the things I’d done were terrifying to her, and she had a hard time believing I would ever be able to stay married and monogamous and a father and all those things. For the first year and a half we were together that was what we battled over almost weekly.”
So who is this actor, filmmaker, and now podcast host? None other than Dax Shepard.
