REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
After making a joke about how he was winning the "old guy award" (he's 35), he went on to note that before he was famous, he went by his first name, Chris. He then said that wanted to share three things — about opportunity, being sexy, and living life — he learned back then that got him where he is today.
Opportunity
"I believe that opportunity looks a lot like work," he began. He goes on to describe his first jobs: helping his dad carry shingles to the roof, washing dishes at a restaurant, working in a grocery store deli, and sweeping in a factory.
"I never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. Every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job and I never quit my job before I had my next job."
"Being sexy"
Ashton's point about "being sexy" was far less shallow than the crowd of screaming girls who couldn't get enough of him using the word "sexy."
"The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart. And being thoughtful and being generous. Everything else is crap. I promise you. It's just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less. So don't buy it. Be smart. Be thoughtful and be generous."
Living life
The final point was where Kutcher finally dropped the "Jobs" movie reference. "The third thing is something that I just re-learned when I was making this movie about
"Steve Jobs said when you grow up you tend to get told that world is the way that it is, and that your life is to live your life inside the world and try not to get into too much trouble. Maybe get an education, get a job, make some money, and have a family.
But life can be a lot broader than that when you realize one simple thing: everything around us that we call life was made up of people that are no smarter than you.
And you can build your own things and you can build your own life that other people can live in. So build a life, don't live one, find your opportunities and always be sexy."
Here's a video of the whole speech: