When Ashton was 13, his parents got divorced & have since remarried giving him step-siblings. Also that year his brother had a heart transplant (due to cardiomyopathy). When he was 15 his mom (& stepdad Mark) moved all 3 kids to Homestead, Iowa= a small farm community with a population of around 100. That move changed his high school from Cedar Rapids Washington to Clear Creek Amana. In High School Ashton excelled in sports including football & wrestling. But being athletic paid it's toll both socially (he was teased for also being in drama) & physically (he had many injuries). Although appearing in plays & musicals since his debut as a theif in The Crying Princess and the Golden Goose in 7th grade, it wasn't until senior year that he got his biggest role to date; Daddy Warbucks in Annie. Ashton was so excited he shaved his head, but it was another radical move that cost him the part. Just before graduation Ashton & some friends broke into the school after-hours in attempts to steal money from the vending machines. He was caught and besides getting in trouble with the law, he was denied all HS extra-carricular activities: including the play.

After he graduated in 1996 he decided to attend the University of Iowa. There he decided to study biochemical engineering in order to someday find a cure for the illness Michael had. At UofI he was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity. To help pay for college Ashton swept up cereal at a General Mills factory, skinned deer, washed dishes & donated alot of blood. His college education was cut short however after he was discovered in a bar by a local modeling agent who suggested he enter the Fresh Faces of Iowa modeling contest. He was surprised to be considered in the same category as Fabio but entered anyway and won. The 1st prize was a trip to NYC to compete in the 1997 International Model & Talent Agency competition. He didn't win but was signed to Next talent agency. He never went home= before he knew it he was traveling around the world modeling for magazines & on the runway. In the Spring of 1998 he went to LA to go out on auditions for TV shows. He had 2 auditions that day; 1 was for Wind on Water and the other was That '70s Show. He landed both. Luckily, since Wind on Water was cancelled he chose wisely.