Ashton Kutcher has taken on the most challenging role of his career, starring as a villainous tech billionaire in Ryan Murphy’s FX horror thriller The Beauty, which premiered on January 21, 2026. The 47-year-old actor, long associated with comedy, plays Byron Forst — a character who engineers a deadly sexually transmitted virus. The casting marks his most high-profile acting project in years, arriving at a turbulent moment in his public life.
En bref
- —Kutcher plays a deadly tech billionaire in Ryan Murphy’s FX series
- —Ryan Murphy wrote the role specifically for Kutcher
- —The comeback follows years of reputational damage in Hollywood
Byron Forst, ‘The Corporation’: a villain written specifically for Kutcher
In The Beauty, Kutcher plays Byron Forst, nicknamed "The Corporation" — a ruthless tech billionaire who develops a mysterious sexually transmitted virus that transforms people into idealized versions of themselves, but with fatal consequences. It is a sharp departure from the comedic roles that defined his earlier career in That ’70s Show and Two and a Half Men.
