"If I was not who I am I would hate me. I would be sick of me. I would be over it, done. I would be like, this guy - get him gone. I want him out of my life."

Twenty-six-year-old Ashton Kutcher is wrestling with his inner demons. In his native America, high profile TV roles in sitcom 'That 70s Show' and celebrity prank fest 'Punk'd', coupled with his newest role as Demi's tabloid toyboy, have left him with an image he's frankly embarrassed about.

"I would sit back and go 'why does this guy get to live this life and I don't?' he reveals. "I'm jealous of my own life, I really am. I'm over me. That's why I like to play characters."

Regrettably, Kutcher's most recent attempt to stretch his character beyond the doofus-gone-wild persona his fans have been happily soaking up hasn't gone so well. His debut dramatic role in sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect, released in the UK this month, left American critics cold. However, their response left Ashton all fired up.

"As far as I'm concerned, if they didn't like it that's a fantastic opportunity because now I have to work harder to make something that they appreciate."

And working harder he is. Belying his Superdork image, Kutcher is a highly motivated actor, producer and businessman determined to get the right projects off the ground. His production company - Katalyst Films - currently have two TV pilots in production, and they're also working on an adaptation of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, retitled The Dinner Party.

"It's myself and Bernie Mac, and it's a reversal of the original as I'll be playing the Sidney Poitier role and Bernie the Spencer Tracy role. In other words, I'm dating his daughter. The nature of that issue has changed significantly since the first film came out, so we're trying to address it. I think they closed the racial gap from a mile down to a city block but I think there's still work to be done and we're trying to deal with it sensitively."

When Kutcher's not busy playing screen star and producer, his business interests stretch to part-ownership in Dolce, one of LA's hottest eateries, and co-ownership of a construction company he's set up with his father. He's moved Kutcher Sr from rural Iowa to his own LA home to begin buying, renovating and selling local properties. Next step: the planet.

"I want to make the world a unified place," he says in all seriousness. "I understand that whatever you believe and whatever your religion we all came from the same place and we're all eventually going to go to the same place."

Only Ashton's travelling first class. You've got to hate him...