Kiefer Sutherland is a British-Canadian actor, producer, and director, who portrays Martin Bohm on the FOX series Touch. Perhaps best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on 24 from 2001 to 2010, his original breakout role came through in 1987's Lost Boys.
Early life[]
Kiefer and his twin sister, Rachel, were born in London, England, the son of Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas, on December 21, 1966. He has Scottish ancestry from both parents and is the grandson of Canadian politician Tommy Douglas, widely credited for bringing universal health care to Canada. Sutherland is both a British citizen (by jus soli) and a Canadian citizen (by jus sanguinis). Sutherland's given name derives from "Warren Kiefer," the oft-used alias of Italian film director Lorenzo Sabatini, who gave father Donald his first film role in the 1971 Castle of the Living Dead.
The family moved to Corona, California, shortly before Donald and Shirley divorced in 1972. Sutherland moved to Toronto with his mother in 1975, attending Crescent Town Elementary School, St. Clair Junior High East York, and John G. Althouse Middle School. He attended five different high schools including St. Andrew's College, Martingrove Collegiate Institute, Harbord Collegiate Institute, Silverthorn Collegiate Institute, Malvern Collegiate Institute and Annex Village Campus. Sutherland also spent a semester at Regina Mundi Catholic College in London, Ontario and attended weekend acting lessons at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School.
In 2009, Sutherland related on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he and Robert Downey, Jr. were roommates for three years when he first moved to Hollywood to pursue his career in acting. In the same interview he revealed that his favorite television show of all time is Just the Ten of Us, starring Dennis Haysbert.
Career[]
1980s-1990s[]
Kiefer Sutherland made his film debut alongside his father Donald in Neil Simon's Max Dugan Returns, a 1983 comedy-drama film starring Jason Robards and Matthew Broderick. His first lead role was in the 1984 The Bay Boy, a semi-autobiographical film based on director Daniel Petrie's youth in Glace Bay on Cape Breton Island during the Great Depression. The film was a critical success, earning Genie Awards for both Sutherland and Petrie, and prompting the actor to move to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.
Sutherland's first role in the United States was as town bully Ace Merrill in Rob Reiner's 1986 Stand by Me, a coming-of-age film based on Stephen King's short story "The Body." Following the film's success, Sutherland worked steadily as a leading actor well until the mid-1990s, frequently collaborating with writer and director Joel Schumacher. His film roles include such films as The Lost Boys (1987), The Killing Time (1987, with Michael Madsen), Bright Lights, Big City (1987, with Nicholas Guest), Young Guns (1988, with Lou Diamond Phillips), Flatliners (1990), Flashback (1990, opposite Dennis Hopper), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1990, with James Parks, Jurgen Prochnow, Victor Rivers, and Ray Wise), A Few Good Men (1993), with Xander Berkeley), The Three Musketeers (1993), A Time to Kill (1996, with Doug Hutchison and Kurtwood Smith), and Dark City (1998). Sutherland also made his directorial debut in 1997 with Truth or Consequences, N.M., a neo-noir film written by Brad Mirman and starring Sutherland, Vincent Gallo, and Mykelti Williamson.
24[]
Since 2001, Sutherland is best recognized for his work on 24 as Jack Bauer, a part he won after consideration of several other actors, including Richard Burgi. He received numerous accolades for the role throughout the series' run, including five consecutive nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (winning one for Season 5 in 2006), five consecutive Golden Globe nominationsm (winning in 2001), and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. At one point, Sutherland became the highest-paid actor on television, with a salary of $40 million for a three-season contract.
Outside the series, Sutherland also voiced Bauer in the 300th episode of The Simpsons, "24 Minutes," which itself was a stylistic parody of 24. He also appeared in a farcical series of advertisements in Japan for the popular energy supplement Calorie Mate. Most of these ads feature Sutherland as Bauer, racing to avert an imminent terrorist attack while snacking on one of Calorie Mate's products.
Due to the series' often controversial subject matter, Sutherland has occasionally broken character to deliver public service announcements during the airing of certain episodes. This occurred on 25 November 2003 following the broadcast of "Day 3: 5:00pm-6:00pm," an episode featuring a game of Russian roulette, when Sutherland promoted an organization called Americans for Gun Safety Foundation. Two years later, Sutherland delivered a second PSA during the airing of "Day 4: 2:00pm-3:00pm" regarding the portrayal of Arab-Americans in Season 4, in response to a potential lawsuit by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The Dean of the United States Military Academy, Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, visited the set of 24 in February 2007 to urge the show's makers to reduce the number of torture scenes, and Sutherland accepted an invitation from the U.S. military to tell West Point cadets that it is wrong to torture prisoners. In interviews, Sutherland repeatedly downplays the significance of 24 to world affairs, insisting that the series is merely "entertainment."
2000s-2010s[]
Sutherland's recent film projects, concurrent with 24, include To End All Wars (2001), with Robert Carlyle and Greg Ellis), Phone Booth (2002), with Yorgo Constantine and James MacDonald]]), Taking Lives (2004), The Sentinel (2006), Mirrors (2008, also executive producer), and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009). In addition, Sutherland lent his voice to episodes of The Simpsons and Family Guy (2006), as well as the video game Call of Duty: World at War (2008, with Nicholas Guest).
Since the series' end, Sutherland filmed the upcoming Melancholia, a disaster drama film directed by Lars von Trier and co-starring Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. In March 2011, Sutherland will make his Broadway debut in a revival of That Championship Season opposite Brian Cox, Chris Noth, and Jason Patric. Additionally, he will appear with John Hurt and Greg Ellis in a forthcoming Internet series, The Confession, portraying a hitman making his final confession to a priest. The webisode series, which reunites Sutherland with writer/director Brad Mirman, will premiere in March.
Selected filmography[]
- Marmaduke (2010)
- Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
- Mirrors (2008)
- I Trust You to Kill Me (2006)
- The Sentinel (2006)
- The Wild (2006)
- Taking Lives (2004)
- Phone Booth (2003)
- The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (2003)
- Desert Saints (2002)
- To End All Wars (2001)
- After Alice (1999)
- Eye of the Killer (1999)
- Woman Wanted (1999)
- A Soldier's Sweetheart (1998)
- Dark City (1998)
- A Time to Kill (1996)
- Freeway (1996)
- An Eye for an Eye (1996)
- The Cowboy Way (1994)
- The Three Musketeers (1993)
- The Vanishing (1993)
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
- A Few Good Men (1992)
- Young Guns II (1990)
- Flatliners (1990)
- Renegades (1989)
- Young Guns (1988)
- The Lost Boys (1987)
- Stand By Me (1986)
- The Bay Boy (1984)
- Max Dugan Returns (1983)
Television appearances[]
- Touch (2012)
- The Confession (2011)
- The Simpsons (2007)
- 24 (2001-2010)
- Watership Down (1999)
- Saturday Night Live (1991)
- Amazing Stories (1984)