Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland[2] (born 21 December 1966)[3] is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer[4] in the Fox drama series 24 (2001–2010, 2014), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Sutherland was born on 21 December 1966 at St Mary's Hospital in the Paddington district of London, to Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas, both successful Canadian actors who had been living and working in England.[6] His parents divorced when he was three.[7] He has a twin sister, Rachel Sutherland, who works as a post-production film supervisor.[8] His maternal grandfather was Scottish-born Canadian politician and former Premier of SaskatchewanTommy Douglas, who is widely credited for bringing universal health care to Canada.
Sutherland told The Sunday Times that he didn't really know his famous father outside of holidays and summer vacations until he moved out at age 15.[7] He told Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2009) that he and Robert Downey Jr. were roommates for three years when he first moved to Hollywood to pursue his career in acting.[14] He and Downey also starred together in the film 1969 (1988).
Career
1980s: Rise to fame in Hollywood
Sutherland made his screen debut in Max Dugan Returns (as did Matthew Broderick), in which his father Donald Sutherland also starred. Sutherland was one of the contenders for the role of Glen Lantz in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), which ultimately became Johnny Depp's feature film debut.[15]
After receiving critical acclaim for his role as Donald Campbell in The Bay Boy, Sutherland moved to Hollywood. Stand by Me was the first film Sutherland made in the United States.[16] In the film, directed by Rob Reiner, he played a neighbourhood bully in a coming-of-age story about a search for a dead body. Before that, he played a silent, supporting character, as one of Sean Penn's friends who goes up against Christopher Walken in James Foley's crime-thriller At Close Range.
In the sequel Young Guns II (1990), Sutherland continued to play 'Doc' alongside some of the original cast and with newcomer Christian Slater. As of 2017[update], it is the only sequel to a feature film he has starred in. Sutherland starred as the lead in Flatliners, with an ensemble cast featuring Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon, a film about a student who wants to "experience" death's afterlife and record what happens during it, with the help of a group of young students who are "a little" crazy like him; the film received positive reviews from critics. He plays a young FBI agent coming to terms with his life in a commune in Flashback (1990) alongside Dennis Hopper. Sutherland had also starred in The Nutcracker Prince as Hans/The Nutcracker.
Sutherland did not make a film in 1991. During an interview in March 2012, he said he had declined director Gus Van Sant's offer to star in the lead role in the movie My Own Private Idaho, a decision that he regretted. He was quoted as saying "I passed on My Private Idaho because I wanted to go skiing and didn't even look at it. I told myself that I needed to stick to my plan ... and it was a really dumb plan."[18]
In The Vanishing (1993), he starred alongside Jeff Bridges as a desperate man seeking the whereabouts of his girlfriend, three years after she mysteriously vanished. In The Three Musketeers (1993), Sutherland played the central character of Athos.
In 1998, he starred in Dark City, the science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas in which he portrayed the historical character Daniel P. Schreber. Sutherland also starred in the film Ground Control where he played Jack Harries, an air traffic controller who had a perfect record until one air crash haunts him to leave the business. Years later, he is hurtled back into the world he thought he left behind.
Since 2001, Sutherland has been associated most widely with the role of Jack Bauer on the critically acclaimed television series 24.[6] After being nominated four times for the "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" Primetime Emmy Award, Sutherland won the award in 2006 for his role in 24's fifth season. In the opening skit of the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards, Sutherland made an appearance as his 24 character, Jack Bauer. He was also nominated for Best actor in a Drama Television Series at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards for 24. According to his 2006 contract, his salary of $40 million for three seasons of the show made him the highest-earning actor on television.[20]
Sutherland constantly emphasizes that the show is merely "entertainment".[21] 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[22] and Sutherland accepted an invitation from the U.S. military to tell West Point cadets that it is wrong to torture prisoners.[23] In an interview with OK! magazine, Howard Gordon said it would be an "unbearable loss" if they killed off Sutherland's character.[24]
Due to his extensive schedule with 24, he spent less time in film. In 2004, he starred in Taking Lives, alongside Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke, in which he had a "flashy cameo". In The Sentinel (2006), he starred alongside Michael Douglas, as his protégé and he also starred in Disney's The Wild where he voiced the character Samson. He played the lead roles in Alexandre Aja's supernatural horror, Mirrors (2008).[25] In 2009, he joined the DreamWorks animated film Monsters vs. Aliens, reuniting him with actress Reese Witherspoon with whom he starred in Freeway. Monsters vs. Aliens is Sutherland's highest-grossing film to date.
The actor is also a frequent collaborator with director Joel Schumacher, and has appeared in The Lost Boys, Flatliners, Phone Booth,[26] the big screen adaptation of A Time to Kill (the film also starred his father Donald, although their characters did not interact), and Twelve as the narrator.
In 2005, Sutherland was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto,[27] where both of his parents have also been inducted. He ranked No. 68 on the 2006 Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world's most powerful celebrities, his earnings were a reported $23 million.[28] In 2008, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[29] Sutherland was the first Inside the Actors Studio guest to be the child of a former guest; his father, Donald, appeared on the show in 1998.[6] Sutherland was featured on the cover of the April 2006 edition of Rolling Stone, in an article entitled "Alone in the Dark with Kiefer Sutherland". The article began with Sutherland revealing his interest to be killed off in 24. However, he stated, "Don't get me wrong. I love what I do." It also revealed that he devoted 10 months a year working on 24.[30] He has starred in Japanese commercials for CalorieMate, performing a parody of his Jack Bauer character.[31] Sutherland also provides voice-overs for the current ad campaign for the Ford Motor Company of Canada.[32] In mid-2006, he voiced the Apple, Inc. advertisement announcing the inclusion of Intel chips in their Macintosh computer line.[33] He also voices the introduction to NHL games on the Versus network in the US.[34]
2010s: Post-24 film, television, and music projects
On 14 February 2010, Fox TV announced they were temporarily suspending production of Season 8 of 24 due to a ruptured cyst near one of Sutherland's kidneys. According to the report, he waited a few days before going in to have "elective surgery" performed.[35] It was anticipated that he would return after a week, but a few days further were needed and Fox reported that his return to set would be 1 March.[36]
In the 2011 drama-thriller Melancholia directed by Lars Von Trier, he played the male lead character and got the chance to share the screen with long-lost co-stars such as Charlotte Rampling and John Hurt, the film in which Kiefer was nominated for the major Danish film prize Bodil. Kiefer also shared the screen with Hurt another time, this time on the small screen, in the web series The Confession.
In 2012, Sutherland starred in the Fox television series Touch. He played the father of an autistic boy who does not like to be touched, while the son also communicates future humanity interrelated events to his father through numbers and mathematics.[37]
In The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013), the best-selling novel adaptation directed by Mira Nair, he played a supporting character for newcomer Riz Ahmed, as a boss named Jim Cross. On 14 May 2013, it was confirmed that the show 24 would return for a limited series.[39] Before that, he was also offered the lead role in the NBC drama The Blacklist. In May and July 2014, Fox aired the twelve-episode 24: Live Another Day, which received acclaimed reviews from critics. Although he did not appear in 2017's 24: Legacy, he was the show's executive producer.
Sutherland was cast in the 2014 epic romantic historical disaster movie, Pompeii, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson; though the film received generally mixed to negative reviews, and Sutherland's Roman accent and antagonistic performance as Senator Quintus Attius Corvus received polarizing responses from critics, he regarded the film as "much more fun" than many of his other roles, and considered production of the film to be "one of the most comfortable environments I've ever been in".[40][41]
After working in the movie industry for more than 30 years, he had the chance to star with his father, Donald Sutherland, in the western-drama film Forsaken, which also stars Demi Moore and Brian Cox. The film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and received mixed reviews from critics.[46][47]
In 2016, Sutherland was cast in the lead role of the former ABC political drama series Designated Survivor as Tom Kirkman, the President of the United States.[48] The show was renewed by Netflix for a third season which was released on 7 June 2019.[49]
In 2016, Sutherland released his first album, Down in a Hole, and a music video for "Not Enough Whiskey" from the album. The country music songs were written by Sutherland and Jude Cole. The Kiefer Sutherland Band toured in April and May of that year,[50] and debuted at the Grand Ole Opry on June 6, 2016.[51] A 2017 review in The Guardian said, "you have the first Hollywood hobby act unshackled by convention and with a real shot at greatness."[52] The band performed in Scotland[53] and in Las Vegas in 2019.[54] The band's second album, Reckless and Me, was released in April 2019.[55]
2020s
Sutherland played Det. Clay Bryce in the American action thriller television series The Fugitive, which premiered on August 3, 2020.[56] He also starred as lead role John Weir in the 2023 Paramount+ thriller show Rabbit Hole.[57] In the 2023 film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, based on the two-act play of the same name, Sutherland played the role of Lieutenant Commander Phillip Queeg, the part portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in the 1954 film adaptation. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, directed by William Friedkin, premiered in September 2023 at the 80th Venice International Film Festival where it screened out of competition.[58] The film is Friedkin's sole posthumous work, the director having died on August 7 of the same year.[59] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com praised Sutherland for bringing "unique energy" to the role, describing his performance as "one of the best acting turns of his career."[60]Total Film have also praised his performance, writing Sutherland delivers "some of the best work of his career here. He's only briefly in the film, and yet he makes every second count, fidgeting with his hands and spitting his lines as if certain words pain him. He makes Queeg a complex, complicated man, not just a stock villain."[61]
Sutherland narrated the Apple TV+ docuseries John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial. It was released on Apple's streaming platform on December 6, 2023.[62]
Personal life
Sutherland in 2008
Marriages and relationships
On 12 September 1987, Sutherland married Puerto Rican-born Camelia Kath, the widow of Chicago guitarist/singer Terry Kath; she was 34 and he was 20.[63] They had one daughter, Sarah, born on February 18, 1988. Through their marriage, he became stepfather to Camelia's daughter Michelle Kath (b. 1976), who has two sons with actor Adam Sinclair.[64] Sutherland and Kath divorced in 1990.[65]
Sutherland was engaged to Julia Roberts, his co-star in Flatliners (1990).[66] The pair planned to marry on 14 June 1991, but called off the engagement four days before.[65]
On 29 June 1996, Sutherland married Kelly Winn. The couple separated in 1999, and he filed for divorce in 2004. The divorce was finalized on 16 May 2008.[67]
In the late 1990s, Sutherland purchased a 900-acre (360 ha) ranch in Montana and toured on the rodeo circuit.[68] He dated Bo Derek in 2000.[69]
Sutherland began dating model/actress Cindy Vela of Olmito, Texas, sometime in 2014, keeping their relationship private up until 2017 when they began to be seen together in public.[70] Vela and Sutherland became engaged in 2017.[71] As of 2019[update], they reside in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles.[72]
Legal issues
Sutherland was charged in Los Angeles on 25 September 2007, on drunk driving charges, after failing a field sobriety test. His test exceeded the state's legal blood alcohol limit, and he was later released on a $25,000 bail. It was Sutherland's fourth DUI charge since 1989.[73] Sutherland pleaded no contest to the DUI charge and was sentenced to 48 days in jail.[74]
Sutherland surrendered to the NYPD on 6 May 2009 for head-butting fashion designer Jack McCollough, founder and co-designer of Proenza Schouler, at The Mercer Hotel in SoHo following a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[75][76] Several weeks later, Sutherland and McCollough issued a joint statement in which Sutherland apologized; police later dropped the charges.[77]
Business ventures
Sutherland is the co-owner (along with Jude Cole) of the independent record label Ironworks.
Sutherland reportedly fell victim to a financial scam involving cattle in 2010.[78] According to the Associated Press, the perpetrator, Michael Wayne Carr, took US$869,000 from Sutherland, ostensibly in order to buy steers which were never purchased. Carr pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay US$956,000 in restitution to Sutherland and his investment partner.[79]
In his January 2007 interview with Charlie Rose, Sutherland said of his political views:
I believe inherently that we have a responsibility to take care of each other, so when you talk about socialized health care: absolutely, that's a no-brainer. Free universities: absolutely, that's a no-brainer. So, in the definition, I guess those are leaning toward socialist politics. To me, it's common sense.[80]
As a Canadian citizen residing in the United States for work, Sutherland said he is unable to vote in either country. However, he has stated in a 2016 interview that he would have aligned with the New Democratic Party due to his family's history and support for the NDP. Sutherland also supports the Liberal Party's efforts to protect universal health care and criticized the Conservative Party's "undervaluing" of the Canadian public health care system.[81]
In 2019, Sutherland called out Ontario premierDoug Ford and Ottawa MPPLisa MacLeod for using his late grandfather's name to "push their agendas". He also criticized Ford for claiming that the late Douglas would have approved of the Progressive Conservatives' push for fiscal discipline as he argued that his grandfather's achievements were "never at the expense of social and human services to those in need". MacLeod responded by criticizing an "expensive" bus shelter ad for Designated Survivor outside of Queen's Park while suggesting that Sutherland does not understand the challenges of being a politician compared to "pretending to be one on TV".[82]
Charity work
Sutherland is a member of a Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.[83]
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