Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born December 21, 1966) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning Canadian actor, well known for his lead role of Jack Bauer on the television series 24. Sutherland also owns a recording studio and record label, called Ironworks.
Early life
Sutherland was born in London, England, the son of Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas, both of whom are successful Canadian actors.He has Scottish ancestry from both parents and is the grandson of Canadian statesman Tommy Douglas. Sutherland and his twin sister, Rachel, were born in London (in Saint Mary’s Hospital, Paddington) while his parents were working there. As a result, through the jus soli and the jus sanguinis, he holds both a Canadian passport and a British passport with certificate of Right to Abode.
His family moved to Los Angeles, California, shortly afterwards, but his parents eventually divorced in 1970.In 1975, Sutherland moved with his mother to Toronto where he attended high school at St. Andrew’s College, Martingrove Collegiate Institute, Harbord Collegiate Institute and Malvern Collegiate Institute. He also spent a semester at Regina Mundi College in London, Ontario, Canada and attended Crescent Town Elementary School and St. Clair Junior High School in East York, Ontario. He speaks fluent English and French.
Career
As of 2008, Sutherland has appeared in over seventy films, most notably The Lost Boys, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, A Few Good Men, Flatliners, Young Guns, The Vanishing, The Three Musketeers, Stand by Me, Dark City, and A Time To Kill as well as The Sentinel. Since 2001, Sutherland is most widely associated with the role of Jack Bauer, on the critically acclaimed television series 24.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. His father, Donald, was also an Emmy winner; he won an Emmy award for his role in Citizen X in 1996. 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 in the 2007 Golden Globe Awards for 24.
Sutherland constantly emphasizes that the show is merely “entertainment.”Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan visited the set of 24 in February 2007 to urge the show’s makers to reduce the number of torture scenesand Sutherland accepted an invitation from the U.S. military to tell West Point cadets it is wrong to torture prisoners.
In 2005, Sutherland was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto,where both of his parents have also been inducted. Sutherland was also the first Inside the Actors Studio guest to be the child of a former guest; his father, Donald, appeared on the show in 1998.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 opened up with Sutherland revealing his interest to be killed off in 24. However, he had also stated, “Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do.” It also revealed that he devotes 10 months a year working on 24.
He has starred in Japanese commercials for Calorie Mate, performing a parody of his Jack Bauer character. Sutherland also provides voiceovers for the current ad campaign for the Ford Motor Company of Canada. These advertisements are thematically of the comedy genre. In mid-2006, he voiced the Apple Computer advertisement announcing the inclusion of Intel chips in their Macintosh computer line.He also voices the introduction to NHL games on the Versus network in the U.S. Recently, he has starred in Argentine TV commercials for Citroën C4 sedan.
Sutherland holding a check for The 1 Second Film.Sutherland will executive produce the two-hour pilot of Phenomenon. Maggie Murphy will also be an executive producer for the show. The Sci Fi Channel ordered a script to be written. The show revolves around a mysterious young female prodigy who leads a crack team of experts in investigating odd and supernatural anomalies of nature.Sutherland is currently the top celebrity producer of The 1 Second Film.
Personal life
Several episodes of 24 have allegedly been rewritten to work around minor injuries Sutherland sustained when partying. In an interview with the London Daily Telegraph, Sutherland said, “I can’t deny half the stuff that’s been written about me has been true. I’ve done some stupid things. You have to take responsibility, go, ‘That was embarrassing,’ and move forward as best you can.”
During the autumn of 2001, Sutherland unintentionally interrupted the filming of the premiere episode of an online series titled The Lonely Island.In the episode “White Power”, the main characters develop an addiction to teeth whitener, and eventually mug an old woman to facilitate their addiction. Sutherland, driving by at the time, believed the mugging was real and jumped out of his car to intervene. A small portion of Sutherland’s appearance is displayed after the credits, though the portion is only Kiefer stopping his car and looking at them.This anecdote was recounted by Andy Samberg.
True to his grandfather’s legacy, Sutherland is an active member of the Canadian New Democratic Party, and has appeared from time to time in NDP advertisements.
He has one daughter, Sarah Jude, born in 1988, along with a stepdaughter, Michelle Kath, from his first marriage to Camelia Kath. Michelle is the daughter of Chicago guitarist/singer Terry Kath. Sutherland’s marriage to Camelia lasted from September 12, 1987 - 1990. In 2006, Sutherland became a grandfather when Michelle gave birth to a son, Hamish. Michelle, born in 1976, is just ten years younger than Sutherland. On June 29, 1996, he married Kelly Winn. They divorced in 2004. He has two stepsons from this marriage, named Timothy Daily and Julian Daily.
Sutherland is a well-known collector of many guitars, a majority of which are Gibson Les Pauls. Recently, the Gibson Custom shop has released a Kiefer Sutherland signature guitar, the KS-336, as part of their ‘Inspired By’ series.
Sutherland was arrested early September 25, 2007 on misdemeanor drunk driving charges (his second time since another incident in 2004) after failing a field sobriety test. He was pulled over at around 1:10 a.m. in West Los Angeles, where he tested over the state’s legal blood alcohol limit and later released on $25,000 bail.On December 5, 2007 he was sentenced to 48 days jail.
On October 9, 2007 Kiefer pled no contest to the DUI charge and agreed to complete the 48 day jail sentence in a prison in December 2007, including Christmas and his 41st birthday.He had opted to spend 18 days in jail during 24’s winter break in late December and early January and return to jail after production wraps up. However, production had been suspended due to the Hollywood writers’ strike so he instead was in jail for 48 days consecutively. Sutherland began his jail term sentence as of December 6, 2007 and was released from the Glendale, California prison just after Midnight on January 21, 2008. He quoted in People Magazine that he was in jail for New Year’s, his birthday, or Christmas and only had one visitor.
