Kiefer Sutherland
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
The son of a film legend who seemed poised for stardom as a teen heartthrob thanks to breakout roles in "Stand By Me" (1986) and "The Lost Boys" (1987), actor Kiefer Sutherland suffered through a period of stagnation in the 1990s. Prior to his career's hibernation, Sutherland was a leading man and peripheral member of the so-called Brat Pack that included Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald. At his peak, he starred in such high-profile fare as "Young Guns" (1988) and "Flatliners" (1990), but a much-publicized breakup with then-fiancée Julia Roberts mere days before their pending nuptials put a serious dent in his celebrity. After that unfortunate time, Sutherland found himself relegated to barely-seen indie films and bottom shelf studio flicks. But after years off the public radar, an adult Sutherland reemerged in heroic fashion as Jack Bauer, an agent in the U.S. Counter Terrorist Unit who goes through hell to avert all manner of national crises, on the successful TV thriller "24" (Fox, 2001-2010). Not only was Sutherland's career resurrected, he vaulted past any heights previously achieved to become a multi-Emmy and Golden Globe winner. With his career back in full swing, Sutherland was able to carry other shows like "Touch" (Fox, 2012-13) and "Designated Survivor" (ABC 2016- ) while solidifying his hard-earned status as television's top star.
Born on Dec. 21, 1966 in London, England to actress and political activist Shirley Douglas and movie star Donald Sutherland, Sutherland saw his parents divorce when he was just three years old. Named after writer-director Warren Kiefer, who helped his father with his breakthrough role in "Castle of the Living Dead" (1964), Sutherland began acting at age nine, appearing in a Los Angeles production of "Throne of Straw." He later moved with his mother to Toronto, where as a child actor, he honed his craft in local stage productions. Sutherland's first big break came with the title role of a conflicted teen who witnesses a murder committed by his girlfriend's father in the Canadian-made feature "The Bay Boy" (1984). American audiences had their first glimpse of him playing a radio operator on a World War II bomber in "The Mission," an episode of Steven Spielberg's anthology series "Amazing Stories" (NBC, 1985-87). The actor also did fine work as an elective mute in the CBS movie "Trapped in Silence" (1986).
Beginning with his memorable turn as a small-town bully in "Stand By Me," Sutherland quickly established himself in Hollywood features. He more than held his own as a one of the gang led by a volatile Sean Penn in "At Close Range" (1986), then made audiences take notice with his charismatic performance as a teen vampire in "The Lost Boys." Over the next decade, Sutherland alternated between showy leads and nuanced character parts. He was perfectly cast as the seductive Tad Allagash who encourages a hedonistic lifestyle for Michael J. Fox's aspiring novelist in "Bright Lights, Big City" (1988). Sutherland was the poetic one of the photogenic cowboys of "Young Guns" and a buttoned-up FBI agent sent to escort a 1960s radical (Dennis Hopper) to prison in "Flashback" (1990). A reunion with director Joel Schumacher on the ridiculous, but entertaining "Flatliners" introduced the actor to Julia Roberts. Their subsequent relationship spilled more tabloid ink than the Battle of Gettysburg spilled blood, particularly when Sutherland was spotted with another woman on the eve of their impending marriage. Roberts' decision to cancel the wedding at the eleventh hour caused a media frenzy that embarrassed both parties, and ultimately damaged Sutherland's standing with the public.
Two years later, Sutherland was back in high-profile roles, playing a quirky FBI agent in the film prequel "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" and an overly religious Marine who may or may have been involved in murdering an enlisted man in "A Few Good Men." The actor went on to team with real life friend Charlie Sheen and Oliver Platt as "The Three Musketeers" (1993), then partnered with Woody Harrelson as rodeo riders who head to New York to find a missing pal in "The Cowboy Way" (1994). For some actors, playing villains was always more of a challenge, and Sutherland proved the sentiment with a chilling turn as a member of the Ku Klux Klan in his third film for Joel Schumacher, "A Time to Kill" (1996), which also featured his father as an alcoholic lawyer. He was next seen as a low-key psycho in "Freeway" (1996), a modern-day spin on the "Little Red Riding Hood" story, before the actor went on to impress as a deceptive doctor in "Dark City" (1998) and as the heroin-addicted Beat poet William S. Burroughs in the Sundance-screened "Beat" (2000).
In 1993, Sutherland began a promising secondary career as a filmmaker with the hard-hitting made-for-cable prison drama "Last Light" (Showtime) about the unlikely relationship between an inmate (Sutherland) and a guard (Forest Whitaker). He again did double duty as director and star of "Love and Blood," a 1995 entry in Showtime's film noir series "Fallen Angels," about a down-on-his-luck boxer who is framed for murder by his ex-lover. Moving to the big screen, Sutherland helmed "Truth or Consequences, N.M." (1997), an uneven but stylishly enjoyable hostage drama that was more than enlivened by Sutherland's turn as a devilish psychopath. His follow-up, the festival-bound "Woman Wanted" (1999), though intriguing, was half-baked at best. Indeed, Sutherland removed his name from the credits over an editing dispute for its theatrical release (substituting Alan Smithee), though the press kit made known his contribution.
In a surprising move, especially to himself, Sutherland sought work in series television. He stepped into Kevin Spacey's sh s as Jack Vincennes, the Southern Californian cop who served as an advisor to a TV show, in the pilot for a show based on "L.A. Confidential." But no network was willing to commit to it - in hindsight, something that worked to his advantage. Instead, he accepted the role of government agent Jack Bauer in the heart-thumping series "24," which followed the Counter Terrorism Unit agent over the course of a 24-period which lasted an entire season, or 24 episodes. In the first season, Bauer uncovers a plot to assassinate a presidential candidate and has all of one day to stop it. As if that is not enough, Bauer also discovers his teenage daughter has disappeared. The novel premise of "24" was that each of the series' episodes played out in real-time and covered one hour in Bauer's attempts to locate both the assassin and his missing child. Critics praised the series - with some including it on their top picks for the year, and its star - citing the actor's stalwart performance for anchoring the drama. Over the course of the next seven seasons, Sutherland earned four consecutive Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award as Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for his performance.
With the momentum of his television success on his side, Sutherland signed a production deal with 20th Century Fox Television in early 2006 to develop and executive produce series programming through his newly created production banner. The deal also called for Kiefer to be named co-executive producer of "24;" not just its star. Meanwhile, Sutherland earned yet another Emmy award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2007, despite an otherwise lackluster sixth season. In addition to "24," Sutherland's menacing voice was also prominently featured in Joel Schumacher's "Phone Booth" (2003), a thriller starring Colin Farrell set entirely around the confines of a New York City phone booth; and he had a role in the sub par erotic thriller "Taking Lives" (2004) opposite Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke. He also had roles in "The Wild" (2006), "The Sentinel" (2006) and "I Trust You to Kill Me" (2006).
Before the premiere of the seventh season of "24," Sutherland made news of a different kind: being arrested for drunk driving over the state's legal limit of .08 after the actor failed a field sobriety test following making an illegal U-turn in West L.A. in September 2007. This came on the heels of still being on probation from a similar 2004 conviction. He was charged later that week with misdemeanor driving under the influence in a case the city attorney's office said could put him in jail for more than a year. During the first DUI arrest in 2004, he pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count and was sentenced to five years' probation, 50 hours of community service and was ordered to attend an alcohol treatment program. City officials said he had completed the community service and treatment program but was still on probation. Thus the extreme circumstances of his 2007 arrest. After the writer's strike in early 2008 delayed the seventh season of "24," Sutherland was back on track when the two-hour prequel "24: Redemption" (Fox, 2008) aired, earning him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. After "24" went out with a bang in 2010, Sutherland voiced Bosco in the live action family comedy "Marmaduke" (2011) and starred opposite Kirsten Dunst in Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" (2011). Meanwhile, he made more amusing headlines with an appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman" (CBS, 1993-2015), where he showed up wearing a homely dress after losing a bet with a friend over a professional football game. Back on the small screen, Sutherland starred on the supernatural drama series "Touch" (Fox, 2012-13), where he played a former reporter who discovers that his mute, emotionally disturbed son (David Mazouz) has a gift for predicting future events through a fascination with numbers. The series only lasted one season, after which Sutherland temporarily returned to Jack Bauer's shoes for the limited-run series "24: Live Another Day" (Fox 2014). On the big screen, he essayed supporting roles in indie drama "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (2013), Paul W.S. Anderson's disaster epic "Pompeii" (2014), and the western "Forsaken" (2016), the first film in which he acted opposite his father Donald. Returning to television, Sutherland starred in the drama "Designated Survivor" (ABC 2016- ), in which he played Tom Kirkman, a minor Cabinet official who becomes President of the United States after a terrorist attack on the State of the Union address.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Producer (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1976
Made stage debut with the Los Angeles Odyssey Theater in "Throne of Straw" at age nine
1983
First film appearance, "Max Dugan Returns"; father, Donald Sutherland co-starred
1984
Role in "The Bay Boy" earned a Genie award nomination
1985
U.S. TV debut, 'The Mission' episode of NBC's "Amazing Stories"; directed by Steven Spielberg
1986
TV-movie debut as a mute teenager in the CBS drama "Trapped in Silence"
1986
Played gang leader Ace Merrill in "Stand By Me"; initial collaboration with director Rob Reiner
1987
Co-starred as a teenage vampire in "The Lost Boys"
1988
Teamed with Robert Downey Jr. as draftees in the Vietnam drama "1969"
1988
First of two films with Charlie Sheen as co-star, "Young Guns"
1990
Starred opposite Dennis Hopper in the feature "Flashback"
1990
Cast in the ensemble thriller "Flatliners"; met and fell in love with co-star Julia Roberts
1992
Re-teamed with director Rob Reiner in "A Few Good Men"
1993
Made directorial debut (also starred) with the Showtime prison drama "Last Light"
1993
Second film with Charlie Sheen, "The Three Musketeers"
1994
Appeared opposite Woody Harrelson in the comedy-drama "The Cowboy Way"
1994
Executive produced the Fox TV-movie "Dark Reflections"
1995
Had supporting role in the Oscar-nominated short "The Duke of Groove"
1995
Helmed the 'Love and Blood' segment of the Showtime series "Fallen Angels"
1996
Co-starred with Reese Witherspoon in the HBO film "Freeway"
1996
Starred opposite Sally Field as a freed rapist-murderer in "Eye for an Eye"
1996
Appeared as a Ku Klux Klan leader in "A Time to Kill"; also co-starred father Donald as an alcoholic lawyer
1997
Co-starred with mother Shirley Douglas in an Ottawa stage production of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie"
1997
Feature directorial debut, "Truth or Consequences, N.M."; also co-starred as a psychopathic ex-convict
1998
Had featured role in the underrated "Dark City"
1999
Directed and co-starred with Holly Hunter in "Woman Wanted"
2000
Portrayed writer William S. Burroughs in the Sundance-screened drama "Beat"
2000
Portrayed a sheriff in the black comedy "Picking Up the Pieces" (Cinemax)
2001
Co-starred with Robert Carlyle in the WWII drama "To End All Wars"; screened at Cannes
2001
Cast as Jack Bauer, a government agent on the Fox drama "24"; received Emmy (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007), SAG (2002, 2005, 2007) and Golden Globe (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007) nominations for Best Actor in Drama Series
2002
Cast in the Joel Schumacher thiller "Phone Booth"
2003
Cast as artist Paul Gaugin in the biopic "Paradise Found"
2004
Starred opposite Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke in the thriller "Taking Lives"
2006
Co-starred with Michael Douglas and Eva Longoria in "The Sentinel"
2008
Played the lead in "Mirrors," a remake of the 2003 South Korean horror film
2008
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (December)
2008
Reprised role of Jack Bauer for the TV-movie, "24: Redemption" (Fox), a prequel to the 7th season of the series; earned Golden Globe, SAG and Emmy nominations for Best Actor in a Television Movie
2009
Voiced General W.R. Monger in the computer-animated 3-D feature "Monsters vs. Aliens"
2010
Voiced the character of Bosco, the main antagonist, in the live-action film based on the comic strip "Marmaduke"
2010
Narrated the Joel Schumacher-directed drama thriller "Twelve"
2011
Joined an all star cast for the revival of Broadway's "That Championship Season"
2011
Cast in a featured role in Lars Von Trier's apocalyptic drama "Melancholia"
2012
Returned to series television with a starring role as a widower father and airport worker on "Touch" (Fox)
2014
Reprised his role as Jack Bauer for the TV reboot "24: Live Another Day"
2015
Starred alongside his father Donald Sutherland in the western "Forsaken"
2016
Played himself in "Zoolander 2"
2016
Began starring on the action-thriller TV series "Designated Survivor"
2017
Appeared in the "Flatliners" reboot
2017
Co-starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in the Brooklyn-set drama "Where Is Kyra?"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
