Kiefer Sutherland Bio

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Kiefer Sutherland Pictures

Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born Dec. 21, 1966) is an Emmy Award and Golden Globe award winning Canadian actor, well known for his lead role of Jack Bauer on the FOX thriller drama series 24.

Kiefer Sutherland: Biography

Kiefer Sutherland - 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 politician 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 is both a Canadian citizen and a British citizen.

His family moved to Corona, California, shortly afterwards, but his parents eventually divorced in 1972. In 1975, Sutherland moved with his mother to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended elementary school at Crescent Town Elementary School in East York, Toronto, and high school at five different schools including St. Andrew's College, Martingrove Collegiate Institute, Harbord Collegiate Institute, Silverthorn Collegiate Institute and Malvern Collegiate Institute. He also spent a semester at Regina Mundi Catholic College in London, Ontario, Canada and attended weekend acting lessons at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School.

Kiefer Sutherland - Career

Stand By Me was the first film Sutherland made in the United States. As of 2008, Sutherland has appeared in more than 70 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, Eye for an Eye, Dark City, To End All Wars and A Time To Kill, The Sentinel and MIRRORS (2008). 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 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 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 Citroí«n C4 sedan. He has recently done voice-over for a commercial for Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program. He voiced Sgt. Reed Roebuck in Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War.

Sutherland holding his cheque 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.

Being a massive fan, he also narrated "The Feeling On Ice" documentary that was included on UK band The Feeling's DVD "The Feeling: Come Home".

Kiefer Sutherland - 24

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. According to his latest contract, his salary of $40 million for three seasons of the show make him the highest-earning actor on television. Sutherland constantly emphasizes that the show is merely "entertainment." 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 it is wrong to torture prisoners. In an interview with OK! Magazine, Howard Gordon tells that it would be an "unbearable loss" if they killed off Sutherland's character.

On March 24, 2009, Sutherland reported to the Associated Press that he will be back for an 8th season.

Kiefer Sutherland: Personal life

Kiefer Sutherland signs an autograph at Green Hill conference in 2007

Several episodes of 24 have allegedly been rewritten to work around minor injuries Sutherland sustained when partying. In an interview with the British 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.

Kiefer Sutherland - Hobbies

Sutherland is an avid collector of javelins and in his youth contemplated training for the Olympic Games. Though no longer active in the sport, Sutherland still considers himself a Javelinaut of comparable skill.

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 guitar (signed by Sutherland himself), the KS-336, as part of their 'Inspired By' series. He is a fan of the USC Trojans football, and recorded a birthday message for USC head coach Pete Carroll's 56th birthday. When Queen appeared on VH1 in 2004 for the Rock Honors Event, Keifer gave Queen's introduction and announced that they are his favorite band, and that he has listened to them ever since he was a kid.

Kiefer Sutherland - Family/Relationships

He has one daughter, Sarah Jude, born February 18, 1988, from his first marriage to Camelia Kath, to whom he was married from September 12, 1987-1990. Through his marriage to Camelia, he became stepfather to Michelle Kath, the daughter of Chicago guitarist/singer Terry Kath.

Julia Roberts met Sutherland in 1990, when he was her co-star in Flatliners. In August 1990, Roberts and Sutherland announced their engagement, with an elaborate studio-planned wedding scheduled for June 14, 1991. Roberts broke the engagement three days before the wedding when she discovered Sutherland had been meeting with a stripper named Amanda Rice. In turn, Roberts left for Europe with Sutherland's (former) friend, Jason Patric.

On June 29, 1996, he married Kelly Winn. The couple separated in 1999. He filed for divorce in 2004. The divorce was finalized on May 16, 2008. He had two stepsons from this marriage.

As of early 2008, Sutherland was rumored to be dating Siobhan Bonnouvrier, a style director at Allure magazine.

Kiefer Sutherland - Rodeo

In the late 1990s, Sutherland (inspired by his films Young Guns, The Cowboy Way, and Cowboy Up in which he learned how to rope), decided to retire from acting briefly to pursue the rodeo circuit. In consequence, he purchased a 900 acre ranch in Montana, along with horses, bulls/cows and machinery. While traveling on the road with the rodeo, he participated in numerous roping contests, in which he won in Phoenix and Albuquerque.

Kiefer Sutherland - DUI Arrest

Sutherland was arrested early Sept. 25, 2007, on misdemeanor drunk driving charges, his second time since another incident in 2004, after failing a field sobriety test. His test exceeded the state's legal blood alcohol limit, and he was later released on $25,000 bail. Sutherland pled no contest to the DUI charge and was sentenced to 48 days in jail. Initially, he arranged to spend 18 days in jail during 24's winter break in late December and early January 2008, planning to return to jail after production wrapped up. However, the Hollywood writers' strike interrupted production, allowing him to serve his sentence in 48 consecutive days.