Kiefer Sutherland

Birthday: 21 December 1966, Paddington, London, England, UK

Birth Name: Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland

Height: 174 cm

Kiefer Sutherland was born in London, England, UK, to Canadian actors Shirley Douglas and Donald Sutherland, who moved to California shortly after his birth. His maternal grandfather, Tommy Douglas, was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who was a Premier of Saskatchewan for over 17 years and led the national NDP party for almost 10.Kiefer got his first film role in the comedy drama Max Dugan Returns (1983). Sutherland's first major role was in the Canadian drama The Bay Boy (1984), which earned Sutherland and director Daniel Petrie, Genie award nominations for best actor and best director, respectively. Following his success in The Bay Boy, Sutherland eventually moved to Los Angeles and landed television appearances in "The Mission", an episode of Amazing Stories (1985) and in the telefilm Trapped in Silence (1986) with Marsha Mason.In 1992, Sutherland starred opposite Ray Liotta and Forest Whitaker in Article 99 (1992) and in the military drama A Few Good Men (1992) also starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Later, in 1994, he starred with Jeff Bridges and Nancy Travis in the American version of The Vanishing (1993) for 20th Century Fox. In 1997, he co-starred with William Hurt and Rufus Sewell in Dark City (1998), directed by Alex Proyas, which was a special presentation at the Cannes Film Festival. Sutherland also added his second directorial credit and starred in Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997) alongside Kevin Pollak, Mykelti Williamson, Rod Steiger and Martin Sheen. He stars in the Fox drama series 24 (2001) as Jack Bauer for which he has earned a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Most recently, he has been seen in the movie Phone Booth (2002) as a man who calls up someone at a phone booth and threatens to kill them if they hang up. Show less «

You know, Gauguin is one of my favorite painters, not because I think he was a great painter but bec...Show more »

You know, Gauguin is one of my favorite painters, not because I think he was a great painter but because he was a great artist, his passion and belief in what he was doing; he gave up everything to follow his passion. I have so much respect for that because I don't have that kind of courage. Show less «

There are two things that Jack Bauer never does. Show mercy and go to the bathroom.

[on his father, actor Donald Sutherland, being a huge fan of his television series 24 (2001)]: I rem...Show more »

[on his father, actor Donald Sutherland, being a huge fan of his television series 24 (2001)]: I remember last year we were having dinner and I made the mistake of saying I had to go home soon because we're shooting x, y and z. And he got cross with me, because I had told him what I was shooting, just not thinking about it, and obviously gave away a piece of the plot. Show less «

I've had some amazing people in my life. Look at my father. He came from a small fishing village of ...Show more »

I've had some amazing people in my life. Look at my father. He came from a small fishing village of five hundred people and, at six foot four with giant ears and a kind of very odd expression, thought he could be a movie star. So go figure, you know? Show less «

On his 1990s career: You could say I was not on everybody's first list to do the bigger films. Lucki...Show more »

On his 1990s career: You could say I was not on everybody's first list to do the bigger films. Luckily, other opportunities have come along. Show less «

There are two kinds of event in rodeo and bull riding's one of the roughstock events. I was into imm...Show more »

There are two kinds of event in rodeo and bull riding's one of the roughstock events. I was into immobilising cows myself. Show less «

(on the much-hyped broken engagement to Julia Roberts) You can't do all these interviews about how w...Show more »

(on the much-hyped broken engagement to Julia Roberts) You can't do all these interviews about how wonderful you both are and then when it falls apart six days before your wedding not expect people to have a shot at you. I know Julia and I unwittingly asked for it. Show less «

[2006] I've always thought that I look different in my head than what I see. I had a real big proble...Show more »

[2006] I've always thought that I look different in my head than what I see. I had a real big problem with it when I saw Stand by Me (1986). I thought I'd ruined the movie. I so clearly wanted my character to be a mean, angry version of James Dean. And, obviously, I didn't look anything like that. That's always thrown me off. So I tend not to look in mirrors. Show less «

My old man started to watch 24 (2001) in France when he was on location - it didn't have any commerc...Show more »

My old man started to watch 24 (2001) in France when he was on location - it didn't have any commercials over there. Then, he came to the States and he hated the commercials. Then, he went back to France and he missed the commercials, because it gave him time to breathe. I always found that funny. Show less «

[on the rigors of action roles] It's amazing that I'm still alive.

I think the most attractive thing (in a woman) is a sense of humor. If someone can make you laugh, y...Show more »

I think the most attractive thing (in a woman) is a sense of humor. If someone can make you laugh, you've gotten a lot out of the way. Show less «

(his reaction to winning the Golden Globe Award!) Now I know how Charlie Sheen feels, I've lost all ...Show more »

(his reaction to winning the Golden Globe Award!) Now I know how Charlie Sheen feels, I've lost all feeling in my lower half. Show less «

Twelve years ago, if anyone had suggested I would do TV, I would have laughed at them. Film actors d...Show more »

Twelve years ago, if anyone had suggested I would do TV, I would have laughed at them. Film actors didn't do TV. But when I was finally offered 24 (2001), it came like a saving grace. I owe it a lot. Show less «

[on the role of Jack Bauer]This has been the role of a lifetime, and I will never be able to fully e...Show more »

[on the role of Jack Bauer]This has been the role of a lifetime, and I will never be able to fully express my appreciation to everyone who made it possible. While the end of the series is bittersweet, we always wanted 24 to finish on a high note, so the decision to make the eighth season our last was one we all agreed upon. This feels like the culmination of all our efforts from the writers to the actors to our fantastic crew and everyone at Fox. Looking ahead to the future, Howard Gordon and I are excited about the opportunity to create the feature film version of 24. But when all is said and done, it is the loyal worldwide fan base that made it possible for me to have the experience of playing this role and for that I am eternally grateful. Show less «

I like chatting with people. If people ask me a direct question, I give them a direct answer and I f...Show more »

I like chatting with people. If people ask me a direct question, I give them a direct answer and I feel I've always done that with the press. Show less «

I got really lucky in that my dad stopped working just as I started. He took a few years off, not on...Show more »

I got really lucky in that my dad stopped working just as I started. He took a few years off, not on purpose, but he has three sons with his wife of 30 years and he wanted to be involved with them. As much as I missed him being around when I was growing up, I think he missed us too and he wasn't going to let that happen again. So it wasn't until much later that people started making comparisons. When I started, with films like The Bay Boy (1984) and Stand by Me (1986), I look back on those interviews and I'm amazed; there's no mention of my father, it's not even "son of Donald Sutherland". I caught a bit of a break in that it never felt like a weight to me. It's amazing that I was stupid enough to try it - we're talking about one of the most prolific actors in film history - but my parents were very gracious about making me feel like I at least had a shot at making my own path. Show less «

I think that the day you've figured out the difference between women and men is the day that you're ...Show more »

I think that the day you've figured out the difference between women and men is the day that you're no longer attracted to women. It's the difference that is so fantastic and frustrating and angering and really sexy. Show less «

You can't ask the press to service you with everything that they have and not expect some of the oth...Show more »

You can't ask the press to service you with everything that they have and not expect some of the other stuff in return if you're going to live your life like I have," he says. "I've done enough stupid things that I might as well walk up to them and say, "Here, if I were you, I'd write it like this..." In all fairness, the press has been pretty nice to me; even in having a go at me, it's done with a kind of humor. Only once or twice have I seen something that made me think, wow, that person really doesn't like me - where it's been malicious as opposed to "what an idiot". Show less «

[on Jack Bauer's trigger-happy nature] It's funny because I'm strongly opposed to the death penalty,...Show more »

[on Jack Bauer's trigger-happy nature] It's funny because I'm strongly opposed to the death penalty, and I don't believe in "acceptable losses". It's complicated for me to play this character, because, unlike a film, I don't know the end but I want a situation to arise within the show where he's actually confronted with a lot of the things he's done. Show less «

[Describing how he works with the cast and crew of 24 (2001)] One of the interesting things about th...Show more »

[Describing how he works with the cast and crew of 24 (2001)] One of the interesting things about the way we shoot our seasons we don't get picked up until it's over so we approached the first season like "this was it" it could be over before it even starts", so we threw everything into it and created a standard for us. What really can make or break any show is the crew and our crew, you can't look at those faces every day and every year and just start quitting on them because they're the same amount of hours you are and in many cases even longer than you. Show less «

[Describing his work ethic while shooting 24] it's going to sound funny and I don't meant to be and ...Show more »

[Describing his work ethic while shooting 24] it's going to sound funny and I don't meant to be and it's not a trite answer: fear I love my job and I don't want to lose it because people are relying on me in this situation too and the fear of failing added, fear is a huge motivator for me it's a fantastic opportunity. I've been doing this long enough not to take it for granted so fear will push you through Show less «

[on winning the 2001 Best Actor Golden Globe Award] My mind went totally blank and my body went numb...Show more »

[on winning the 2001 Best Actor Golden Globe Award] My mind went totally blank and my body went numb. It was a very surreal moment... It was a great night. I admit I felt really cocky for about 24 hours, and then I had to go back to work. Show less «

My mother's five foot two and, I'll be honest with you, she's the only person I'm scared of.

[2006] I've had one-night stands, but they're just not my nature. I think of myself as much more of ...Show more »

[2006] I've had one-night stands, but they're just not my nature. I think of myself as much more of a romantic than that. The point of being with someone is out of the hope and desire for connection. Otherwise, you might as well just go home and masturbate... Show less «

When asked what attracted him to film acting: I got into it for the girls.

If the acting thing hadn't worked out for me, I'd be laying phone cable in northern Ontario.

When you're a young actor you like to go for characters with a bit of flair, so in many films I ende...Show more »

When you're a young actor you like to go for characters with a bit of flair, so in many films I ended up playing the weirdos. But I can assure you I'm not a psycho or a criminal or a bully. Show less «

Do I think it's important to the show (24 (2001)) that Jack eventually dies and does so when you lea...Show more »

Do I think it's important to the show (24 (2001)) that Jack eventually dies and does so when you least expect it? Yeah. It will be very obvious when people start going, "Oh, please. How many bad days can one guy have?". Show less «

[2006] I think I'm pretty demanding as a person. I like things to be a certain way, everything from ...Show more »

[2006] I think I'm pretty demanding as a person. I like things to be a certain way, everything from being on time to being tidy. I haven't been flexible with that. I mean, as I've gotten older, I've hopefully become a lot more flexible. But, of course, I am living alone... I had the 24 (2001) cast over for dinner one night and I heard that Reiko Aylesworth, who played Michelle, said, "It's so nice that he cleaned up his place." Someone else said, "He didn't clean it up for you, honey. It's always this clean." And her response was, "Ewwww". But there's so much disorder in every other aspect of what we do, if you can control your environment at home, you do it. Show less «

Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer Sutherland's FILMOGRAPHY

Kiefer Sutherland'S roles

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