Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a Canadian actor.
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. 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.
Stand By Me was the first film Sutherland made in the United States. 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. 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, To End All Wars and A Time To Kill, The Sentinel and MIRЯORS.
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.
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." Br.Gen. 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.
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.
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. His friend Jason Patric ran off with Roberts to Ireland.
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 also dated Siobhan Bonnouvrier, a style director at Allure magazine.
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, 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.
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 tested over the state's legal blood alcohol limit and 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.