Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland was born on 21 December 1966 at St Mary's Hospital in the Paddington district of London, to Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and the family relocated to Corona, California, in 1968, with the divorce finalized in 1970. In 1975, Sutherland moved with his mother to Toronto, Ontario, where he attended several schools including Crescent Town Elementary School, St. Clair Junior High in East York, and John G. Althouse Middle School in Etobicoke. He also attended multiple high schools, among them St. Andrew's College, Martingrove Collegiate Institute, Harbord Collegiate Institute, Silverthorn Collegiate Institute, Malvern Collegiate Institute, and Annex Village Campus, as well as a semester at Regina Mundi Catholic College in London, Ontario. His maternal grandfather was Tommy Douglas, the Scottish-born Canadian politician and former Premier of Saskatchewan credited with bringing universal health care to Canada. Sutherland has a twin sister, Rachel Sutherland, who works as a post-production film supervisor. He is named after Warren Kiefer, the American-born writer and director who directed Donald Sutherland in his first feature film, Castle of the Living Dead.

Sutherland made his screen debut in Max Dugan Returns, in which his father also appeared. His first leading film role came in the Canadian drama The Bay Boy, for which he received a Genie Award nomination. After that film's critical reception, he moved to Hollywood, where Stand by Me (1986), directed by Rob Reiner, became his first American production. That same year he appeared in At Close Range alongside Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. He played the vampire David in Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys (1987), and starred in the Western Young Guns (1988) alongside Emilio Estevez and Lou Diamond Phillips, with whom he reteamed the following year for Renegades (1989). In 1989, Sutherland and his father appeared together at the 61st Academy Awards as presenters of the Academy Honorary Award to the National Film Board of Canada.

The early 1990s brought further prominent film roles. Sutherland led the ensemble cast of Flatliners (1990), which also featured Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon. He continued his role as Doc in Young Guns II (1990), joined by newcomer Christian Slater. In 1992 he appeared in A Few Good Men, playing a junior officer subordinate to Jack Nicholson's character in a film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and took a supporting role in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me as agent Sam Stanley. The following year he starred in The Vanishing alongside Jeff Bridges and played Athos in The Three Musketeers (1993). His 1996 releases included Freeway with Reese Witherspoon, Eye for an Eye with Sally Field, and A Time to Kill, in which he appeared alongside his father. In 1998 he portrayed Daniel P. Schreber in Alex Proyas's science fiction film Dark City.

Beginning in 2001, Sutherland became most widely recognized for portraying Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series 24, which ran from 2001 to 2010 and returned in 2014. The role earned him a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. He subsequently starred as President Tom Kirkman in the ABC political drama Designated Survivor, and appeared in the Fox drama Touch from 2012 to 2013. Beyond television, he provided the facial motion capture and voice for Venom Snake and Big Boss in the video games Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014) and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015). His later film credits include Melancholia (2011), Pompeii (2014), and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023). Sutherland has been inducted into both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival.

In addition to his screen work, Sutherland has performed on Broadway. Originally from London, England, he appeared on Broadway in 2011 in That Championship Season.