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Kiefer Sutherland Biography |
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i Believe that The Lost Boys would be his real claim to fame.
Kiefer Sutherland was born on December 21st, 1966 in London, England, UK to parents Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas. He got his first film role in the movie 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) (TV) 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 Twentieth 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 currently stars in the Fox drama "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 |
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Trivia |
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Francine Racette
[Step Mother]
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Angus Redford Sutherland
[Brother]
((half brother))
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Rossif Sutherland
[Brother]
((half brother))
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Roeg Sutherland
[Brother]
((half brother))
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Thomas
[Brother]
(half brother from Shirley Douglas` previous marriage)
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Rachel
[Sister]
(Kiefer`s twin sister)
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Shirley Douglas
[Mother]
(actress)
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Donald Sutherland
[Father]
(actor)
Trivia and QuotesQuotes "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" - on Bauer`s trigger-happy nature "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" - on winning the 2001 Best Actor Golden Globe 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. 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 My old man started to watch 24 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. When asked what attracted him to film acting: "I got into it for the girls." [Talking about his father, actor Donald Sutherland, being a fan of his TV series "24"]: 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. "Now I know how Charlie (Sheen) feels, I`ve lost all feeling in my lower half." (his reaction to winning the Golden Globe Award!) "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." (about the much-hyped broken engagement to Julia Roberts) 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?` 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 and Stand by Me, 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. If the acting thing hadn`t worked out for me, I`d be laying phone cable in northern Ontario. 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." There are two kinds of event in rodeo and bull riding`s one of the roughstock events. I was into immobilising cows myself. 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. 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". 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.Trivia Arrested on suspicion of DUI in Los Angeles on September 25, 2007. His "24" (2001) character Jack Bauer was spoofed by John Culshaw on "Dead Ringers" (2002). In 2005, he was inducted into Canada`s Walk of Fame in Toronto. Sentenced to 48 days in jail for DUI. Started serving his sentence immediately [December 5, 2007]. When his character, Jack Bauer, got a new tattoo (part of the plot line) for Season 3 of "24" (2001) instead of having to go though tedious make up for each scene which the tattoo would show, Kiefer had a real tattoo inked onto his arm. Has a very large collection of vintage guitars (a 1959 Les Paul, a `67 Telecaster, a `68 ES335 and about fifty-five more). He has a border collie named Molly. Lives in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. Despite being in Phone Booth (2002) and Taking Lives (2004) for less then 3 minutes in each movie, he shares top billing with his co-stars. His great-great-grandmother through male line was a third cousin of President Rutherford Birchard Hayes. Ironically, on "24"`s 5th season, his character Jack Bauer had to work with a Homeland Security agent named Karen Hayes. Is distantly related to former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean. Broke three fingers in his first rodeo. Has spent 15 hours a day, six days a week, for the last five years on the set of "24" (2001). He attended seven different schools in ten years. His ex-wife, Camelia Kath, is the widow of Chicago guitarist Terry Kath. His grandfather (former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas) was voted "The Greatest Canadian" Ranked #68 on the 2006 Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world`s most powerful celebrities. His earnings were a reported $23 million. Upon the conclusion of season 5 of "24" (2001), Kiefer has spent more on-screen time as the character "Jack Bauer" than as all of his previous roles combined. He has also received more nominations for the show than his entire film career. At about 5` 10", Kiefer is extremely short by the standards of his father`s side of the family. For example, his father stands 6` 4" and his half-brothers are well over 6 feet. Attended St. Andrew`s College in Aurora, Ontario. Has a 1967 Chevy Chevelle that he has a "personal attachment to" Has signed a contract to be in 3 more seasons of "24" (2001) after season 5. The contract says he will be paid $40 million, which makes him the highest paid actor on a TV drama. Has three half-brothers: Roeg Sutherland (b. 1974), Rossif Sutherland (b. 1978) and Angus Redford Sutherland (b. 1979). He appears with Kim Basinger in The Sentinel (2006). Basinger appeared in L.A. Confidential (1997), and Sutherland was going to play Jack Vincennes in the failed TV pilot version, L.A. Confidential (2003) (TV). Is a huge fan of the rock band Queen. Is the spokesperson for Calorie Mate Japan in character from `24` Owns a recording studio/music label in Los Angeles, called Ironworks, with best friend, musician/producer Jude Cole. Starred alongside Dennis Hopper in Flashback (1990). Hopper later played "Victor Drazen" in the final four episodes of Season One of "24" (2001). Attended the funeral of actor Brandon Lee (who was accidentally shot by Michael Massee while filming The Crow (1994)). Coincidentally, Massee later played villain Ira Gaines in the first season of "24" (2001). During the fourth season of "24" (2001), he filmed a Public Service Announcement to tell viewers that the show`s creators were not trying to exploit 9/11 in their storylines, and that the whole terrorist storyline was fictional. In an episode of "24" (2001), his character Jack Bauer is brought back after a heart failure. The same thing happened in Flatliners (1990), where he played Nelson. Is close friends with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. On the Freeway (1996) DVD cover, he has a five o`clock shadow, but in the film itself, he is clean shaven. Shares a birthday with Jane Fonda, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ray Romano. He left Canada to do commercials in New York. In 1983 he landed a jeans advertisement and got enough money to buy a car and go to California. His daughter Sarah will graduate in the class of 2006 from Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica, California (Vanity Fair Magazine, February 2005) Is seven minutes older than sister Rachel Sutherland. When he was eight, he moved to Canada where he spent the next eight years of his life. His stepdaughter Michelle Kath is expecting her first child in February 2005. On January 23, 2005, became the first "Inside the Actors Studio" (1994) guest to be the offspring of a former guest. His father, Donald Sutherland appeared on the show in 1998. Was originally slated to play grandfather Tommy Douglas in "Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story" (2006), but had to relinquish the role in late 2004 due to scheduling conflicts with the fourth season of "24" (2001). Wasn`t aware of father Donald Sutherland as an actor until he was 18. Even though he physically appears onscreen for less than three minutes in Phone Booth (2002), he received second billing behind Colin Farrell. Had L.A. Confidential (1997) been made into a TV series, he would have played the Kevin Spacey character, Jack Vincennes. His vampire likeness from The Lost Boys (1987) is featured on the cover of J. Gordon Melton`s "The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead." In a captioned picture inside the book, his name is misspelled as "Keifer." In an episode of "24" (2001), he is told a character is being transferred from Los Angeles to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for questioning. In A Few Good Men (1992), he played a Marine stationed at Guantanamo Bay. Went to Martingrove Collegiate Institute in Etobicoke, Ontario Within the same year, had played the character of The Caller in the movie Phone Booth (2002) and of Jack Bauer in the television series "24" (2001). Both projects were created by Fox. The events of both projects take place in "real time". And both projects were delayed by Fox due to national threats: "24" (2001) due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Phone Booth (2002) due to sniper shootings. For his role in The Wild (2006), he had to practice roaring like a lion. Rather than doing it at his home with his daughter and stepdaughter around, he practiced in his car while driving on the freeway, completely unaware of a woman in the next lane watching him. When starting up on the rodeo circuit he decided to buy all the things needed. The horses, the bulls/cows, the tractors, the 900 acre ranch in Montana, then sold it once he was finished. Appears in one scene of Article 99 (1992) wearing glasses and a fishing bucket hat, a tip to father Donald Sutherland, who sported the same look in MASH (1970). Daughter Sarah Sutherland was named after actress Sarah Jessica Parker and singer/songwriter/composer Jude Cole. Daughter, Sarah Sutherland, likes to make fun of the fact that he`s computer illiterate. During filming of Stand by Me (1986), stayed in character off-camera by often picking on Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O`Connell. In an episode of "24" (2001), his character mentions that he and his wife and daughter should take a trip up into Canada. His father, Donald Sutherland, was born in St. John, New Brunswick. Is on screen for less than three minutes in Taking Lives (2004), even though he shares top billing with Ethan Hawke and Angelina Jolie. Shares birthday with The Three Musketeers (1993) co-star Julie Delpy. Was Gary Oldman`s passenger when Oldman was arrested for drunk driving in 1991. Among the many reasons cited for the break-up of his first marriage, one was his friendship with The Lost Boys (1987) castmate Jason Patric and other members of the "brat pack" -- ironically enough, his friendship with Jason Patric dissolved after his fiance Julia Roberts left with Patric for Europe. Daughter, Sarah Sutherland, with Camelia Kath. Earned first place in the US Team Roping Championships. Named after Warren Kiefer, pen name of Lorenzo Sabatini. Sabatini directed Castello dei morti vivi, Il (1964) [aka Castle of the Living Dead (1964)], in which Donald Sutherland made his theatrical film debut. Plays ice hockey on a celebrity team. Son of actor Donald Sutherland and actress Shirley Douglas Traveled with the rodeo circuit in the late 1990s and won rodeos in Phoenix and Albuquerque. Twin sister Rachel Sutherland is a TV post-production supervisor in Toronto. Was engaged to Julia Roberts Grandson of former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas, leader of the first elected socialist government in North America. Douglas was premier from 1944-1961, and was known as the father of Canada`s government-funded medical system. | ||
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