Kiefer Sutherland

Background

Actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas welcomed Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland into the world on December 21, 1966. When he was four years old, his parents split and Sutherland moved to Toronto in 1975, with his mom. He attended Crescent Town Elementary School, and John G. Althouse Middle School in Toronto, and switched high schools five times. He also attended acting classes on the weekends to develop his acting abilities.

Sutherland played a little part in the 1983 comedy “Max Dugan Returns” but played the lead for the first time in the 1984 Canadian, coming-of-age, movie “The Bad Boy.” He portrayed a sensitive kid who resisted his mother’s attempts to have him become a priest. He then appeared in “Stand by Me,” his first American movie, in 1986 where he portrayed “Ace” Merrill. In 1987, Sutherland was cast in the critically acclaimed “The Lost Boys,” a horror comedy directed by Joel Schumacher, who he would collaborate with on numerous other films. Sutherland went on to star in the sci-fi thriller “Flatliners” in 1990 and appeared in the psychological suspense film “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” in 1992. He also played Lieutenant Jonathan James Kendrick in the Oscar-nominated movie “A Few Good Men.”

In 1996’s “A Time to Kill,” directed by Joel Schumacher, Sutherland played a supporting role. He went on to play Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack Bauer in the T.V. series “24,” which debuted in 2001 and ran for eight seasons, and in 2014 starred in the Fox T.V. show “24: Live Another Day.”
From 2016 to 2019, Sutherland appeared in “Designated Survivor,” a three-season series.

From 1987 to 1990, Kiefer Sutherland was married to Camelia Kath, with whom he had a daughter and adopted two sons. Following the dissolution of their marriage, Sutherland wed Kelly Winn in 1996 but the pair divorced in 2004. He subsequently started dating actress and model Cindy Vela in 2014 and in 2017 they got engaged. They currently live in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles.