Kiefer Sutherland is an eminent British-Canadian actor, producer and also a director. He was born as Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland on December 21, 1966 at Paddington, London. His father is
Donald Sutherland
and his mother is Shirley Douglas who are both Canadian actors. Kiefer has a twin sister named, Rachel. When his family shifted to Corona, California, his parents had a divorce in year 1970 and then he moved with his mother in Toronto in year 1975. He went to Crescent Town Elementary School and later attended St. Clair Junior High East York. Kiefer also studied at John G. Althouse Middle School to study elementary. In high school, the actor attended six different schools like St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Martingrove Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Harbord Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Silverthorn Collegiate Institute in the west end of Toronto, Malvern Collegiate Institute and also in Annex Village Campus. He also studied one semester in Regina Mundi Catholic College in Ontario. Later, Kiefer also attended Sir Drederick Banting Secondary School to do his weekly acting lessons.Â
The first film he did in U.S. is Stand By Me which is based on Stephen King’s novella entitled,
The Body
. The multitalented actor appeared in over 70 films including the Young Guns and Young Guns II, Flashback, The Vanishing, The Sentinel,
The Three Musketeers
, Dark City, A Few Good Men and more.
He also appeared in the popular teen horror film, The Lost Boys in 1987, where he played as David, a mysterious head of a gang. In 1990, he bagged the main lead role as Nelson Wright in the sci-fi thriller film, Flatliners which also stars
Julia Roberts
,
Kevin Bacon
,
Oliver Platt
and William Baldwin. He acted as Freddie Lee Cobb in the film adaptation of A Time to Kill novel by
John Grisham
in 1996. In 2002, Kiefer played as the mysterious caller in the psychological thriller film, Phone Booth.
The inauguration of Keifer’s Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto happens in year 2005; the same year where his parents where both inducted as well. He got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in year 2009. Keifer is the first guest to become the child of a former guest in the television show, Inside the Actors Studio. Donald Sutherland also made a guest appearance on the show in year 1998. The actor was also featured on the cover of the biweekly magazine, Rolling Stone on April 2006. He was also featured in Japan’s CalorieMate commercial, where he did his parody in the character of Jack Bauer. He has done voice-overs for the ad campaign of various brands like Ford Motor Company of Canada and Apple Inc. He also appeared in some television commercials and did narration for many promotional spots. Keifer also voiced some characters on video games like Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty: World at War and more.
He was also one of the producers of The 1 Second Film. Keifer was debuted in Broadway through the revival of the 1972 play, That Championship Season. He was also featured in the thriller television series, Touch on Fox, where he played the role of Martin Bohm, an ex journalist who became a baggage handler and a father of an 11-years old autistic child.
Since 2001, Keifer gained popularity for bagging the role of Jack Bauer, an agent of the Counter Terrorist Unit in the serial drama, 24. After his four nominations as the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Award, he finally got the award in year 2006 for playing the role in the series. He also received nomination for Best Actor in a Drama Television Series at the Golden Globe Awards in 2007. In 2006, he became the highest-earning television actor for gaining a salary of $40-Million for acting in three seasons of the show. However, in year 2010, the production of the 8th season of the show was temporarily suspended because of the cyst found in Kiefer’s kidney. The actor waited for few days before he undergo elective surgery and he was expected to return after a week. But Kiefer needed few more days so it was reported that he will return on March 2010. On March 26, 2010, it was reported that the show will end and on May 2013, the show returned but only for a limited series. The 12th episode, 24: Live Another Day was aired on May and July 2014.
Keifer was married to Camelia Kath from 1987 to 1990 and their daughter is Sarah Sutherland, an actress who appeared on HBO’s Veep. He got engaged to Julia Roberts, his co-star in Flatliners in 1990. But three days before they got married, their wedding was cancelled. He got married to Kelly Winn on June 29, 1996 and had a divorce in 2008. The actor is a guitar collector and the co-owner of Ironworks.