Windsor’s Scottish Heritage – People – Famous Scottish Canadians: Kiefer Sutherland
Introduction
History & Immigration
Culture
People
Multimedia
Resources
Print this Page
Scottish Writers
William Dunbar
Robert Burns
Sir Walter Scott
Robert Louis Stevenson
James Matthew (J.M.) Barrie
Hugh Macdiarmid
Scottish Philosophers
John Duns Scotus
John Knox
Francis Hutcheson
David Hume
Adam Smith
James Hutton
Scottish Innovators
John Napier
Joseph Black
James Watt
Charles Macintosh
Rev. Patrick Bell
Thomas Graham
Kirkpatrick Macmillan
Alexander Bain
Sir James Young Simpson
Sir William Thomson
James Clerk Maxwell
Alexander Crum Brown
Sir Alexander Fleming
John Logie Baird
Dolly
Scottish Artists
Allan Ramsay
Alexander Nasmyth
Charles Rennie Mackintosh & Margaret MacDonald
James Guthrie
Eduardo Paolozzi
Other Famous Scots
Robert the Bruce
Andrew Carnegie
Sean Connery
Flora MacDonald
Rob Roy MacGregor
William Wallace
Scottish Canadian Politicians
George Brown
Kim Campbell
Tommy Douglas
William McDougall
Sir John A. MacDonald
A. A. MacDonald
Alexander Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie King
Agnes MacPhail
Cairine Mackay Wilson
John Sandfield Macdonald
John Strachan
Famous Scottish Canadians
Alexander Graham Bell
Shirley Douglas
Alexander Keith
Sir Alexander Mackenzie
James McGill
James Naismith
Lord Selkirk
Donald Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Scots of Windsor’s Past
Askin Family
Bartlet Family
Bartlet, MacDonald & Gow
Andrew Braid
David Dunbar Buick
Alexander Cameron
Donald Cameron
James Dougall
Alexander Duff
Oscar Fleming
Fletcher Family
John Kenneth Galbraith
Gow Family
Alexander Grant
Lambie Family
George Mair
MacDonald Family
MacDonell Family
Lt. George McDougall
John McEwan
McGregor Family
Angus Mackintosh
John McLeod
Archibald McNee
Angus Munro
Rev. Robert Peden
Rankin Family
Robert Sutherland
Patillo Family
Wallace Family
and Others
Scots of Windsor Today
June & John Dey
Elliot MacFarlane
Hart Family
McLennan Family
Alistair MacLeod
Bob Murray
Urquhart Family
Robert Bamberry
The Essex-Scottish Regiment
Scottish Military Tradition
Early History
World War II
Pipes & Drums
Text Size:
S |
M |
L
People > Famous Scottish Canadians > Kiefer Sutherland
Scottish Actors
Kiefer Sutherland (1966- ):
“I’m not that complicated as an actor…. I don’t believe you can ever be someone else. You manifest different levels of your own personality to come up with a character. If you play a deaf mute, you pull out that aspect of your personality.”
~ Kiefer Sutherland
Keifer Sutherland
The son of Shirley Douglas and Donald Sutherland,
Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland was born a twin to his sister Rachel in London, England. A year later the
family relocated to Los Angeles, but Donald and Shirley divorced shortly afterwards. Shirley took her three children to live in
Toronto, and Kiefer spent much of his time at the theatres during his mother’s rehearsals. He had no interest in acting while he
was growing up, as his parents were both star performers in the industry. But when he was a teenager sitting in the audience for
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? he was mesmerized by his mother’s portrayal of Martha, and his world
turned on its head.
“I don’t think either of my parents wanted me to be an actor, and because they were so successful I didn’t want to be an actor,”
Sutherland told a television interviewer. “But I saw [my mother] when I was thirteen and she gave a performance that was so
incredible that somewhere between the first and second acts, I forgot it was my mother. . . . I realized it has a powerful effect
and that sparked an interest, and I fell in love with it. It took a lot for me to finally commit and say ‘This is what I want to
do’.” 1
Kiefer began acting in local Toronto theatre in the 1980s. In 1984, he landed a starring role in the film
The Bay Boy, a coming-of-age drama set in the 1930s; the performance he gave as a sixteen-year-old
won him a Genie award. Once he was an adult, he returned to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and appeared in a series of
hits such as Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, and Young
Guns. His father recalled the time he realized Kiefer would thrive in the business: “He did come to me one night…. He stood
at the end of the bed, and he said, ‘Can I do my audition for you?’ And I was, ‘Oh God, puh-lease, oh, dear, okay.’ And he did it,
and it was brilliant. I was so relieved. And he said, ‘Well, that’s the way they want me to do it, can I show you how I want to do
it?’ – and so he did it again, completely different. And it was way better. My hair stood up. I don’t even remember whether he got
the part, but I knew he’d be okay. He was wonderful.” 2
Barely twenty-two years old, Kiefer married actress Camelia Kath in 1988, whom he had met on the set of
The Killing Time. The couple had a daughter the same year, but their marriage ended after only
two years. “I had an incredible desire at a very young age to want to be older than I was,” Kiefer explained of his short
marriage. “And one of the ways you can accomplish that is to say, ‘I’m married, I have kids, I’ve arrived.’ But those aren’t the
right reasons to do that, as we found out.” 3 Kiefer and Cameila, however, split amicably and
remained on good terms.
Kiefer rebounded in a high-profile relationship with Julia Roberts. The two were engaged to be married in 1991, but called it
off three days before the wedding amid a tabloid frenzy. But after spending two years working himself ragged on back-to-back film
projects he didn’t feel were worthwhile, Kiefer lost direction and earned a reputation for raucous party behaviour. Seeking self-
improvement, he scaled back on filming and spent some time on a ranch in Montana honing his riding skills and venturing into the
rodeo circuit. He returned to his theatrical roots in 1997, starring alongside his mother in Tennessee Williams’
The Glass Menagerie at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre. Still unhappy with his film work, however,
he returned to the rodeo and took first place in the 1998 U.S. Team Roping Championships with partner John English.
Kiefer returned to Hollywood after a two-year hiatus, where his friend Stephen Hopkins encouraged him to audition for the role
of Jack Bauer in a new television pilot he was directing. 24 became an instant hit, and Kiefer’s
portrayal of the Federal Counter-terrorism agent earned him a 2002 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series. Although
he hasn’t won a second Golden Globe, he has been nominated in the same category for the same role every year since then. The role
of Jack Bauer has also earned Kiefer the Screen Actors’ Guild award in 2004 and 2006, and a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead
Actor in a Drama in 2006. After five seasons on 24, Kiefer signed a $40 million contract with 20th
Century Fox to appear in three more seasons, making him the highest paid actor in television, and was promoted to Executive
Producer.
Despite his busy schedule, Kiefer continues to work in film (now carefully choosing roles of personal interest), and is
scheduled to star in an upcoming big-screen version of 24. “Those bags you see under his eyes are not
just for the character [of Jack Bauer]!” quipped his mother when asked about her son’s success. “He’s always short on sleep, but
he’s extremely happy – and that’s all that matters.” 4
“Sutherland Turned Onto Acting By His Mother,” 29 January 2009. www.wenn.com
Donald Sutherland. Kiefer Sutherland Fan Site: What Others Are Saying…
Kiefer Sutherland Fan Site: Biography
Shirley Douglas. Kiefer Sutherland Fan Site: What Others Are Saying…
[ top of page ] [ site map ]
The opinions and interpretations in this publication are those of the author and
do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Canada.
Copyright © 2009 Windsor Mosaic Website. All rights reserved