He was born Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland on December 21, 1966 in London, England. Kiefer and his twin sister, Rachel, were born to acting parents Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas, who divorced in 1971. After the divorce, Kiefer and his mother moved from their home in Los Angeles to Toronto where he attended Catholic boarding school until he was 15.
His interest in acting took him to the stage at an early age, in a production of Throne of Strow. In 1983, he appeared in his first feature film, Max Dugan Returns, alongside his father. He appeared in numerous coming-of-age films throughout the 1980s, including The Bay Boy, Rob Reiner's Stand by Me and the vampire thriller The Lost Boys. In 1986, Sutherland founded Still Water Productions, named after a river that ran through his Montana ranch.
In 1990, Sutherland earned national attention for his role in Flatliners, a psychodrama costarring Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Julia Roberts. Two years later, he starred in the blockbuster A Few Good Men, and within a year, he made his directorial debut with the television drama Last Light, in which he also starred as a prison inmate.
The late 1990s showcased Sutherland's preference for dark, intensely psychological scripts. In 1997, he starred in the modern film noir The Last Days of Frankie the Fly and the science fiction-mystery film Dark City. He released his second self-directed TV movie, Woman Wanted in 1999, as well as the psychotic drama Ground Control.
Sutherland shifted gears in 2000 for Picking Up the Pieces, a satirical comedy infused with screwball humor. The same year, he starred in Stephen Hopkins' hit series 24, which earned him a Golden Globe award.
In September 2007, Sutherland was arrested in West Los Angeles after making an illegal U-turn and failing a field sobriety test. Already on probation for a 2004 drunken driving arrest, he pleaded no contest and served 48 days in jail.
Sutherland returned as Jack Bauer in the made-for-television movie, 24: Redemption,in November 2008. The show's seventh season is scheduled to air in 2009.
Sutherland was married to Camelia Kath from 1987-1990. He has a daughter, Sarah Jude, along with a stepdaughter, Michelle Kath, from Camelia's marriage to Chicago guitarist and singer Terry Kath. Sutherland married Kelly Winn in 1996; the couple separated in 1999, and Kiefer officially filed for divorce in 2004. He has two stepsons from that marriage.
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