Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is a British-born Canadian actor, producer, director, and singer-songwriter. He has won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Satellite Awards for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox series 24. He also starred as Martin Bohm in the Fox drama Touch and provided the facial motion capture and English voices of Big Boss and Venom Snake in the video games Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth21 December 1966
CityLondon, England
CountryCanada
I've wanted to work with my father for 30 years, and I'm really grateful that I finally had the opportunity, and it ended up - the experience and, I believe, the film - better than I could ever have hoped for.
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.
I think the father-son dynamic is interesting. I don't have a male friend who hasn't had some kind of conflict with their dad, and I don't have a male friend who hasn't had some kind of conflict with their son.
I've had some amazing people in my life. Look at my father - he came from a small fishing village of five hundred people and at six foot four with giant ears and a kind of very odd expression, thought he could be a movie star. So go figure, you know?
The father-son thing, that's a separate thing. This film [Forsaken] was not about that. This was a film about two actors wanting to try and tell a story... and taking advantage of the fact that we looked like a father and son.
I couldn't see my father's films because they were restricted and we didn't have videos or DVDs back then.
The most significant piece of advice my father gave me early on about acting was, don't get caught acting. Really believe in what you're doing and then commit to it. Even if it feels uncomfortable, even if you feel that you're gonna look like an ass. It's all acting, but find the truth in a moment as opposed to just pretending you have and rather than trying to act your way out of it.
There's a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point, as an actor, when you do know better, and that is when the fear starts.
The biggest mistakes I made in my career were when I said, 'If I do this movie, I'll be able to do a couple more movies.' Those are the times I really got ugly.
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.
There are aspects of '24' where I love its politics and aspects where I hate them.
My parents not only did it for a living, but they were really good at it.
I'm always jumping in my seat or gasping during a good horror movie.
I would love to do '24' until I was 60, but I don't think anybody would accept it.