Kiefer Sutherland, a talented individual born in London, England, UK, to renowned Canadian actors Shirley Douglas and Donald Sutherland, who relocated to California shortly after his birth. His maternal grandfather, Tommy Douglas, a Scottish-born Canadian politician, served as the Premier of Saskatchewan for over 17 years and led the national NDP party for almost a decade.
Sutherland's early film career began with a comedy-drama role in Max Dugan Returns (1983). He then landed his first major role in the Canadian drama The Bay Boy (1984),earning himself and director Daniel Petrie Genie award nominations for best actor and best director, respectively. Following his success in The Bay Boy, Sutherland relocated to Los Angeles and secured television appearances in "The Mission", an episode of Amazing Stories (1985),and in the telefilm Trapped in Silence (1986) alongside Marsha Mason.
In 1992, Sutherland starred alongside Ray Liotta and Forest Whitaker in Article 99 (1992) and in the military drama A Few Good Men (1992) alongside Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. He later co-starred with Jeff Bridges and Nancy Travis in the American version of The Vanishing (1993) for 20th Century Fox. In 1997, he co-starred with William Hurt and Rufus Sewell in Dark City (1998),directed by Alex Proyas, which was a special presentation at the Cannes Film Festival. Sutherland also added his second directorial credit and starred in Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997) alongside Kevin Pollak, Mykelti Williamson, Rod Steiger, and Martin Sheen.
Most notably, Sutherland has starred in the Fox drama series 24 (2001) as Jack Bauer, earning himself a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He has also appeared in the movie Phone Booth (2002) as a man who calls someone at a phone booth and threatens to kill them if they hang up.