Donald Sutherland Biography

Born in St. John, New Brunswick, Donald Sutherland got his first taste of show business as a disc jockey for a Nova Scotia radio station when he was only 14. The acting bug hit full time when he moved west to attend the University of Toronto where he took to the stage in a number of student productions.

After graduating in 1956, Donald moved to London to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He appeared in a few stage productions in London before landing his first film gig on an Italian horror flick in 1964.

It was his 1970 role alongside Elliot Gould, Sally Kellerman and Robert Duvall in the Robert Altman directed M*A*S*H that catapulted the tall guy — 6'4" — with the odd features into international prominence. His most memorable screen work has been in such films as Kelly's Heroes, Klute, Don't Look Now, Ordinary People and Six Degrees of Separation. A vocal anti-Vietnam activist, he was closely associated with Jane Fonda in the early '70s. His son from second wife, Canadian actress Shirley Douglas, is successful actor Kiefer Sutherland. The two appeared together in Max Dugan Returns.

Donald won a Golden Globe for the TV movie Path to War (2002), an Emmy Award and another Golden Globe for his performance in the TV miniseries Citizen X (1995), as well as a Genie award for his leading role in the feature film Threshold (1981). In 2008 he won a Role Model Award at the Young Hollywood Awards. Sutherland landed the role of President Snow in the film The Hunger Games (2012), one of the summer's most highly-anticipated releases. He also starred in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2014), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) and in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015).

Additionally in 2015, he starred opposite his son Kiefer Sutherland in the western drama Forsaken. In 2017, he received an Honorary Academy Award at the Academy's Governors Awards. He also played Thomas Pruitt alongside Brad Pitt in Ad Astra (2019).

Donald received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011 and a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000.

Divorced twice, he was married to third wife Francine Racette from 1972 to his death on June 20, 2024 following a long illness. They have three children together: Roeg, Rossif (another successful Canadian actor), and Angus. Donald also has a daughter Rachel, Kiefer's twin sister, from his second wife.

Filmography:

Miranda's Victim (2023)
Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)
Moonfall (2022)
Alone (2020)
The Burnt Orange Heresy (2019)
Ad Astra (2019)
American Hangman (2019)
Measure of a Man (2018)
Basmati Blues (2017)
The Leisure Seeker (2017)
Milton's Secret (2016)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
Forsaken (2015)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
The Calling (2014)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Jappeloup (2013)
The Best Offer (2013)
Dawn Rider (2012)
Assassin’s Bullet (2012)
The Hunger Games (2012)
Jock the Hero Dog (2011)
Horrible Bosses (2011)
Man on the Train (2011)
The Eagle (2011)
The Mechanic (2011)
The Con Artist (2010)
Astro Boy (2009)
Fool's Gold (2008)
Days of Darkness (2007)
Reign Over Me (2007)
Puffball (2007)
Beerfest (2006)
Land of the Blind (2006)
Ask the Dust (2006)
Lord of War (2005)
An American Hauntingn (2005)
American Gun (2005)
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Fierce People (2005)
Aurora Borealis (2005)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Baltic Storm (2003)
Piazza delle cinque lune (2003)
The Italian Job (2003)
Big Shot's Funeral (2001)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Threads of Hope (2000)
The Art of War (2000)
Space Cowboys (2000)
Panic (2000)
Instinct (1999)
Virus (1999)
Free Money (1998)
Without Limits (1998)
Fallen (1998)
The Assignment (1997)
Shadow Conspiracy (1997)
A Time to Kill (1996)
Hollow Point (1996)
Outbreak (1995)
Punch (1994)
Disclosure / Harcèlement (1994)
The Puppet Masters (1994)
The Mighty River (1993) (voix)
Red Hot (1993)
The Shadow Catcher (1993) (voix)
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
Younger and Younger (1993)
Benefit of the Doubt (1993)
The Setting Sun (1992)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas (1992)
Shadow of the Wolf (1992)
The Railway Station Man (1992)
JFK (1991)
Scream of Stone (1991)
Backdraft (1991)
Buster's Bedroom (1991)
Eminent Domain (1990)
Bethune : The Making of a Hero (1990)
A Dry White Season (1989)
Lost Angels (1989)
Lock Up (1989)
Apprentice to Murder (1988)
The Rosary Murders (1987)
The Trouble with Spies (1987)
The Wolf at the Door (1986)
Revolution (1985)
Heaven Help Us (1985)
Ordeal by Innocence (1985)
Crackers (1984)
Max Dugan Returns (1983)
A War Story (1981)
Eye of the Needle (1981)
Threshold (1981)
Gas (1981)
Ordinary People (1980)
Nothing Personal (1980)
North China Commune (1980)
Bear Island (1979)
A Man, a Woman and a Bank (1979)
The First Great Train Robbery (1979)
Murder by Decree (1979)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Animal House (1978)
Les liens de sang (1978)
The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
The Disappearance (1977)
Casanova (1976)
The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
1900 (1976)
End of the Game (1976)
The Day of the Locust (1975)
S*P*Y*S (1974)
Alien Thunder (1974)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Lady Ice (1973)
Steelyard Blues (1973)
F.T.A. (1972)
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
Klute (1971)
Little Murders (1971)
Act of the Heart (1970)
Alex in Wonderland (1970)
Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
MASH (1970)
Joanna (1968)
Sebastian (1968)
The Split (1968)
Oedipus the King (1968)
Interlude (1968)
Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Promise Her Anything (1966)
The Bedford Incident (1965)
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Fanatic (1965)
Castle of the Living Dead (1964)
The World Ten Times Over (1963)