Kiefer Sutherland has had an incredible career — and, at times, a rocky personal life — but he has described fatherhood as the defining experience of his life.
The 24 actor — who is the son of late actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas — became the stepfather of Michelle Sinclair (née Kath) when he was 20 years old after marrying Michelle’s mother, Camelia Kath. Michelle was born during Camelia’s previous marriage to former Chicago singer-songwriter Terry Kath, who died in 1978.
Kiefer’s only biological daughter is Sarah Sutherland. While Kiefer and Camelia split in 1990, the Lost Boys star remained a constant presence in both of his daughters’ lives.
“I still share a beautiful relationship with my children, and that has been one of the greatest blessings in my life,” Kiefer told Closer Magazine in 2016.
Keep scrolling for more about Kiefer’s two children.
Kiefer Sutherland Became a Stepfather at Age 20
Kiefer Sutherland was 20 when he married 34-year-old Camelia Kath in 1987 and became the stepfather of her daughter Michelle.
“I became a dad when I was 20 years old,” Kiefer recalled to Closer in 2016. “It made me deal with certain things at a very young age, and it made me grow up.”
He reflected on the responsibility of having to provide for a family when he was barely out of his teenage years.
“You realize very quickly that you’re responsible for things that are outside of yourself, and your responsibility to those things is more important than any other thing,” he noted. “My children didn’t make the choice to be born — I did and their mom did.”
Kiefer and Camelia divorced in 1990. He remained close with Michelle and even helped promote her 2016 documentary about her biological father, The Terry Kath Experience.
“I fell absolutely in love with Michelle,” Kiefer remembered on stage at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. “I have had the great fortune of having her being a major part of my life from that point forward.”
Kiefer attended Michelle’s wedding to Scottish actor Adam Sinclair in Edinburgh, Scotland, in May 2004.
Sarah Sutherland Was Born During Kiefer Sutherland’s 1st Marriage
Kiefer Sutherland and Camelia Kath welcomed their daughter, Sarah Sutherland, on February 19, 1988, in Los Angeles.
“I was 20 when my daughter was born, and making all these plans during my wife’s pregnancy,” he recalled to Redbook in March 2012. “I was going to be the perfect father. Once she was born, it was suddenly, ‘Oh, my God! I’m a parent!’”
Kiefer felt that he’d “always been really good at communicating” with Sarah for one key reason.
“Probably because I was so young when I had her, I didn’t talk down to her as a child,” he told the magazine. “So, we’ve had a very even relationship.”
Kiefer and Camelia split in 1990. He was later engaged to Flatliners costar Julia Roberts and then was married to his second wife, Elizabeth Kelly Winn, from 1996 to 2004. (Kiefer has been with his current fiancée, actress Cindy Vela, since 2017.)
Kiefer Sutherland and His Daughter Sarah Come From 1 of Canada’s Most Prominent Families
Kiefer was part of the third generation of one of Canada’s most famous families. He is the son of actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas. (Donald and Shirley were married from 1966 to 1970 and also share a daughter, Rachel Sutherland. Shirley had a son, Thomas Emil Sicks, from her first marriage, while Donald had five children total: twins Kiefer and Rachel and three sons — Roeg, Rossif and Angus — with his third wife, Francine Racette.)
Shirley’s father, Tommy Douglas, was a former premier of Saskatchewan and led Canada’s New Democratic Party for a decade in the 1960s and early 1970s. He is regarded as a crucial figure in 20th century politics in his native Canada.
Both Shirley and Donald had notable acting careers. Shirley was awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 and was given a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2004. (Her most memorable acting roles were in the CBC family drama Wind at My Back and Stanley Kubrick’s scandalous 1962 film adaptation of the novel Lolita.)
Donald won two Golden Globes throughout his career and was given the Academy Honorary Award in 2017 in recognition of his body of work. The actor memorably starred in M*A*S*H, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and JFK before reaching a whole new generation of cinemagoers by playing President Coriolanus Snow in the Hunger Games franchise.
Kiefer announced in April 2020 that his mother, Shirley, had died at age 86 from “complications surrounding pneumonia.”
“My mother was an extraordinary woman who led an extraordinary life. Sadly she had been battling for her health for quite some time and we, as a family, knew this day was coming,” Kiefer wrote. “To any families who have lost loved ones unexpectedly to the coronavirus, my heart breaks for you. Please stay safe.”
In June 2024, Kiefer shared the news that his father, Donald, had died at age 88. Donald struggled with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the final years of his life.
“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film,” Kiefer confirmed via X at the time. “Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
Sarah Sutherland Made Her Screen Acting Debut on ‘Veep’
Sarah Sutherland attended New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts and wrote a one-woman play, The Skin of a Grape, during her final semester.
She made her screen acting debut in 2012 on the 17-time Emmy-winning series Veep, where she played Vice President Selina Meyer’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) sullen daughter, Catherine.
Selina and Catherine’s onscreen dynamic in Veep was usually antagonistic, but Sarah told W Magazine in 2019 that she bonded quickly with Louis-Dreyfus in real life.
“Julia’s and my relationship couldn’t be more different [to Selina and Catherine],” she clarified.
Sarah later starred opposite two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank in 2018 drama What They Had and led the 2021 Canadian film Like a House on Fire.
While her father is recognized routinely all over the world, Sarah told Interview Magazine in February 2017 that she’d mostly been able to avoid the trappings of fame.
“I’m not fending people off walking down the street,” she joked. “I’m often met with, ‘Did we go to high school together?’”
Kiefer Sutherland Has Publicly Supported His Daughter Sarah’s Acting Career
Kiefer Sutherland has confirmed that he offered Sarah Sutherland acting roles in more than one of his movies, but she repeatedly turned him down.
“For me personally, it was really important that [acting] was something I did on my own terms and in my own way,” she told ABC News in March 2021.
Kiefer told The View in 2016 that, because of his own background as a second-generation actor, he never felt any “angst” about Sarah following in his footsteps.
“My daughter’s incredibly smart,” he declared. “She was a phenomenal student. [She] spoke four languages. She spoke Latin, Greek, just an amazing student. I had great aspirations for her.”
The A Few Good Men actor felt it was important to let Sarah pursue her own interests, just like his parents did for him a generation earlier.
“When I made the choice to go do this, they really let me find my way,” he recalled. “So, I have had to do the same thing for Sarah. Whether I liked it or not, she was going to go do this. … She’s done this all on her own. I think she’s incredibly talented and I’m really proud of her.”
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