Kiefer Sutherland Net Worth

What is Kiefer Sutherland's Net Worth and Salary?

Kiefer Sutherland is a London-born Canadian actor, director, and producer who has a net worth of $100 million. Kiefer Sutherland first gained attention with roles in coming-of-age and genre films that became modern classics, including "Stand by Me," "The Lost Boys," "Young Guns," "Flatliners," and "A Few Good Men." His mix of intensity, vulnerability, and charisma made him a go-to actor for both antiheroes and villains, and throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, he worked steadily across dramas, thrillers, and action films. Highlights from this period include "The Vanishing," "To End All Wars," "The Three Musketeers," "A Time to Kill," and "Dark City," along with voice and narration work that showed his distinctive command of tone and pacing.

After a stretch of lower-profile film work in the late 1990s, Sutherland experienced a career-defining resurgence with the launch of "24" in 2001. His performance as counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer became one of the most iconic characters in modern TV, earning him an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a reputation for anchoring high-intensity serialized drama. "24" ran for eight seasons and later returned as both a limited series and a feature-length special, with Sutherland remaining central to the franchise's identity.

Following "24," he continued building a strong television résumé. He starred in the quirky comedy "Touch," played the President of the United States in "Designated Survivor," and joined the ensemble of the political thriller "The First Lady." He has also voiced prominent animated characters and worked behind the camera as a producer and director, expanding his creative footprint across formats.

Alongside acting, Sutherland cultivated a parallel career as a musician, touring internationally and releasing multiple country-inflected albums. Decades into his career, he remains a consistently working performer whose body of work spans blockbuster films, prestige television, and independent creative projects.

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24 Salary

In April 2006, Kiefer signed a new contract with 20th Century Fox Television that made him the highest-paid actor on television at the time. The contract paid Kiefer $40 million upfront to appear in the ensuing three seasons of the show. On a per-episode basis (24 episodes per season), Kiefer was essentially earning $9.6 million per season. The deal also made Kiefer an executive producer on the show and gave him a first-look deal for his own production company. During his time on "Designated Survivor," Kiefer earned $250,000 per episode.

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Early Life

Kiefer Sutherland was born Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland on December 21, 1966, in Paddington, London, England. His parents, Shirley Douglas (who passed away in 2020) and Donald Sutherland, were Canadian, but they had found success as actors in England. Kiefer's twin sister, Rachel, is a post-production film supervisor, and he has four half-brothers, Thomas, Rossif, Angus, and Roeg.

The Sutherlands relocated to Corona, California, in 1968, and Donald and Shirley divorced 2 years later. Kiefer and Rachel moved to Toronto, Canada, with Shirley in 1975, and he took acting lessons at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School. While visiting Donald in Los Angeles, Kiefer appeared in an Odyssey Theatre production of "Throne of Strow" at the age of 11, and he dropped out of school at 15 to focus on acting. When Sutherland moved to L.A., Robert Downey, Jr. was his roommate for three years.

Early Career

Kiefer Sutherland made his screen debut in 1983 with "Max Dugan Returns," appearing alongside his father, Donald Sutherland. Two years later, he earned his first major critical breakthrough with "The Bay Boy," a Canadian drama that brought him strong reviews and a Genie Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. His early success drew interest from Hollywood, and Sutherland quickly became part of the mid-1980s wave of rising young actors receiving substantial attention from studios and critics.

Breakthrough in Film

Sutherland's first U.S. production was the 1986 coming-of-age hit "Stand by Me," based on a Stephen King novella. The film became a cultural touchstone and helped introduce him to a global audience. Later that year, he embraced a darker turn as a charismatic vampire in "The Lost Boys," a role that cemented him as a versatile young actor capable of moving between drama, thriller, and genre films.

He continued to build momentum with a string of successful projects, including the ensemble Western "Young Guns" in 1988. The film earned the cast a Western Heritage Award and led to the 1990 sequel "Young Guns II." Through the early 1990s, Sutherland alternated between major studio releases and character-driven dramatic work. Key performances from this period include "Flatliners" (1990), the military courtroom drama "A Few Good Men" (1992), and his swashbuckling turn in "The Three Musketeers" (1993). He later reunited with his father in the legal thriller "A Time to Kill," further demonstrating his ability to move between genres and prominent supporting and leading roles.

Television Stardom and the Success of "24"

Sutherland experienced the defining turning point of his career in 2001 when he was cast as counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer in the Fox real-time thriller "24." The series became a phenomenon, praised for its pacing, tension, and bold storytelling format. Sutherland's performance earned multiple awards, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe, and transformed him into one of television's most recognizable dramatic leads.

The original run of "24" aired from 2001 to 2010. During that period, Sutherland reprised the role in the TV movie "24: Redemption" in 2008, which bridged the gap between seasons six and seven during the Writers Guild of America strike. After the conclusion of the eighth season, he returned again as Bauer in the 2014 limited series "24: Live Another Day," a 12-episode event that brought renewed attention to the franchise.

Continued Television Work

After "24," Sutherland stayed active on television with the Fox drama "Touch," which aired for two seasons between 2012 and 2013. He then took on another high-profile lead role in the political drama "Designated Survivor," which debuted on ABC in 2016. The series followed Sutherland as an unexpected president navigating national crises and political upheaval, and it ran for three seasons across ABC and Netflix. During its run, "Designated Survivor" earned honors such as a "TV Guide" Award for Most Exciting TV Series and a Critics' Choice Award for Most Exciting New Series.

Sutherland continued working steadily into the 2020s, beginning with the short-form action thriller "The Fugitive" in 2020. Produced for Quibi, the series starred Sutherland as Detective Clay Bryce and marked one of the platform's highest-profile titles. After Quibi's shutdown, Sutherland returned to prestige television in 2022 with the Showtime anthology series "The First Lady," portraying President Franklin D. Roosevelt in episodes centered on Eleanor Roosevelt's tenure in the White House.

In 2023, he headlined the espionage thriller "Rabbit Hole" for Paramount+. The series followed a private intelligence operative caught in a conspiracy, giving Sutherland a chance to revisit the high-intensity storytelling that defined his years on "24." "Rabbit Hole" showcased him in a contemporary political arena and received strong marks for his performance, though it was not renewed beyond its first season. That same year, he appeared in the science-fiction caper film "They Cloned Tyrone," along with a dramatic turn in "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," both of which reinforced his ongoing presence in feature films.

Sutherland also remained active creatively outside of acting. He continued to tour and record as a singer-songwriter, releasing new music and performing internationally with his band. His interest in entrepreneurial ventures expanded as well, highlighted by the launch of Red Bank Whisky, a spirits brand he introduced in partnership with distilling and marketing collaborators.

By the mid-2020s, Sutherland had also signed on to the action thriller "Sierra Madre," a project filmed in Colombia and positioned as a return to large-scale action filmmaking. Across television, film, music, and business, he maintained a multifaceted profile that reflected both his longevity and willingness to explore new formats.

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Personal Life

Sutherland married Camelia Kath in 1987, and they welcomed daughter Sarah in February 1988. Kiefer and Camelia divorced in 1990, and Sarah followed in her father's footsteps with a successful acting career, playing Catherine Meyer on 43 episodes of HBO's award-winning comedy series "Veep." Sutherland became engaged to "Flatliners" co-star Julia Roberts in 1991, but she broke it off 3 days before the wedding. Kiefer went on to marry Kelly Winn in 1996, but they separated 3 years later and finalized their divorce in 2008. He began a relationship with actress Cindy Vela in 2014, and they got engaged in 2017.

Sutherland has been charged with DUI four times since 1989 and served 48 days in jail after being charged with drunk driving in L.A. in September 2007. At the time of his arrest, he was on probation for a 2004 DUI charge. In May 2009, Kiefer turned himself in to the police after he head-butted fashion designer Jack McCollough after a Metropolitan Museum of Art fundraiser. Kiefer publicly apologized a few weeks later, and the charges were dropped in July.

Awards and Honors

Sutherland has won several awards for his work on "24," including an Emmy in 2006, a Golden Globe in 2002, Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2004 and 2006, and Gold Derby Awards in 2004 and 2005. Kiefer received a star on the Canada Walk of Fame in 2005 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008. He was awarded the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award in 2013, and the Zurich Film Festival gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

Real Estate

• In 2000, Kiefer sold a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley for $3.6 million.
• In 2002, Kiefer bought a converted Silver Lake ironworks foundry for $700,000. The building is 14,400 square feet, and Sutherland turned the downstairs area into a recording studio where he established a record label called IronWorks Music. He sold the home for $3 million in 2009.
• In 2008, Kiefer paid $8.2 million for a 4,830-square-foot New York City townhouse. He sold this home in 2012 for $17.5 million.
• In 2018, Keifer paid $1.2 million for a home in LA's Atwater Village neighborhood. He listed this home for sale in October 2023 for $1.8 million.
• In 2022, Kiefer made several real estate movies. First, he sold a home in LA's Toluca Lake neighborhood to married actors Macauley Culkin and Brenda Song for $8 million, roughly double what he had paid for the home a decade earlier. Next, he paid $5 million for a 73-acre property in New York's Hudson Valley.

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