Donald Sutherland – Bio, Wiki, Age, Height, Spouse, Children, Net Worth

Quick Facts

Canadian-born actor Donald Sutherland can best be described as a Hollywood icon. He marked his professional acting debut well over 5 decades ago and since then, he has garnered an extensive body of work both in film and television. As expected, Sutherland has won several accolades in the course of his longrunning career including 2 Golden Globe Awards out of 8 nominations, one Primetime Emmy Award out of 2 nominations and 2 BAFTA Award nominations. He has since been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Canadian Walk of Fame and he is also a recipient of the Academy Honorary Award.

Donald Sutherland’s Bio & Age

Donald McNichol Sutherland was born in the coastal city of Saint John, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick on July 17, 1935. He has Scottish, English and German ancestry. During his teenage years, he lived in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia and there, he attended Bridgewater High School.

Upon graduation, he enrolled at Victoria University where he bagged a double major in engineering and drama. Sutherland originally intended to pursue a career in engineering but he ultimately changed his mind and relocated to Britain where he enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He left the institution after a while and moved to the Perth Theatre in Scotland where he trained for a year and a half.

Films and TV Shows

In the early days of his acting career, Donald Sutherland had minor roles in several British films and TV productions. He appeared in the horror movies Castle of the Living Dead (1964) and Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), the thriller film Die! Die! My Darling! (1965) and several others. He also starred in the highly successful MGM film The Dirty Dozen (1967) which helped him break into Hollywood.

Donald Sutherland had his first Hollywood lead role as “Hawkeye” Pierce in the war film MASH (1970) and afterward, he featured in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) alongside and in Klute (1971) opposite . He cemented his leading man status with roles in movies like Steelyard Blues (1973), Don’t Look Now (1973), Fellini’s Casanova (1976), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Ordinary People (1980) and Eye of the Needle (1981). His performance in Don’t Look Now earned him a nomination at the BAFTA Awards for Best Actor.

The talented actor also recorded further film credits in Lock Up (1989), The Puppet Masters (1994), Disclosure (1994), Outbreak (1995) and Space Cowboys (2000). Sutherland has continued to record amazing film credits since the turn of the century. His most notable film role in recent times is his role as President Coriolanus Snow in the highly successful film series The Hunger Games (2012-15). His performance in Hunger Games earned him the 2013 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain and a nomination for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.

Beyond his extensive movie credits, Donald Sutherland has also recorded several notable small-screen credits in the course of his career. The iconic actor has had roles in telefilms like Quicksand: No Escape (1992), The Winter of Our Discontent (1983), Citizen X (1995), The Big Heist (2001) and Path to War (2002). He won a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award for his role in Citizen X and for his work in Path to War, he won a Golden Globe Award. Sutherland also earned much critical acclaim for his work in the miniseries Human Trafficking (2005) and the TV series Commander-in-Chief (2005-06) and Dirty Sexy Money (2007-09). The iconic TV star was also on the main cast of Crossing Lines (2013-15) and he plays the lead character J. Paul Getty in the series Trust (2018).

Net Worth

Donald Sutherland’s net worth is pegged at an estimated $60 million. This is certainly a well-deserved sum for an actor who has over 50 years of brilliant film and TV work behind him, coupled with numerous endorsement deals as well as other business ventures. Now in his 80s, the iconic Hollywood star continues to remain very steady at his job.

Spouse

Sutherland’s wife of so many years Francine Racette is a French-Canadian actress. The duo reportedly met in the early 1970s on the set of the movie Alien Thunder. After dating for a relatively short while, they tied the knot in 1972 and have remained inseparable ever since. They have 3 children together.

Donald Sutherland had been married twice prior to his current union. The first was a 7-year union with former actress Lois Hardwick which lasted from 1959 to 1966. His second marital union was with Canadian-born actress and social activist Shirley Douglas which lasted for 5 years between 1966 and 1971. They had 2 children; a twin son and daughter.

Children

The Hollywood star is the father to 5 adult children. While married to Shirley Douglas, he welcomed twins Kiefer and Rachel on December 21, 1966. With his current wife Francine Racette, he has 3 sons Rossif, Angus, and Roeg. Roeg Sutherland was born on February 5, 1974, Rossif Sutherland was born on September 25, 1978, and Angus Redford Sutherland was born on September 3, 1982.

Interestingly, Donald Sutherland named all four of his sons after directors whom he has worked with, in the course of his long-running Hollywood career. Also, nearly all of his children have towed a career path similar to that of their famous father. His first son Kiefer Sutherland is a highly-acclaimed actor and filmmaker. His third son Rossif Sutherland is also an actor and you would have presumed, his youngest son Angus Sutherland is an actor and filmmaker.

Height

Donald Sutherland stands at a towering 6 feet 3½ inches (192 cm). His gigantic stature is indeed one of his most distinctive physical attributes and he has been known to habitually slouch in order to meet his co-stars at eye level.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.