Donald Sutherland Although widely thought of as a prolific American actor, Donald Sutherland is in fact a prolific Canadian actor born to Canadian parents, his father, Frederick who was a salesman and mother Dorothy, a homemaker. Born in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, on July 17th 1935 where he studied at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, Canada. Donald graduated from the university with a double major in engineering and drama. While in Toronto he was a member of “UC Follies” which was a comedy troupe in Toronto. Donald took an early interest in the entertainment industry, becoming a radio DJ by the time he was fourteen. After becoming involved with drama in Toronto Donald realized that engineering was not the career path he wanted to pursue and he moved to England to study at the London Academy of Music and Art. Sutherland’s acting career began in a small way in England when in the early 1960’s he was offered small roles in TV and movies but by the mid 1960’s he was acting in more notable parts in horror films with other better known actors such as Christopher Lee.
In 1959 Donald met his first wife, Lois Hardwick, and they were married for seven years after which they divorced but without having added any children to the family. By 1966 Donald had met and married his second wife, an actress, Shirley Douglas but the once again in 1971 the marriage ended in divorce. During this marriage the couple had fraternal twins, Rachel and Kiefer Sutherland born on December 21st 1966. Donald Sutherland’s first great success came with his role in the war film The Dirty Dozen starring Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. Then in 1970 he played "Hawkeye" in M*A*S*H with Alan Alder and as tank commander Sgt. Oddball in Kelly's Heroes with Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. During the early days of his acting career Sutherland had an intimate relationship with actress Jane Fonda, during the filming of the Academy award-winning detective thriller Klute. The 1970’s saw Donald’s real rise to Hollywood stardom when he starred in many of the blockbusters of that time including, “Don’t Look Now” with Julie Christie, The Eagle has Landed” with Michael Caine and Robert Duvall, Invasion of the Body Snatchers” with Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum and National Lampoons Animal House with Kevin Bacon and John Belushi.
In his more than forty year career in movies Donald has not been a stranger to award winning movies such as his role as the torn father in the Academy award-winning family drama Ordinary People alongside Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton. Some of Donald’s best known roles in the 1980s and 1990s were A Dry White Season alongside Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon; the fire fighter thriller Backdraft with Kurt Russell and Robert De Niro and as an art dealer in Six Degrees of Separation with Stockard Channing and Will Smith. In the 1991 Oliver Stone film, JFK, Sutherland played a mysterious Washington intelligence officer. In more recent years, Sutherland has been noted for his role in Cold Mountain with Renee Zellweger and Nicole Kidman, in Pride and Prejudice starring alongside Keira Knightley, and for his Emmy nominated performance in 2006 for the TV movie "Human Trafficking".Sutherland's distinctive voice has been used in many radio and television commercials, including those for Volvo automobiles. He is also the spokesperson for Simply Orange orange juice. Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978 by Queen Elizabeth II and was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000. During his time in Hollywood Donald met his current wife, Francine Racette, a fellow Canadian actress, whom he married in 1972 and together they had three sons. Sutherland has been nominated several times for Best Actor awards at the Golden Globes. For supporting actor in “Without Limits”, for supporting actor in “Citizen X” and again in 1981 for “Ordianry People”. More recently Donald Sutherland has graced television screens with his character of Nathan Templeton, Speaker of the House of Representatives in “Commander and Chief” with Geena Davis as the first female president. Sutherland and his wife have a home in Georgeville in Quebec's Eastern Townships. ABB | 
