Donald Sutherland's 5 Children: All About His Sons and Daughter

Actor Donald Sutherland was a dad to five children: Kiefer, Rachel, Roeg, Rossif and Angus

Donald Sutherland was an award-winning actor, but he was also a father to five children.

He shared son Kiefer and daughter Rachel with his ex-wife, Shirley Douglas, and sons Roeg, Rossif and Angus with wife Francine Racette.

Keifer was the one to share the news of Sutherland's death with the world in June 2024 in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that included a black-and-white photo of him and his dad together from his childhood.

"With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away" Kiefer wrote. "I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. 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."

In a 2001 interview with Scotland's The Daily Record, Sutherland spoke about the challenges of raising children who wanted to follow in his acting footsteps. In particular, Sutherland said that his relationship with his son Kiefer had suffered through the years. "I wasn't present much as a father when Kiefer was young," he said. "He even looks like me — only shorter — but I am very proud of him and I always will be."

By the end of his life, Sutherland was close with all five of his children. According to Variety, the Canadian actor revealed to attendees at the 2019 Lumière Film Festival that he named his four sons after different filmmakers. "I love filmmakers, I really do," he said. "They are part of my life, and I named my four sons after directors I worked with." For example, Kiefer was named for Warren Kiefer, who directed Sutherland in Castle of the Living Dead.

Here's everything to know about Donald Sutherland's five children.

Kiefer Sutherland, 57

Kiefer Sutherland was born on Dec. 21, 1966, at St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, to Sutherland and his then-wife Douglas. Kiefer also has a twin sister named Rachel.

Like his father, Kiefer is an actor and is perhaps most known for his role on the long-running television drama 24. In 2016, Kiefer opened up to PEOPLE about playing the character Jack Bauer for eight seasons and described the show ending as "the worst breakup" he ever had.

That same year, Kiefer and Sutherland shared the screen for the first time in Forsaken. He told PEOPLE, "Working with him is something I have wanted to do for 30 years."

In August 2020, Kiefer told PEOPLE that he'd consider playing Bauer again. "If someone were to come up with a great idea, whether that's a great two-hour idea to make a film, or if it's a great season idea, I'm always open to that," he said. "I love playing that character. I love that show. I love the people that I've worked with on it."

In addition to acting, Kiefer also released his first album, Down in a Hole, in 2016. "I had no intention of making an album. I hear about an actor wanting to do music and my eyes roll back too," he told PEOPLE. "I'm completely aware of the stigma and that's why I never did it." Kiefer co-wrote all 11 of the songs on the album with his friend and producer Jude Cole.

Kiefer's musical career proved to be successful. In 2019, he began a two-month European tour, which was cut short when he slipped and fell on the stairs of his tour bus. Kiefer sustained a serious rib injury and had to cancel the final three dates of the tour.

He is also father to actress Sarah Sutherland, whom he shares with his first wife, Camelia Kath. Following his divorce from Kath in 1990, the Designated Survivor star got engaged to Julia Roberts after meeting on the set of their film Flatliners. The pair planned to get married in 1991 before Roberts called off the wedding days before the event and began a relationship with Kiefer's Lost Boys costar Jason Patric.

The Contractor actor then went on to marry Kelly Winn on June 29, 1996, but they separated in 1999. Kiefer officially filed for divorce in 2004, and their divorce was finalized four years later.

In 2007, Keifer pleaded "no contest" to a DUI after being arrested that September. It was his fourth DUI arrest since 1989.

"I'm very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently," Kiefer said in a statement at the time. "I'm deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers on 24 and at 20th Century Fox. I appreciate the support and concern that has been extended to me these last weeks both personally and professionally."

Kiefer spent 48 days in jail following his 2007 charge and was sentenced to an additional five-year probation and a mandatory 18-month alcohol education program.

In 2016, Kiefer spoke to PEOPLE about his relationship with alcohol and why he chose not to stop drinking. "I was never the guy, if something was wrong in my life or something wasn't right, I didn't go drown my sorrows," he said. "One of the things I love to do is go out with my friends and tell stories and have a bunch of drinks. ... I can also look back on my life and tell you very squarely that the only bad things that have ever happened to me in my life have been because I like to go to bars and have drinks with my friends. I would be lying if I told you that there weren't moments where I felt I let it get away from me."

Rachel Sutherland, 57

Sutherland's only daughter, Rachel Sutherland, is Kiefer's twin sister. Though Rachel has largely eschewed the spotlight, she works behind the scenes in the entertainment industry as a production manager.

Rachel was born on Dec. 21, 1966, at St. Mary's Hospital in London. In 2018, Kiefer told The Guardian that he was "incredibly close" with Rachel.

"Being a twin taught me the value of having a companion," he said. "Every time I experienced something I could turn to my left and share it. When I was having my first child I said to my mother, 'My gosh you had two at the same time.' She said, 'Oh, sweetheart, it was fine. By the time you were 2 you were looking after each other.' She made it sound like she'd got a deal, which always made me laugh."

Roeg Sutherland, 50

Sutherland and Francine Racette, his third wife, welcomed their son Roeg Sutherland on Feb. 5, 1974, in Los Angeles. Roeg also works in the entertainment industry, albeit in a different way than his father and siblings.

Roeg works for talent and sports agency Creative Artists Agency in the company's Media Finance division. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the division oversees the "packing and representation of independently financed films, television and digital content."

In 2020, Roeg told THR that the independent film community would weather the COVID-19 pandemic because survival is inherent in the business. "We are all thinking outside the box about how to bring packages together, how to have our clients communicate better with the buyer's market," he said. "I feel like people are working harder and smarter than they ever have."

In April 2022, Roeg celebrated the return of audiences to theaters and independent films. "Never has there been more money in the marketplace, ever," he told Deadline. "People understand the benefits and risks that come with creating content. There are so many buyers out there that, after it's finished — and it's good — you're going to find a home for it at more favorable terms and with more upside."

Rossif Sutherland, 45

Sutherland and Racette welcomed Rossif Sutherland on Sept. 25, 1978. Rossif was born in Vancouver, Canada, but the family moved to Paris when he was 7 years old. Rossif had no plans to act until he filled in for a student in a film made at Princeton. Rossif told PEOPLE that his performance left his father emotional. "There were tears in his eyes, and he said, 'Kid, that's what you're supposed to do,' " he recalled.

In a 2013 interview with The New York Post, Rossif explained that he looked up to his father. "I never really had an interest in being an actor, but I was always in awe of what my father did," he said. "I knew how talented he was; it was just never something that I thought I could do or wanted to do. I didn't want to be other people — that's the extent of what I thought acting was."

Rossif has dozens of credits to his name, including a turn as Ezra Shaw on The Handmaid's Tale. He was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for his performance in the 2016 movie River, in which he played a doctor on the run after he accidentally kills a man in Vietnam. Rossif told Monsters & Critics that the performance was emotionally difficult. "I had anxiety that I had to carry the film and that we had to finish our days having done all the things my director wanted for the story," he told the outlet. "There was anxiety throughout. I only had to amp it up, not play it up. It was an experience like no other for me. I'm usually the actor on set, hired to be an expert at my character and the rest of the time stay out of people's way."

While promoting River, Rossif told The Ex-Press he ignores detractors. "I don't care much about what people think about me," he said. "If they don't like me, they don't like me. You can be the nicest person in the room … it doesn't matter … And I've never been very strategic with my choices, and maybe my career has suffered for it."

Rossif also starred in the television series Reign from 2013 to 2015.

Angus Sutherland, 42

Sutherland and Racette welcomed their youngest son, Angus Redford Sutherland, on Sept. 3, 1982. Like his older sister Rachel, Angus hasn't spent a lot of time in the spotlight but has worked in front of and behind the camera.

In 2019, Donald revealed that Angus' middle name is a nod to one of his favorite directors and actors, Robert Redford. "I wanted to name another son after Robert Redford," Donald told Variety. "But when the child was born [a woman at the maternity ward] said 'no you can't do that, you can't name a child 'Redford.' So we named him Angus — Angus Redford."

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