Rossif Sutherland

Rossif Sutherland is a Canadian actor, son of Donald Sutherland and Francine Racette, who made his acting debut in a short film he directed while studying at Princeton University after his lead actor was a no-show on the first day of shooting. Encouraged by his father, Rossif studied with in New York with Harold Guskin, acting coach of Kevin Kline, Glenn Close and the late James Gandolfini. Sutherland made his professional debut in Richard Donner's Timeline as a young French archaeologist. His first lead role was in Clement Virgo's Poor Boy's Game, playing an amateur boxer recently released from jail on a journey to redemption. The film starred Danny Glover, and traveled the world's film festivals including Toronto and Berlin. He next appeared in Gary Yates' High Life, starring Timothy Olyphant, portraying Don Juan, a morphine addict who gets his pills from seductive nurses, and gets to play cowboy-for-a-day after teaming up with three other addicts to rob a bank. He was nominated for a Genie for his performance in the film. Rossif bounced around from one TV series to the next, appearing for a season in ER, King, and most recently Reign, in which he played Nostradamus. He was nominated for an ACTRA award for his performance in Flashpoint playing an escaped convict who suffers from a crippling speech impediment and desperate for justice, having been wrongfully accused. Sutherland's ambition was never to be an actor. He grew up in Paris, far from Hollywood (he is fluent in French), and spent his time writing and singing. However challenging it was to start a career in the shadows of his very successful father and brother, Sutherland's love of the work has driven him to commit wholeheartedly to the privileged life of experiencing the life of others.