Donald Sutherland first appeared in the BBC drama anthology series ‘Studio 4’ in 1962. He went on to make his big-screen debut in the 1963 British drama film ‘The World Ten Times Over’ directed by Wolf Rilla. He made an uncredited appearance in the film. In 1964, he starred in the horror film ‘Castle of the Living Dead’ directed by Warren Kiefer. The film grossed over ₤103.5 million at the box office. He next starred in films like ‘Fanatic’ (1965), ‘The Bedford Incident’ (1965), ‘Billion Dollar Brain’ (1967), ‘The Shuttered Room’ (1967), ‘Sebastian’ (1968), and ‘Oedipus the King’ (1968). In 1970, he portrayed ‘Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce’ in the American black comedy war film ‘M*A*S*H’ directed by Robert Altman. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and was a major commercial success, grossing over $81.6 million on a $3 million budget. He also received ‘Golden Globe Award’ and ‘Laurel Award’ nominations for his performance in the film. That same year, he also appeared in the American comedy-drama film ‘Alex in Wonderland’ directed by Paul Mazursky. The film received a mixed response from critics. He continued to star in films such as ‘Klute’ (1971), ‘F.T.A.’ (1972), ‘Steelyard Blues’ (1973), ‘Alien Thunder’ (1974), ‘The Day of the Locust’ (1975), ‘Fellini's Casanova’ (1976), ‘The Kentucky Fried Movie’ (1977), ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (1978), ‘Murder by Decree’ (1979), ‘Bear Island’ (1979), and ‘Ordinary People’ (1980).
In 1981, he played the role of ‘Dr. Thomas Vrain’ in the Canadian drama/science fiction film ‘Threshold’ directed by Richard Pearce. He won the ‘Genie Award’ and the ‘Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award’ for his portrayal of Dr. Thomas Vrain in the film. He was next seen in films like ‘Max Dugan Returns’ (1983), ‘Ordeal by Innocence’ (1984), ‘Revolution’ (1985), ‘The Wolf at the Door’ (1986), ‘The Trouble with Spies’ (1987), ‘Apprentice to Murder’ (1988), ‘Lost Angels’ (1989), ‘Buster's Bedroom’ (1990), ‘JFK’ (1991), ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (1992), ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ (1993), and ‘Disclosure’ (1994). He became a recipient of the ‘Golden Globe Award’ and the ‘Primetime Emmy Award’ for his performance as ‘Colonel Mikhail Fetisov’ in the 1995 American television film ‘Citizen X’ directed by Chris Gerolmo. The film was based on Robert Cullen’s 1993 book ‘The Killer Department.’ He next appeared in films such as ‘A Time to Kill’ (1996), ‘The Assignment’ (1997), ‘Without Limits’ (1998), ‘Virus’ (1999), ‘The Art of War’ (2000), ‘Big Shot's Funeral’ (2001), ‘Fellini: I'm a Born Liar’ (2002), ‘The Italian Job’ (2003), ‘American Gun’ (2005), ‘Ask the Dust’ (2006), ‘Days of Darkness’ (2007), ‘Fool's Gold’ (2008), ‘Astro Boy’ (2009), ‘The Con Artist’ (2010), and ‘Horrible Bosses’ (2011). In 2012, he portrayed ‘President Coriolanus Snow’ in the American dystopian action film ‘The Hunger Games’ directed by Gary Ross. The film opened to a positive reception and performed well at the box office, grossing over $694.4 million on a $78 million budget.Â
Sutherland went on to star in films such as ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ (2013), ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’ (2014), ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2’ (2015), ‘Milton's Secret’ (2016), ‘The Leisure Seeker’ (2017), ‘Measure of a Man’ (2018), ‘American Hangman’ (2019), and ‘Alone’ (2020). He was last seen in the 2022 science fiction disaster film ‘Moonfall’ directed by Roland Emmerich. The film was panned by critics and was a commercial disaster.
