Kiefer Sutherland: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

1. Jack Bauer - 24

Well, what did you expect? Without a doubt, Kiefer Sutherland's finest hour - or hours, as it were - stem from his performance as Agent Jack Bauer on Fox's 24. This was the show that made Sutherland both a household name and a television icon; so much so, in fact, that the character of Jack Bauer had since been brought to the same God-like level as Chuck Norris and has even been gifted with his own array of "facts" ("Jack Bauer once won a game of Connect 4 in 3 moves," to cite a famous example); his influence on pop culture at large is plainly huge. But aside from being infamous for his endless resourcefulness and unrivalled badassery, Bauer has offered Sutherland the chance to stretch his acting chops over the course of the last 13 years. It's not surprising that Sutherland picked up both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his turn as the Counter Terrorism Agent, given that the actor somehow consistently manages to strike the perfect balance between sympathetic and unbreakable; granted, the show might never have took off in the way that it did without Kiefer Sutherland to keep Jack running.