Scratch a Sherlock Holmes - Cineplex.com

SHORTS
SPOTLIGHT
High Life hits theatres January 15th
ROSSIF
SUTHERLAND
AND THE FAMILY BIZ
Kiefer Sutherland says it’s his half-brother, Rossif,
who is probably the most talented performer in
the family — a better actor than himself, his other
acting brother, Angus, and even their father, the
esteemed Donald.
“I didn’t want to be an actor at first, I wanted to
be a novelist, a poet,” says 31-year-old Rossif on his
cellphone while walking his dog on Toronto’s Queen Street West.
“My parents, from a very young age, gave me permission to be an
artist; that was the greatest gift they could give me. It took me a
while to figure out acting was going to be part of my journey.”
Rossif first made waves two years back starring in the Canadian
drama Poor Boy’s Game, and next month he plays the morphineaddicted
Billy, one of four losers who royally botch up a heist in the
twist-filled drama High Life. “He wants to live every day as fully as
14 FAMOUS DECEMBER 2009
he can,” Sutherland says of his character, “which is also why he
probably takes drugs. But he was a real joy to play.”
Standing six-foot-five-inches — he’s an inch taller than his dad
— and blessed with brooding good looks, Sutherland was born in
Vancouver, then moved between Hollywood and New York until age
eight when his mom, actor Francine Racette, took the family to France.
“I grew up in Paris and one of the reasons my mother took us
there was that she wanted us to live away from the many things
that had to do with my father’s fame,” says Sutherland. “She did it
to protect us and sort of give us an environment where we’d have
the feeling of having a normal childhood.
“But I saw how passionate my parents were about their work,
and I just felt it was something I wanted to do in my life.” F
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Ingrid Randoja
PHOTO BY DEBORAH ANDERSON