Kristine Sutherland is an actress best known for her role as Buffy Summers' mother Joyce Summers

Joyce Summers

Joyce Summers is a fictional character in the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Played by Kristine Sutherland, Joyce is the mother of the main character, Buffy Summers . Joyce appears regularly from the first episode until the character's death in the fifth season episode "The...

 on the television show Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Early life

She was born Kristine Young, and changed her name because she was often confused with another similarly named actress. The last name "Sutherland" was after her cat, whom she named "Donald" after Donald Sutherland, who, incidentally, had a role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 1992 American action/comedy/horror film about a Valley girl cheerleader named Buffy who learns that it is her fate to hunt vampires. The original script for the film was written by Joss Whedon, who later created the darker and more acclaimed TV series of the same name...

, Whedon's first attempt to bring Buffy to audiences. She attended high school in Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

, where she participated in the Tates Creek Drama program. After graduating, she enrolled in the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

.

Kristine Sutherland is not related to Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland

Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...

 or his son Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...

.

Career

Sutherland's first film role was as Mae Thompson in the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic...

. In 1997, she auditioned for the role of Joyce Summers on The WB Television Network

The WB Television Network

The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...

's up-and-coming television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Creator Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...

 later stated that one of the reasons he chose Sutherland for the role was the fact that she exuded a warm demeanour, as well as what he believed to be a close resemblance to actress Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...

, who was to portray her daughter in the series. She appeared regularly on the show for the first five seasons before leaving, but returned for three more guest appearances, 1 in season 6 and 2 in season 7. In April 2008, she had a guest starring role on New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam (TV series)

New Amsterdam is an American television drama, which premiered March 4, 2008 on Fox, and ended after its eighth episode.-Premise and plot:...

as the wife of John Amsterdam's first partner, in the episode "Reclassified".

After she left "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in 2002, Sutherland decided to attend a still photography course at Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College is a two-year, public, junior college located in Santa Monica, California.Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study...

 and later took a 12-month residence in Italy with her husband and daughter. She so enjoyed the course—and the art of taking photographs—that it encouraged her to open up her own studio, with an emphasis on portraiture.

Personal life

Sutherland is married to actor John Pankow

John Pankow

John Pankow is an American film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for a supporting role on the sitcom Mad About You .-Early life:...

, who is best known as "Ira" on Mad About You

Mad About You

Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...

. They have one daughter named Eleanore.

External links