Kurt Sutter
Sutter in 2012
Born	(1960-05-05)May 5, 1960 (age 65)[1] Rahway, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Rutgers University Northern Illinois University
Occupations	Screenwriter director producer actor
Years active	1980s–present
Known for	The Shield (2002–2008) Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014)
Spouse	Katey Sagal ​ (m. 2004)​
Children	1

Kurt Leon Sutter (born May 5, 1960) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He worked as a writer, director, and executive producer onThe Shield, and appeared on the show as hitmanMargos Dezerian. Sutter is also the creator ofSons of Anarchy and its spinoffMayans M.C. onFX; he wrote, produced, and directed the series, as well as played incarcerated club member Otto Delaney. Sutter spent time with members of anoutlaw motorcycle club in Northern California as research forSons of Anarchy.^[2] Sutter's wife, actressKatey Sagal, played main characterGemma Teller.

Sutter was born inRahway,New Jersey. His father worked at theGeneral Motors plant inLinden, New Jersey, and his mother was a secretary for theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. He has two older sisters.^[3] He grew up in the township ofClark, New Jersey,^[3] and graduated fromRoselle Catholic High School in 1982.^[3]

Sutter attendedLivingston College for the journalism department ofRutgers University—which was located there—eventually graduating from Rutgers University with a BA in mass media with a minor in English in 1986. He moved toNew York City and studiedMeisner technique, did theater, and taught at the Gately/Poole Conservatory.^[3] Sutter then attendedNorthern Illinois University for three years, starting in 1997, to obtain his M.F.A. in performance and directing.^[3]

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Sutter was hired as a staff writer for the first season of FX crime dramaThe Shield in 2002. He made his television acting debut with the episode "Blowback", in which he appeared asArmenian mob hitmanMargos Dezerian. He co-wrote the episodes "Dragonchasers" and "Two Days of Blood" with fellow staff writerScott Rosenbaum, and was promoted to story editor for the second season in 2003. He wrote the episodes "Scar Tissue" and "Dead Soldiers" and in 2004, joined the production team in the junior role of co-producer for the third season. He continued to write episodes and scripted "Playing Tight" and "Mum" with series creator and executive producerShawn Ryan, "Slipknot" solo, and "Fire in the Hole" with consulting producerCharles H. Eglee. He reprised his role as Dezerian in the season's final episodes "All In" and "On Tilt".

He was promoted to supervising producer for the fourth season in 2005. He wrote the episode "Grave" solo, co-wrote the story for the episode "Judas Priest" with Eglee and co-wrote the teleplay with Rosenbaum. He co-wrote the story for the season finale "Ain't That a Shame" with Ryan; Ryan co-wrote the teleplay for the episode with co-executive producerGlen Mazzara. Sutter became a co-executive producer for the fifth season in 2006. He wrote the episode "Extraction", co-wrote the episode "Trophy" with Renee Palya and Tony Soltis, and co-wrote the season's penultimate episode "Fire in the Hole" with Eglee.

He became an executive producer for the sixth season in 2007, directed a promotional mini-episode for the sixth season entitled "Wins and Losses," and wrote the sixth-season premiere "On the Jones". He co-wrote the episode "Exiled" with Rosenbaum, also now an executive producer.

Sutter returned as an executive producer and writer for the seventh and final season in 2008. He wrote the premiere "Coefficient of Drag" and co-wrote the episode "Parricide" with Gary Lennon. At the close of the season he was the series' second most prolific writer (after Ryan), having written or co-written 18 episodes in total.

Also in 2008, Sutter created and executive produced a new series for FX entitledSons of Anarchy. The show centers on the titular motorcycle club in a fictitious town called Charming in California. He was the series head writer and showrunner. Along with thepilot episode he wrote the episodes "Seeds", "Fun Town", "Capybara", "The Sleep of Babies", and the season finale "The Revelator". He would go on to write 61 of the show's 92 episodes. Sutter appears in the show as incarcerated club memberOtto Delaney, and he cast his wifeKatey Sagal in the starring role as the club's matriarchGemma Teller Morrow. Sutter also hired several crew members whom he had worked with onThe Shield, including unit production manager and producer Kevin G. Cremin, post-production supervisor and producer Craig Yahata, and directorsGuy Ferland,Stephen Kay,Gwyneth Horder-Payton,Paris Barclay,Terrence O'Hara, andBilly Gierhart. The first season also featuredThe Shield starJay Karnes as a recurring specialguest star playingATF AgentJoshua Kohn.^[4] This is a trend that continued in later seasons with the majority of the main cast ofThe Shield appearing in later episodes in a variety of different roles.

Sutter remained showrunner and executive producer for the series' second season in 2009. He wrote the season premiere "Albification", co-wrote the episode "Eureka" with Brett Conrad, co-wrote the episode "Gilead" with co-producerChris Collins, co-wrote the episode "Potlatch" withMisha Green, co-wrote the teleplay for the episode "Service" with co-executive producerJack LoGiudice from a story by Brady Dahl and Cory Udica, co-wrote the episode "The Culling" with consulting producerDave Erickson, and wrote and directed the season finale "Na Trioblóidí". The second season featuredThe Shield starKenny Johnson as a special guest star playing a club member named Kozik.

Sutter returned as showrunner and executive producer for the third season in 2010. He wrote the season premiere "SO", co-wrote the episode "Oiled" with Erickson, now a co-executive producer, co-wrote the episode "Home" withLiz Sagal, series' star Katey Sagal's sister and his sister-in-law. He co-wrote the episode "Widening Gyre" with co-producerRegina Corrado and the episode "Lochan Mor" with Erickson and Liz Sagal. He wrote the story for the episode "Turas"; the teleplay was co-written by Collins (now a producer) and Dahl. He co-wrote the episode "Firinne" with Vaunn Wilmott and the episode "Bainne" with Corrado and Erickson. He wrote the story for the episode "June Wedding"; Collins wrote the teleplay. He reprised the role of Otto in the season finale, titled "NS", which he also directed and co-wrote with Erickson. Johnson returned as Kozik in the third season. He would go on to produce seven seasons of Sons. The show concluded airing in December 2014.

In 2010,DreamWorks picked up Sutter's film script,Southpaw, andEminem was eyed for the lead role. The film was dropped byDreamWorks in 2011,^[5][6] and was later picked up byMGM andColumbia Pictures.^[7]Antoine Fuqua directed the film, andJake Gyllenhaal replacedEminem in the lead.Rachel McAdams,Rita Ora,50 Cent, andForest Whitaker also appeared in the film.^[8]Southpaw was released on July 24, 2015, byThe Weinstein Company.^[9]

In 2014, it was announced Sutter had begun developingThe Bastard Executioner, a new series forFX, The series was ordered to pilot on December 12, 2014.^[10]Katey Sagal, Lee Jones, andStephen Moyer signed on to join the cast of the pilot.^[11][12] On May 22, 2015, the pilot was ordered to series with a 10-episode launch to premiere on September 15, 2015, on FX. The series was cancelled after one season.^[13][14] He went on to create theSons of Anarchy spinoffMayans M.C. In October 2019, Sutter was fired from FX after multiple complaints were lodged against him about his "abrasive" and "unprofessional" behavior.^[15] Sutter appeared in the 2021science fiction filmChaos Walking, his first feature film acting role.^[16]

In 2016, Sutter produced a six-issue comic book miniseries withBoom! Studios entitledLucas Stand. The first issue was released on June 1, 2016.^[17] He also worked on a comic book calledSisters of Sorrow; the book was launched at the 2016San Diego Comic-Con.^[18]

In May 2021, it was announced that Sutter would direct a horror film titledThis Beast forNetflix.^[19] In November 2021, it was announced that he would create a western series titledThe Abandons for Netflix.^[20]

Sutter has stated he's had multiple influences in his writing style, includingWilliam Shakespeare, specifically his playHamlet. He based the characters ofSons of Anarchy onHamlet. Other cultural influences includeMad Magazine,Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and the television showHill Street Blues, among others.^[21]

Sutter moved to Los Angeles in 2000.^[3] Sutter married actressKatey Sagal in a private ceremony on October 2, 2004, at their home inLos Feliz, California.^[22] Their first child, daughter Esme Louise, was born January 10, 2007. Esme was carried by asurrogate mother.^[23]

Sutter is an animal rights activist, and isvegan.^[24][25] He is also a motorcycle enthusiast.^[26]

• Outlaw Empires

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKurt Sutter.

• Kurt Sutter atIMDb
• Sutter Ink Blog
• @sutterink onTwitter
• Interview with Kurt SutterArchived August 12, 2014, at theWayback Machine

• 1960 births
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• American male screenwriters
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