Kiefer Sutherland talks about Obama, and the past

By April MacIntyre Nov 11, 2008, 19:50 GMT

11/10/2008 - Kiefer Sutherland - "24: Redemption - Captured in Africa" - Arrivals - The Paley Center for Media - Beverly Hills, CA, USA © Tina Gill / PR Photos

Actor Kiefer Sutherland opened up about the recent election, and spoke to rumors that his hit show "24" might have influuenced the outcome.

Sutherland says, “Barack Obama had everything to do with Barack Obama.”

Even though the second season of "24" elected it’s own African-American president, Kiefer Sutherland isn’t crediting his hit television show for Barack Obama’s win.

He said, “Someone once asked me, ‘Do you think you had anything to do with Barack Obama becoming a candidate for the Presidency of the United States?’ Absolutely not! Barack Obama had everything to do with Barack Obama.”

He continued, “[But] I don’t want to diminish the power of television. If you show things on television and if you get people to believe things are possible, then that certainly is powerful too.”

Sutherland talked to Extra while exhibiting his pictures from the filming of "24: Redemption" – on display at The Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles.

As for his photography habit, Sutherland commented, “I started taking photographs a long time ago in New York when I couldn’t find work as an actor and I was trying to keep myself busy.”

As for Sutherland’s famous father, Donald Sutherland, he comments, “I always knew my father was an actor…I was quite young and most of my father’s films were restricted so I didn’t really see any of my father’s work until I was 18.”

Sutherland also spoke about his past, and the rodeo work he did before making it big as an actor.

He said: “I did it for about four or five years and toward the end of that, I got better and I won a couple of ropings and it was a really special, special time in my life.”

“Extra’s” interview with Kiefer Sutherland airs tonight and for more on this story, click here