Kurt Sutter, born May 5, 1960 in Rahway, New Jersey, is an American actor, writer, director and producer who is the creator of the FX original series Sons Of Anarchy.
As writer and creator, Sutter first worked on the series' premiere episode, "Pilot", in the series' first season. Sutter would go on to write a third of the show's episodes, as well as directing some. The last episode he worked on was the series' finale, "Papa's Goods", in the series' seventh, and final, season.
Sutter is also the co-creator Mayans MC, a spinoff of Sons of Anarchy, alongside Elgin James. Sutter wrote episodes for season one and two. After season two, Sutter was fired from the show by FX and Disney after multiple complaints about his on-set behaviour.
Despite officially leaving the Mayans MC project in 2019. Sutter was still credited as writer and executive producer for every episode of the show; which ran for three more seasons, ending in 2023.
Raised in the shadow of Rahway prison, Sutter spent most of his New Jersey childhood indoors, away from people, three feet from a TV screen. That's where he learned the essentials of story telling and the comic significance of anvils. After graduating from Rutgers University with a BA in Film, Kurt spent six years as an actor in NYC, performing in various off off-Broadway theatres, lofts, rooftops and holding cells. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 90s where he began teaching and directing.
That focus eventually brought Sutter back to New York City where he joined the faculty of The Gately-Poole Acting Studio on Theatre Row, teaching the Sanford Meisner Technique and directing productions at The Nat Horne Theatre. In 1995, Kurt was awarded an MFA Fellowship to attend Northern Illinois University. In Chicago, Kurt's exposure to the dramatic masters - Strindberg, O'Neill, Genet - inspired him, and he began writing plays and cultivating ideas for the screen. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts, Sutter moved back to Los Angeles where he wrote his first screenplay, "Delivering Gen". "Gen" garnered industry kudos and sold in 2000. Then in 2001, the countless, unmonitored hours spent in front of the TV as a child paid off, when Kurt landed a writing gig on FX's, The Shield (2002-2008).
Along with his television work, Sutter currently has feature projects in development at Warner Brothers, Paramount, Lionsgate Films and Warner Independent. In 2015, his first film, Southpaw, was released. That same year, his first post-SOA TV project, The Bastard Executioner, began airing on FX. Kurt lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actor/singer Katey Sagal who also portrays Gemma Teller Morrow on Sons of Anarchy, his two stepchildren, Sarah and Jackson, and his daughter with Katey, Esme.
Season 1 credits
Season 1 credits