Kurt Sutter

Creator of Sons of Anarchy and writer for The Shield.

Kurt Sutter, born in 1960, is an American writer, director, producer, and actor. He created the FX series Sons of Anarchy and its spinoff Mayans M.C., also appearing as Otto Delaney. Sutter previously worked on The Shield as a writer, director, and executive producer, and played hitman Margos Dezerian.

Quick Facts

Born

1960

Birthplace

Rahway, New Jersey, U.S.

Education

Rutgers University; Northern Illinois University

Occupation

Screenwriter
director
producer
actor

Years active

1980s–present

Spouse

Katey Sagal, October 2, 2004

Children

Known for

The Shield (2002–2008); Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014)

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

Sutter is an animal rights activist and is vegan.
He based the characters of Sons of Anarchy on Shakespeare's Hamlet.
In May 2021, it was announced that Sutter would direct a horror film titled This Beast for Netflix.

Early life

Sutter was born in Rahway, New Jersey, where his father worked at a General Motors plant and his mother was a secretary for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. He grew up in Clark, New Jersey, and graduated from Roselle Catholic High School in 1982. He earned a BA in mass media with a minor in English from Rutgers University in 1986, then studied Meisner technique in New York City and later obtained an M.F.A. in performance and directing from Northern Illinois University.

Career

Sutter began his television career as a staff writer for the first season of FX's The Shield in 2002, also making his acting debut on the show as Armenian mob hitman Margos Dezerian. He co-wrote episodes with Scott Rosenbaum and was promoted to story editor for the second season in 2003. By the third season in 2004 he became a co-producer, writing episodes including "Playing Tight" and "Mum" with series creator Shawn Ryan. He was promoted to supervising producer for the fourth season in 2005 and co-executive producer for the fifth season in 2006. Sutter became an executive producer for the sixth season in 2007, directing a promotional mini-episode and writing the premiere. He returned as executive producer and writer for the seventh and final season in 2008, writing the premiere and co-writing an episode. By the series' end, Sutter was the second most prolific writer on The Shield, having written or co-written 18 episodes.