Kiefer Sutherland

When Kiefer Sutherland isn't saving the day as Jack Bauer on Fox's 24, he can be found moonlighting at Ironworks Music, an L.A.-based indie label he runs with best friend/musician Jude Cole. Sutherland calls Ironworks' mission — championing artists who don't fit into the mainstream — ''philanthropy.'' Last year, however, it was an invitation to trouble, when he played road manager for a band called Rocco DeLuca and the Burden. The results were sloppy and sloshy (perhaps you heard about the drunken assault on a London Christmas tree), and the band fired him. ''I wanted to go on a trip with my friends, then realized I was in charge of selling tickets. Maybe that wasn't so smart,'' says the 40-year-old father of one with a laugh. The lesson learned? ''It has reinforced my desire to be an actor.''

That's good news. With season 5 of 24, Sutherland made it clear that he is only getting better with age, earning his first and well-deserved best-actor Emmy. It was the most straightforwardly superheroic we've ever seen Jack Bauer — no murdered-wife grief, no pesky drug addiction, no cougars-are-hunting-my-hot-daughter anxiety. Just hardcharging badass righteousness. In many ways, Sutherland is 24: fierce, intelligent, dangerously fun. Exec producer Howard Gordon agrees: ''Kiefer has an intuitive approach to the character and a work ethic that informs every story line. He's created the voice of the show.''

And to think, in the '90s Sutherland was thisclose to falling into the Brat Pack black hole. 24 has reinvented him, right when he needed it most. ''I had taken a lot of time off before 24,'' he says. ''Some of it was intentional. Some of it was because I couldn't get a job. It took 24 for me to realize how much I love what I get to do.'' —Jeff Jensen