Kristine Sutherland

Kristine Sutherland may not be a marquee name, but she anchored something beloved. As Joyce Summers across every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she gave the show its emotional ballast, the warm, worried mother who kept a supernatural saga grounded in family. Add her turn in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and a pattern emerges: she plays the steady center, not the spotlight. I find that kind of work quietly heroic. A series only feels like a family because someone like Sutherland makes the parent real. To me she is a craftsperson who earns affection through warmth rather than flash.

Kristine Sutherland (born Kristine Young; April 17, 1955) is an American actress best known for her starring role as Buffy Summers' mother Joyce Summers on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where she appeared in every season (1997–2003), and her role as Mae Thompson in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989).

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Name (English)

Kristine Sutherland

Name (Japanese)

クリスティン・サザーランド

Reading

くりすてぃん・さざーらんど

Born

April 17, 1955 (age 71)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Goat

Origin

Boise, Idaho, United States

Blood type

Private

Height

Private

Agency

Private

Occupation

television actor / film actor / actor / voice actor

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Private

University

University of Kentucky

Spouse

Private

Children

Private

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B5%E3%82%B6%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89

Tags

• Idaho
• television actor
• film actor
• actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.