Kiefer Sutherland, a Canadian actor who starred on the hit TV thriller “24”, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving on Tuesday, just hours before he was due to be honored by a Canadian actors’ union.

The 40-year-old actor, who is the son of actor Donald Sutherland, was stopped by the police near the boundaries of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood shortly after 1 a.m. for making an illegal U-turn.

The police carried out a breath test, which found him to be over the legal blood-alcohol limit.

A police spokeswoman said he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Sutherland was taken to the police station in Hollywood, where he posted $25,000 bail and was released.

He is due to appear in court on October 16.

In 2004, the actor was placed on five years’ probation, fined $500, and ordered into an alcohol treatment program after pleading no contest to DUI.

Assuming the arrest leads to formal charges, it would be up to the judge who handled Sutherland’s previous case to decide if he violated probation.

The arrest came before Sutherland was due to be honored by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) at the residence of Canada’s Consul General in Los Angeles.

An ACTRA spokeswoman said the awards ceremony would go on as planned but be closed to the media.

A spokeswoman for the actor said he would attend, but she declined further comment.

A source close to the series said Sutherland’s arrest was not expected to affect production of “24”, which last year earned him an Emmy Award, U.S.

television’s highest honor, for his role as the globe-trotting, terrorist-fighting agent Jack Bauer.

The show returns to the airwaves for its seventh season in January and is one of Fox Network’s top-rated shows, averaging 13.5 million viewers earlier this year.

According to TMZ.com, an unnamed police source described Sutherland as “cooperative and mellow” while in custody.

However, there was no further detail available.

The arrest comes as the Canadian performer, who spent much of his boyhood in Toronto, remains on probation for driving under the influence in a previous case, which landed him in a court-ordered treatment program for alcohol abuse.

Assuming the arrest leads to formal charges, it would be up to the judge who handled Sutherland’s previous case to decide if he violated probation.

The same judge, Michael Sauer, sentenced celebrity socialite Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail for breaching her probation in a previous DUI case.