Kristine Sutherland's first love was theater. She went to an audition in high school as moral support for a friend but ended up auditioning herself. She worked as an actress on stage through the 70s and 80s, landing a few pilot roles as well as her small secretary part in Legal Eagles and her big-screen debut in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, filmed a few months before she became pregnant with her only daughter, Eleanore Pankow.

In 1995, Kristine, husband John Pankow (actor, best known as "Ira" on Mad About You) moved to Los Angeles, looking to enjoy their daughter's upbringing. Kristine told as few people as possible that she was moving and was surprised when she received a phone call from her agent, telling her that he found a part she'd be perfect for. She auditioned for the role of "Joyce Summers" on television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, her most famous role to date, in which she starred in at least one episode every season. In 1999, John and Kristine decided to move to Italy for a year. The idea was that they'd go for the duration of a school year, giving Eleanore the chance to learn a language organically, as Eleanore is keen on learning languages. Whilst Eleanore studied at school, Kristine flew back into the USA occasionally to film a few episodes in Season 4 of "Buffy". In 2000, they moved back to America, keeping a house in both LA and New York, and Kristine's character "Joyce", was killed. Since the show, Kristine has pursued other interests. She is a very keen photographer and became a qualified photographer thanks to a college course at the Santa Monica College. Kristine currently resides in New York with her husband and daughter. She has been attending Conventions in Germany, England and across America recently, she has starred in an Advil commercial as well as doing voice-acting for a book and an English translation of a Japanese animated film, The Cat Returns (aka The Cat Returns).

Kristine and her husband enjoy cooking Italian. She also enjoys white wine.
Appeared with David Boreanaz (Angel), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), and Mark Lutz (Groosalugg) at the Angel And Buffy Convention held at the Brighton Centre in Brighton, England, 29 August, 2003. Her character, Joyce Summers, was killed in the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, however, she would make four more appearances in the series. Her character, Joyce, was gradually phased out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer after the third season because she moved to France. She returned to the U.S. for several appearances during the fourth year, and her character was killed off in season five. Changed her professional name because there already was an actress named Kristine Young who, she says, was not very well liked, and thus Kristine felt she wasn't getting some acting opportunities because people were mistakenly confusing the two women. She named herself "Sutherland" after her cat, whom she named Donald after actor Donald Sutherland. Has daughter Eleanore. Was cast as Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer because the producers thought she and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, looked a lot like each other. Sister-in-law of James Pankow. Took her last name from Donald Sutherland. Her brother-in-law, James Pankow, was a member of Chicago with Terry Kath. After Kath's death, his widow, Camelia, eventually married Donald's son, Kiefer Sutherland.