Keanu Charles Reeves, a Canadian actor noted for his nobility in the Hollywood film industry, is a humble and down-to-earth performer who is not afraid to share his accomplishment with his co-stars and crew. The gentle actor famously donated the majority of his earnings from the blockbuster trilogy ‘The Matrix’ to the film’s special effects and costume design teams, believing that they were the true heroes of the film. He also gave up millions in order for his production company to be able to hire top actors for his films, such as Al Pacino for ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ and Gene Hackman for ‘The Replacement.’ Reeves had an emotionally troubled childhood because his father abandoned him and his mother when he was just three years old, and his mother later married three more times. He visited Sydney, New York, and Toronto with his mother before deciding to move to Los Angeles permanently at the age of 15 to pursue his acting career. Many blockbuster hits have been directed by Reeves, including ‘The Matrix’, ‘The Matrix Reloaded,’ ‘The Matrix Revolutions,’ ‘The Devil’s Advocate,’ ‘Speed,’ and ‘Constantine.’ He is a loner who avoids the media and prefers ballroom dancing and surfing over anything else. In his life, he has experienced numerous tragedies, including the birth of his stillborn daughter ‘Ava,’ the death of his longtime partner Jennifer Syme, and the death of his beloved friend and actor River Phoenix. Reeves made his directing debut in 2013 with the film ‘Man of Tai Chi.’
Childhood and Adolescence
Samuel Nowlin Reeves and Patricia Reeves gave birth to Keanu Reeves on September 2, 1964, in Beirut, Lebanon. His father was a Chinese and Hawaiian-American geologist, while his mother was an English showgirl. In Hawaiian, Reeves’ first name means ‘cold air across the mountains.’ When he was three years old, his parents divorced.
Reeves and his mother used to move around a lot, and he had a lot of stepfathers. Reeves and his mother moved to Sydney, Australia, after his parents’ legal divorce, where she worked as a costume designer. His half sister Kim was born there, and the three of them relocated to New York once more, while his father relocated to Hawaii, where Reeves visited him until he was thirteen years old.
It was just a matter of time before his mother married director Paul Aaron for the second time in New York, and they all went to Toronto with him and became Canadian citizens. The pair divorced a year later, and Reeves’ mother married for the third time in 1976 to a rock promoter named Robert Miller, giving birth to Reeves’ second half-sister Karina. In 1994, she divorced for the fourth time and married a hairdresser named Jack Bond.
Reeves and his sisters were largely reared by babysitters and grandparents because of their mental instability and geographic mobility. He attended four different high schools, including Etobicoke School of the Arts, where he was expelled, but he was not a particularly dedicated student. He went to De La Salle College and the Toronto School for the Performing Arts, among others. At the age of 17, he dropped out of college for good and decided to pursue acting in movies as a career. He was never a highly intellectual or studious young lad in high school; he was more interested in ice hockey and dramatics.
Career of Keanu Reeves
When Reeves was 15, he acted in a theater production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Leah Posluns Theatre. After that, he made his television debut in the sitcom ‘Hangin’In’ on CBC Television. In the 1980s, he worked on commercials for major brands such as Coca-Cola, short films such as ‘One Step Away,’ stage productions such as ‘Wolfboy,’ and more. He also performed letters for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s ‘Going Great’ TV youth program in 1984.
Reeves’ first drama picture, ‘River’s Edge,’ was released in 1986, and it depicted a group of youngsters who were touched by a murder. Following the success of this film, Reeves gained notoriety and was offered more and more roles in films suited to his age, such as ‘Permanent Record.’ In 1989, he starred as ‘Ted Logan’ in the film ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,’ and its sequel, ‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey,’ was released in 1991. These films boosted Reeves’ career, but they also pigeonholed him as a “troubled kid.” The media began to portray him as an idealistic adolescent.
In the film ‘My Private Idaho,’ starring River Phoenix, Reeves played a young affluent kid who spent more time with individuals from the lower strata in an effort to overcome his stereotyped image and move forward from teen cinema. The film earned positive reviews from critics and helped him dispel his image as a nerdy adolescent. He won the MTV award for ‘Most Desirable Male’ in 1992 for his work in the film ‘Point Break.’ Reeves continued to tackle serious and meaningful roles in 1992’s ‘Dracula,’ in which he played an unlucky lawyer who winds himself in a vampire’s burrow.
With the release of ‘Speed’ in 1994, Reeves received the well-deserved popularity and status in Hollywood. He became a big-budget action star as a result of it. In the film, he collaborated with Sandra Bullock, a well-known actress. Even after the tremendous success of ‘Speed,’ he continued to do more experimental roles and accepted offers for supporting roles as long as the role was relevant to him and the film’s script was well written. Even though he was offered roughly 11 million dollars to film ‘Speed 2: Cruise Control,’ a sequel to ‘Speed,’ he turned it down.
During the late 1990s, he appeared in films such as ‘A Walk in the Clouds,’ an American romantic drama in which he played an army veteran who returns home after the war to settle down with his newlywed wife. It was based on the Italian film ‘Four Steps in the Cloud.’ He starred alongside Cameron Diaz in the American romantic comedy ‘Feeling Minnesota’ in 1996. Then it was time to do some large budget films like ‘Johnny Mnemonic,’ a sci-fi film released in 1995, and ‘Chain Reaction,’ an action thriller released in 1996.
After the huge success of ‘Speed,’ Reeves’ subsequent films did not do as well, but the American mystery-thriller ‘The Devil’s Advocate,’ released in 1997, catapulted his career. Along with Al Pacino and Charliez Theron, he starred in the film. The picture was a box office success, and several critics noted that Reeves’ acting skills were improving with time. However, there were many who believed he could have done better.
With Wachowski Brothers’ sci-fi film ‘The Matrix,’ Reeves’ career was about to reach new heights. The picture was a box office success, and Reeves’ character, ‘Neo,’ was an instant hit with both audiences and reviewers. The success of this film led to the production of two more sequels: “The Matrix Reloaded (2003)” and “The Matrix Revolution (2003).” The trilogy was a success, and it helped him advance in his profession. He’d made a name for himself as a talented actor with a mature demeanor.
In the years between finishing the ‘Matrix’ trilogy, Reeves acted in films such as ‘The Gift’ in 2000, ‘The Watcher’ in 2000, ‘Sweet November’ in 2001- a love drama featuring Charlize Theron opposite him,’The Replacements’ in 2000, and ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ with Jack Nicholson. None of these films were particularly successful in the box office, and Reeve was chastised for his acting abilities. However, in 2005, the horror movie ‘Constantine’ did pretty well at the box office, and everyone began to rave about how brilliant Reeves was once more.
In 2006, Reeve’s sci-fi film ‘A Scanner Darkly,’ based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, did fairly well at the box office, but his much-anticipated romantic drama ‘The Lake House,’ which he co-starred in with Sandra Bullock in ‘Speed,’ did not quite work out for him and his career, leaving audiences and fans disappointed. His subsequent films, such as ‘Street Kings’ in 2008, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ in 2008, and ‘The Private Life of Pippa Lee’ in 2009, performed only moderately well at the box office.
In 2010, Reeves starred in a number of low-budget films, including ‘Henry’s Crime’ and ‘Generation Um…,’ as well as a big-budget feature, ’47 Ronin.’ During the creation of these films, Reeves worked on his home-production and directorial debut, ‘Man of Tai Chi,’ a film based on the life of a well-known stuntman and his companion Tiger Chen. ‘Man of Tai Chi’ premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and the Beijing Film Festival, where it was praised by action film director John Woo and won an award.
‘Side by Side,’ a documentary about the displacement of photochemical film by digital camera technology, was released in 2011. He spoke with industry heavyweights such as Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, and others. In the same year, he published ‘Ode to Happiness,’ a book featuring images by Alexandra Grant.
Personal & Family Life
The loss of his co-star and close friend River Phoenix in 1993 saddened and broke down Reeves. In 1991, they co-starred in the film ‘My Own Private Idaho.’ Phoenix died of a drug overdose, and it was rumored that both Phoenix and Reeves experimented with narcotics for their roles in the film, and Phoenix began consuming drugs around that time.
Reeves’ longterm girlfriend Jennifer Syme, a production assistant and part-time actress, gave birth to their stillborn child, dubbed ‘Ava,’ in 2000. Their breakup was precipitated by the tragedy, although they remained close friends after they parted ways.
Jennifer was murdered in a car accident in 2001, only a year after the birth of their stillborn baby Ava, while returning from Marilyn Manson’s party at her LA home. She was thought to have died as a result of driving while under the influence of narcotics and prescribed medication. This upset Reeves, who noted in one of his interviews that “grief takes on different forms, but it never goes away.”
Reeves was said to be dating China Chow, a 38-year-old actress and daughter of restaurateur Michael Chow, in 2008. During the Cannes Film Festival, he made a ceremonial appearance with her. There were images flying around the internet at the time of Chow and Reeves swimming topless in France. They broke up soon after, and Reeves was romantically linked to Parker Posey, an actress.
Reeves garnered a lot of attention on the internet in 2010 after someone shared a photo of him sitting on a bench, eating alone, and looking miserable. It was posted on the 4chan message board. It quickly went popular on the internet, earning the moniker ‘Keanu is Sad’ or ‘Sad Keanu.’ When asked about the situation, Reeves told The Guardian, “It is hopefully transformative.” It’s the kind of thing that transports you from one location to another — to look in the mirror and realize that things could always be worse. That remark irritates me: “Of course, it could always be worse!”
Trivia
Reeves’ father was sentenced to ten years in prison for cocaine possession in Hawaii in 1994. He was offered the role of Hamlet in ‘Heat’ starring Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, but he declined due to his prior engagement as Hamlet at Winnipeg’s Manitoba Theatre Centre in Canada. Val Kilmer was later cast in the role.
Reeves was a member of the band ‘Dogstar,’ and toured with them in the summer of 1995.
Reeves beat over Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, and Brad Pitt for the role of ‘Neo’ in ‘The Matrix.’
Kim Reeves, Reeves’ sister, was stricken with leukemia at the age of 38 in 2001 and battled it for years.
For the ‘The Matrix’ trilogy, Reeves made $150 million. He allegedly allocated the majority of the money to the special effects and costume design teams since he believed they were the true heroes of the film who made it a hit.
When he could easily earn more, Reeves only charged a million dollars for ‘The Devil’s Advocate,’ so that the producers could afford Al Pacino for the film. He also took a wage reduction for ‘The Replacements’ in order for Gene Hackman to be able to appear in the film.
Reeves is not a Buddhist, contrary to popular misconception, but he claims to be interested in the religion.
Reeves suffers from dyslexia.
Before the filming of ‘The Matrix,’ he had martial arts training. His sister is his closest companion.
Horseback riding, ballroom dancing, and surfing are among of his favorite pastimes.
In 1995, he was named to People Magazine‘s list of the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World.”