Keanu Reeves

• Born: September 2, 1964
• Place of Birth: Beirut, Lebanon

Lebanese-born actor and musician

Keanu Reeves is one of the most successful and well-known actors of his generation in the entertainment industry. Although he has had many popular roles, Reeves is perhaps most famous for his role as Neo in the science-fiction blockbuster The Matrix (1999) and its sequels, and the and as the titular hit man in the four films of the John Wick series.

Full name: Keanu Charles Reeves

Area of achievement: Film

Early Life

Keanu Reeves is the son of Samuel Nowlin Reeves, a geologist, and Patricia Taylor, a costume designer. His father is of Hawaiian and Chinese descent, and his mother is English. Reeves’s first name means “cool breeze over the mountain” in Hawaiian. He has a younger sister, Kim. When Reeves was a child, his father was arrested for drug possession and sentenced to prison. He and his sister spent a year in Australia with their mother before settling in New York City. In 1970, Patricia, who had divorced Reeves’s father, married Paul Aaron, a Broadway and Hollywood director, and the family moved to Toronto. During the six-month marriage, Aaron sparked Reeves’s interest in acting.

Growing up, Reeves played ice hockey and considered becoming a professional hockey player. However, visits to Aaron in Hollywood inspired his interest in acting. Reeves enrolled in drama classes and tried out for television shows and films that were shooting in Canada. His first acting role was at De La Salle College (a high school) in a production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Reeves was accepted at the Toronto High School for the Performing Arts, but was expelled following a disagreement with a teacher, and he never finished high school. He started taking acting classes at Lea Poshuns, a community theater school, and began to get some acting jobs. Interested in William Shakespeare, he auditioned for Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival, but was not accepted. Instead, he spent a summer at the Hedgerow Theatre in Pennsylvania, studying under actor-director Jasper Deeter. In 1984, Reeves won his first legitimate theater role in Brad Fraser’s Wolfboy (1981). He portrayed a boy in a psychiatric hospital victimized by another boy who believes he is a werewolf. Although the play was a hit in Toronto’s gay community, it was not well received by critics. Reeves next earned a role on the Canadian television show Hangin’ In. This led to other work on television shows and commercials. Reeves moved to Los Angeles in 1984.

Reeves’s feature film debut came as a result of his skill at hockey as well as his acting experience. He played the role of a hockey goalie in Youngblood (1986), starring Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe. In 1986, he appeared in another sports-themed movie, Flying. His role as Matt, a troubled teen in the true-crime drama River’s Edge (1986), won favorable reviews from Vincent Canby of the New York Times and Richard Schickel, film critic for Time. In 1988, Reeves appeared in two comedies: He was a rebellious teen motorcycle rider in The Prince of Pennsylvania and a teen racecar driver in the film Parenthood.

Life’s Work

After a number of auditions, Reeves earned the role of Ted in the teen comedy Bill and Ted’s ExcellentAdventure (1989). The film was a box office success, but Reeves’s performance as a teenage airhead led many fans of the movie to believe that this was his true personality. Nonetheless, the film was a surprise hit, and a sequel, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, was released in 1991. In an attempt to alter his teenaged image, Reeves tried other roles. He appeared alongside Patrick Swayze as an undercover FBI agent in the 1991 action film Point Break. Reeves learned to surf for his role in the film, which became a box office hit. The success of Point Break led to many other roles for Reeves. He portrayed a gay male hustler in My Own PrivateIdaho (1991). In 1992, he played a young English lawyer in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Reeves also appeared in Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 film version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Reeves played the young Buddha in Little Buddha (1994). Reviews were mixed. Some critics still spoke of seeing hints of “Ted” in Reeves’s performance. Reeves’s performance as Jack Traven, a bomb squad police officer in the film Speed (1994), helped establish him as a credible action hero. Critics were impressed by Reeves’s work in the film, which included a variety of stunts. The film helped earn Reeves a new audience of appreciative fans.

Reeves appeared in several other films throughout the 1990s, including A Walk in the Clouds (1995), Feeling Minnesota (1995), and Chain Reaction (1996). He also appeared as Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play on stage in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to positive reviews. During the late 1990s, Reeves started touring as a bass player with his band, Dogstar. The band began opening for major musical acts and touring in Japan and New Zealand. Reeves declined to appear in Speed 2 in 1997, opting instead for a role opposite Al Pacino in The Devil’s Advocate (1997).

Although he had established himself as a well-known Hollywood actor, Reeves’s role as Neo in the 1999 science-fiction film The Matrix (1999) made him a superstar. The film was a critical success and earned tens of millions of dollars worldwide. Reeves also appeared as Neo in the sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003. Meanwhile, his band, Dogstar, had performed together for the last time around 2002. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, he continued to take on a variety of roles, including in the fantasy-horror film Constantine (2005), the romantic comedy The Lake House (2006), the science-fiction thriller The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), and the comedic drama Henry's Crime (2010). In 2010, Reeves announced that he would be reprising his role as Ted for a third installment in the Bill and Ted series.

After both starring in and making his directorial debut with the dramatic action film Man of Tai Chi in 2013, he began appearing in another of the successful series of action-packed films that he would become most associated with. Beginning in 2014 with John Wick, he would go on to portray the title character, a man struggling to separate himself from his life as a contracted hit man, in the sequels John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum (2019), and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023). Despite his apparent death at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, speculation began to ramp up in 2024 about Reeves possible return for John Wick: Chapter 5, which was in early development at Lionsgate Studios.

Remaining popular in the industry, he provided the voice for the titular cat in Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key's action-comedy Keanu in 2016 in addition to having roles in The Whole Truth, The Neon Demon, and The Bad Batch that same year. As well as establishing a more rare television presence by playing the character Tex in several episodes of a detective sitcom airing on Pop TV between 2016 and 2018, he starred in Siberia (2018) and memorably lent his voice to the popular Toy Story franchise as Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4 (2019). Reeves returned to the Matrix franchise in 2021, when a fourth installment of the iconic series, The Matrix Resurrections, was released in December of that year.

Reeves's longtime girlfriend, actor Jennifer Syme, was killed in an automobile accident in 2001. Reportedly meeting artist Alexandra Grant in 2009 and beginning to work with her on publications such as the books Ode to Happiness (2011) and Shadows (2016), for which he provided the text, he later made his romantic relationship with Grant publicly known upon their attendance together at an art gala in 2019.

Significance

Reeves has become one of the most successful Hollywood actors of his generation. His character Neo in the Matrix film series has become an icon of the science-fiction genre. In addition to his success as an action film star, Reeves is also known for his comedic roles.

Bibliography

Corliss, Richard. “Unlocking The Matrix.” Time 12 May 2003: 64–74. Print. Includes many details on each of the Matrix films.

Giardina, Carolyn. "Lionsgate Confirms ‘John Wick 5’ in Early Development." Hollywood Reporter, 26 May 2023, www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/john-wick-5-lionsgate-development-1235403474/. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

Grossman, Lev. “The Man Who Isn’t There.” Time 21 Feb. 2005: 54–56. Print. Profiles Reeves’s personal life and selected film roles.

Lamont, Tom. "'I Want to Get as Much Done as I Can': Keanu Reeves on Poetry, Grief and Making the Most of Every Minute." The Guardian, 19 Dec. 2021, www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/19/i-want-to-get-as-much-done-as-i-can-keanu-reeves-on-poetry-and-grief. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

Pappademas, Alex. "The Legend of Keanu Reeves." GQ, 15 Apr. 2019, www.gq.com/story/the-legend-of-keanu-reeves. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

Robb, Brian J. Keanu Reeves: An Excellent Adventure. Rev. ed. London: Plexus, 2003. Print.