Keanu Charles Reeves is a talented Canadian actor, producer, musician and an entrepreneur who is popular for his performance in Speed, Sci-Fi Movie, Matrix and its sequels and as a person who is known for his nobility in the Hollywood film circuit.
Early Life
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Reeves is the son of English-born Patricia Taylor and American-born Samuel Nowlin Reeves who was a geologist. Keanu's father was born in Hawaii, and has British, Portuguese, Native Hawaiian, and Chinese ancestry. His parents divorced when Reeves was just 3. However, they stayed in touch for a few years, but after the divorce and moving from city to city, they fell out of contact. With mother and younger sister Kim Reeves, he moved to Australia. His mother married for the second time to a director named Paul Aaron in New York and they all finally got settled in Toronto, Canada. But this marriage lasted only for one year after which she got married again to Robert Miller in 1976. After divorcing Robert Miller, she got married to Jack Bond in 1994, who was a hairdresser. Reeves and his siblings were brought up mostly by their grandparents and babysitters.
While studying, Reeves suffered from Dyslexia that made his education quite a difficult task for him and made him change several schools. He went to De La Salle College, Toronto school for the performing arts and was even expelled from Etobicoke School of Arts. He was not really a brilliant student and always took great interest in sports; he was good at Ice-Hockey and Dramatics. In Ice Hockey as team goalie, he earned the nickname ‘The Wall.’ Finally he left the education when he was 17 and took acting as a full time career.
Personal Life
Keanu Reeves was in a relationship with Jennifer Syme who gave birth to a stillborn baby, Ava Archer Syme-Reeves. The loss of the baby hampered their relationship and a few years after the loss, the two parted ways. Two make things worse, while Syme was driving on Los Angeles’ Cahuenga Boulevard she met with a fatal accident and according to the authorities, she died on the spot.
Movie Career
As an Actor
Reeves started acting at the age of 9. Initially after doing stage, TV and commercials his first studio movie appearance was Youngblood (1986) in which he played a Québécois goalie. Soon after the movie's release, Reeves moved to Los Angeles to meet Erwin Stoff whom Reeves’ father had convinced to be his son’s manager and agent. Stoff remained Reeves' manager for a long time and he co-produced many of his films.
After doing a few minor roles, Reeves received a substantial role in the 1986 drama film River's Edge directed by Tim Hunter. After this film's critical success, in late 1980s Reeves appeared in number of movies aimed at teenage audiences, including Permanent Record (1988), and the hugely successful 1989 comedy, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, along with its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Though these movies were great success, they stereotyped him in a particular image of a troubled teen. To get rid of such an image, Reeves did another movie My Own Private Idaho (1991) co-starring River Phoenix. In the same year, he starred in the super hit film Point Break, which won him the MTV award for the ‘Most Desirable Male.’ The following year Reeves showed his versatile acting skills by appearing in a horror movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula in which he portrayed the character of an unlucky lawyer.
Keeves’ fame hit the roof when he starred in the critically acclaimed movie Speed (1994) alongside the Academy Award winning actress Sandra Bullock. The film emerged to be a huge commercial hit and Reeves-Bullock on-screen chemistry was much appreciated by both the critics and the audience. The film also won MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo. Even after the huge success of Speed, Reeves was very choosy about the script and the characters he wanted to portray and therefore he even refused to star in the sequel of the film titled Speed 2: Cruise Control.
The Devil’s Advocate in 1997, an American mystery-thriller gave Reeves a major fillip in his career. The film co-starring Al Pacino and Charlize Theron performed very well at the box-office and many film critics acknowledged Reeves acting skills. Two years later, the actor appeared in one of the most successful movies of his career, the super hit The Matrix, a sci-fi, which was directed by The Wachowski Brothers. The film won Reeves MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance and the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in an Action/Science Fiction Film. The movie was a great success and Reeves reprised the role of Neo in its sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) both of which emerged to be blockbusters.
Post the success of The Matrix Trilogy, Reeves also worked in Something’s Gotta Give (2003), The Lake House (2006), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) and Generation Um… (2012) most of which fared pretty well at the box office or were average earners. In 2014, the actor starred in yet another action film John Wick where he played the title role. The film directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch also featured Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters and Ian McShane in pivotal roles.
In 2015, director Eli Roth cast Reeves alongside Guillermo Amoedo and Nicolas Lopez in the American erotic thriller Knock Knock, which was the remake of the 1977 film Death Game directed by Peter Traynor. Although the film received mostly negative reviews from the critics, it fare pretty well at the box office, grossing more than 5 million USD. Reeves had quite a busy year in 2016 as he starred in five films including Keanu, an American action comedy film where he lent his voice to the character name Keanu. His 2017 release includes John Wick: Chapter 2, which is the sequel to the 2014 film of the same name and Replicas, a science fiction thriller directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff and costarring Alice Eve, Thomas Middleditch.
As a Producer
In his illustrious career, Reeves apart from acting has also producer several movies. He made his production debut with Henry’s Crime in 2010. Two years later, he produced a documentary movie titled Side by Side, which investigates the history and workflow of the digital and photochemical film creation and what the filmmakers have been able to achieve with both film and the modern digital technologies. His other production venture includes John Wick where the served as the Executive Producer.
Television Career
At the start of his acting career Reeves appeared in a theatre production of Damn Yankees. At 15, he played Mercutio in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet at the Leah Posluns Theatre. Reeves made his TV screen acting debut in an episode of Hangin' In, a Canadian sitcom which was aired on CBC. Following his maiden TV appearance, Reeves starred in several other TV series including Night Heat (1985), The Disney Sunday Movie (1986), American Playhouse (1989), and Swedish Dicks (2016) mostly in one or two episodes. Apart from the TV series’, the actor also worked in various TV films including Letting Go (1985), Babes in Toyland (1986), and Brotherhood of Justice (1986).