Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor, producer and musician. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about him!
1.Keanu Reeves was born on September 2, 1964.
2. Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the son of Patricia Bond a costume designer/performer, and Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr.
3. His mother is English, from Essex, England.
4. His father, an American from Hawaii, has Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, and English ancestry.
5. He has also spoken of his English ancestry via his mother, mentioning his happy watching of The Two Ronnies comedy show, among others, when younger, and how his mother imparted English manners that he maintained into adulthood.
6. Keanu Reeves’s mother was working in Beirut when she met his father. Reeves’s father earned his GED while imprisoned in Hawaii for selling heroin at Hilo International Airport. He abandoned his wife and family when Reeves was three years old, but Reeves knew him until he was six. They last met on the island of Kauai when Reeves was 13.
7. Keanu Reeves moved around the world frequently as a child and he lived with various stepfathers. After his parents divorced in 1966, his mother became a costume designer and moved the family to Sydney and then to New York City, where she married Paul Aaron, a Broadway and Hollywood director, in 1970. The couple moved to Toronto and divorced in 1971.
8. When Reeves was 15, he worked as a production assistant on Aaron’s films. Keanu Reeves’s mother married Robert Miller, a rock promoter, in 1976; the couple divorced in 1980.
9. She subsequently married her fourth husband, a hairdresser named Jack Bond. The couple’s marriage ended in 1994. Grandparents and nannies babysat Reeves and his sisters, and Reeves grew up primarily in Yorkville, a neighbourhood in Toronto.
10. Within five years, Reeves attended four high schools, including the Etobicoke School of the Arts, from which he was expelled.
11. Reeves excelled more in sports than in academics, as his educational development was challenged by dyslexia. He was a successful ice hockey goalie at one of his high schools (De La Salle College “Oaklands”), and earned the nickname “The Wall”.
12. Keanu Reeves dreamed of playing hockey for Canada but an injury ended his hopes for a hockey career. After leaving De La Salle College, he attended Avondale Secondary Alternative School, which allowed him to obtain an education while working as an actor. He later dropped out and did not obtain a high school diploma.
13. Keanu Reeves began his acting career at the age of nine, appearing in a theatre production of Damn Yankees.
14. At 15, he played Mercutio in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet at the Leah Posluns Theatre. Reeves dropped out of high school when he was 17. He obtained a green card through his American stepfather and moved to Los Angeles three years later.
15. He lived with his ex-stepfather, Paul Aaron, who was a stage and television director.
16. Keanu Reeves made his screen acting debut in an episode of Hangin’ In.
17. In the early 1980s, he appeared in commercials (including one for Coca-Cola), short films including the NFB drama One Step Away and stage work such as Brad Fraser’s cult hit Wolfboy in Toronto.
18. In 1984, he was a correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation TV youth program Going Great.
19. His first studio movie appearance was Youngblood (1986) in which he played a Québécois goalie. Shortly after the movie’s release, Reeves drove to Los Angeles in his 1969 Volvo.
20. His stepfather had convinced Erwin Stoff in advance to be Reeves’s manager and agent. Stoff has remained Reeves’s manager, and has co-produced many of his films.
21. After a few minor roles, Reeves received a sizeable role in the 1986 drama film River’s Edge, which depicted how a murder affected a group of teens. Following this film’s critical success, he spent the late 1980s appearing in a number of movies aimed at teenage audiences, including Permanent Record, and the unexpectedly successful 1989 comedy, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, along with its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.
22. From 1991, Reeves played bass guitar in the grunge band Dogstar.
23. During the early 1990s, Reeves started to break out of his teen-film period. He appeared in high-budget action films like Point Break, for which he won MTV’s “Most Desirable Male” award in 1992.
24. He was involved in various lower-budget independent films, including the well-received 1991 film, My Own Private Idaho with River Phoenix.
25. In 1992, he played Jonathan Harker in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed blockbuster Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but his performance was received negatively.
26. In 1994, Reeves’s career reached a new high as a result of his starring role in the action film Speed.
27. His casting in the film was controversial, since, except for Point Break, he was primarily known for comedies and indie dramas.
28. Keanu Reeves’s career choices after Speed were eclectic: despite his successes, Reeves continued to accept supporting roles and appear in experimental films.
29. He scored a hit with a romantic lead role in A Walk in the Clouds.
30. He made news by refusing to take part in Speed 2: Cruise Control – despite the offered $11 million paycheck, which would have been his largest to date – in favour of touring with his band and playing the title role in a 1995 Manitoba Theatre Centre production of Hamlet in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
31. However, Reeves’s choices after A Walk in the Clouds failed with critics and audiences. Big-budget films such as the sci-fi action film Johnny Mnemonic and the action-thriller Chain Reaction were critically panned and failed at the box office, while indie films like Feeling Minnesota were also critical failures.
32. Keanu Reeves finally started to climb out of his career low after starring in the horror-drama The Devil’s Advocate alongside Al Pacino and Charlize Theron.
33. The 1999 science fiction-action hit The Matrix, a film in which Reeves had a starring role, was a box office success and attracted positive reviews
34. Between the first Matrix film and its sequels, Reeves received positive reviews for his portrayal of an abusive husband in The Gift.
35. Aside from The Gift, Reeves appeared in several films that received mostly negative reviews and unimpressive box office grosses, including The Watcher, Sweet November, and The Replacements.
36. However, the two Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, along with Something’s Gotta Give and the 2005 horror-action film, Constantine, were box office successes and brought Reeves back into the public spotlight.
37. Reeves performed with the band Becky for a year, but quit in 2005, citing his lack of interest in a serious music career.
38. In early 2005, Reeves’ accomplishments in Hollywood were recognized by the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a star located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.
39. Beginning in 2008, Reeves began pre-production on his directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi. The film is a multilingual narrative, partly inspired by the life of his friend, stuntman Tiger Chen. Filming occurred on mainland China and Hong Kong. During Man of Tai Chi’s five years of scripting and production, Reeves acted in several B movies with lead roles as Henry in 2010’s Henry’s Crime and John in 2012’s Generation Um…. During that time, Reeves also played Kai in the critically panned 47 Ronin.
40. Critics widely attribute the film’s poor performance to its direction, pacing, focus on special effects, and editing.
41. In 2011, he returned to other artistic mediums of expression. Having played music earlier in his career, he forayed into literature by writing the text for a “grown-up picture book” entitled Ode to Happiness. The text was complemented by Alexandra Grant’s illustrations.
42. In 2011, he produced the documentary Side by Side about the supplanting of photo-chemical film by digital camera technology; Reeves interviewed several celebrated directors including James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Nolan.
43. Keanu Reeves’s first directorial film, Man of Tai Chi, premiered in 2013 with showings at the Beijing Film Festival[39] and Cannes Film Festival The work was awarded in Beijing and praised by recognized director of action genre films, John Woo.
44. Keanu Reeves has continued acting while exploring other forms of artistry. In October 2014, he played the title role in the action thriller John Wick. The film, which stars Reeves as a retired hitman, opened to positive reviews and performed well at the box office. It has since been “Certified Fresh” by popular review site Rotten Tomatoes. He played John Wick again in John Wick: Chapter 2.[41]
45. Keanu Reeves had a cameo in the Jordan Peele/Keegan-Michael Key action comedy Keanu where he voiced the eponymous kitten. Keanu director Peter Atencio revealed that the filmmakers had contacted Reeves’ management about Reeves appearing in the film, who declined on his behalf. When Reeves’ sister showed him the trailer, Reeves contacted the filmmakers directly about appearing in the film. As the film had been mostly completed, they decided to have a scene where he voices the kitten.
46. Keanu Reeves is entitled to British citizenship through his English mother. He holds Canadian citizenship naturalization.
47. In January 2000, Reeves’s girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth eight months into her pregnancy to Ava Archer Syme-Reeves, who was stillborn. T
48. The strain put on their relationship by their grief resulted in Reeves and Syme’s breakup several weeks later. On April 2, 2001, Syme was driving alone on Los Angeles’ Cahuenga Boulevard when she sideswiped three parked cars, rolled over several times and was thrown from the car.
49. Authorities believed she died instantly.
50. She reportedly was being treated for depression and taking two prescription drugs, which police found in her car.
51. Reeves, who was scheduled to begin shooting back-to-back Matrix sequels during the subsequent spring, sought “peace and time to deal with this”, according to his friend Bret Domrose, a guitarist in Reeves’s alternative rock band Dogstar.[
52. Keanu Reeves is neither Buddhist nor atheist, despite frequent listings to the contrary.
53. He has previously claimed to be non-religious, while also citing an intense interest in Buddhism. I
54. In 2010, an image of Reeves became an internet meme after photos of him, seemingly depressed while sitting on a park bench eating alone, were posted to a 4chan forum. The images were soon distributed via several blogs and news sites. These pictures led to the “Keanu is Sad” or “Sad Keanu” meme being spread on internet forums. An unofficial holiday was created when a Facebook fan page declared June 15 as “Cheer-up Keanu Day”.
55. On the first anniversary of “Cheer-up Keanu Day”, Reeves was interviewed for an article in British newspaper, The Guardian
56. Keanu Reeves set up a cancer charity, choosing not to attach his name to the organization; he has also supported PETA, the SickKids Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer.
57. His sister Kim has battled leukemia for more than a decade.
58. Reeves co-founded a production company, Company Films. The company helped produce Henry’s Crime, a film in which Reeves stars.
59. An avid motorcyclist, he co-founded Arch Motorcycle Company. The business builds and sells custom motorcycles.
60. Keanu Reeves height is 1, 89 metres.
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