Keanu Reeves
Nickname
The Wall [due to his position in ice hockey]
Height
6' 1"
Mini biography
One of the most inscrutable actors to ever hit it big, Keanu Reeves has been
by turns adored, reviled, and grudgingly respected by the movie-going public.
As the controversy over his talent rages on, his career choices and paychecks
show him inching toward A-list status.
Reeves, whose first name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian, was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1964. His mother, Patricia, was a showgirl; his father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves, a geologist. After their marriage dissolved, Keanu moved with his mother and younger sister Kim to New York City, then Toronto. Stepfather #1 was Paul Aaron, a stage and film director--he and Patricia divorced within a year, after which she went on to marry (and divorce) rock promoter Robert Miller and hair salon owner Jack Bond. Reeves never reconnected with his biological father, who is now in prison on charges of cocaine possession.
In high school, Reeves was lukewarm toward academics but took a keen interest in ice hockey (as team goalie, he earned the nickname "The Wall") and drama. He eventually dropped out of school to pursue an acting career. After a few stage gigs and a handful of made-for-TV movies, he scored a supporting role in the Rob Lowe hockey flick Youngblood (1986), which was filmed in Canada. Shortly after the production wrapped, Reeves packed his bags and headed for Hollywood. Reeves popped up on critics' radar with his performance in the dark adolescent drama _River's Edge (1986)_, but his first popular success was the role of totally rad dude Ted Logan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). The wacky time-travel movie became something of a cultural phenomenon, and audiences would forever confuse Reeves's real-life persona with that of his doofy on-screen counterpart.
Over the next few years, Reeves tried to shake the Ted stigma with a series of highbrow projects. He played a slumming rich boy opposite River Phoenix's narcoleptic male hustler in My Own Private Idaho (1991), an unlucky lawyer who stumbles into the vampire's lair in Dracula (1992), and Shakespearean party-pooper Don Jon in Much Ado About Nothing (1993). In 1994, the understated actor became a big-budget action star with the release of Speed (1994). Its success heralded an era of five years in which Reeves would alternate between largely unwatched small films, like Feeling Minnesota (1996) and _The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997)_ (qv), and unwatched big films like Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and Chain Reaction (1996). After all this Reeves did the unthinkable and passed on the Speed sequel, but he struck box-office gold again a few years later with the Wachowski brothers' cyberadventure The Matrix (1999).
Despite his deadpan delivery style and reputation as an oaf, Reeves continues to reel in choice roles and fat paychecks. Whatever he knows, he's not telling the public--his self-deprecating interview tactics and mysterious private life provide little insight into his artistry. As far as Reeves is concerned, it seems, he's just a regular guy who rides a motorcycle, plays in a band (Dogstar), and shows up every now and then for a movie shoot.
Trivia
(1995) Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.
(1999) Dating Carrie-Anne Moss, co-star in Matrix, The (1999)
(October 1997) Ranked #23 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
(May 1993) Arrested in Los Angeles; charge of drunk driving.
Loves Ballroom dancing.
Motorcycle is 1974 850cc Norton Combat Commando.
Sisters are Karina and Kim.
Named after his great, great-uncle.
His step-father, Paul Aaron is a film and stage Director.
Is afraid of the dark.
Had job sharpening ice skates.
Was nicknamed "the wall" by high school hockey team (La Salle).
Father part Chinese part Hawaiian, Mother English.
Father left the family when Keanu was very young.
Is left-handed.
He plays bass guitar for the band Dogstar.
Was manager of a pasta shop in Toronto.
He loves to play ice hockey (goalie position).
His father was a geologist. Served time in prison; paroled after serving two years of a 10 year sentence for selling heroin at Hilo Airport in 1992.
His mother was a costume designer for rock stars such as Alice Cooper.
His 1974 motorcycle is among his most prized possessions.
His name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian.
In Hawaiian, "ke" means "the" and "anu" means "cool or coolness"; hence "the coolness" or (very) interpretively, "the cool winds over the mountain."
Dropped out of high school when he was 17 to become an actor.
Hobbies include horseback riding and surfing (both inspired from movie roles).
Was MVP on his high school hockey team, where he was a goalie.
Keanu got his abdominal scar from a motorcycle wreck in Topanga Canyon. He was on a "demon ride" (no headlights at night) when he crashed into the side of a mountain. He was hospitalized for a week with broken ribs and a ruptured spleen. When the paramedics came to get him, an emergency medical technician trainee picked up one end of the stretcher ... then dropped it by mistake! "It made me laugh, but I couldn't breathe!"
When trying out for the parts of Bill and Ted, each actor was paired up with another. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter were paired up, Reeves trying out for the part of Bill while Winter tried out for the part of Ted. They were cast opposite what they auditioned for.
His first name, Keanu, is pronounced key-an-noo.
(1995) Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#17).
Around Christmas 1999, the baby girl he was expecting with girlfriend Jennifer Syme was stillborn, just a few weeks shy of the actual delivery date. They had planned to name her Eva Archer Syme Reeves.
(2 April 2001) His estranged girlfriend Jennifer Syme was killed when her Jeep Cherokee careened onto the wrong side of a Los Angeles road near Highway 101 and smashed into three parked cars. The force of the crash flipped the car over and she was thrown through the windshield. She was killed instantly.
Maintains Canadian citizenship and passport.
Has appeared in 3 movies whose title contains a US state: Feeling Minnesota, My Own Private Idaho and The Prince of Pennsylvania.
Was set to reprise his role as Jack Traven in the sequel to Speed - Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) - but dropped out
Personal quotes
"What would happen if you melted? You know, you never really hear this talked about much, but spontaneous combustion? It exists!...[people] burn from within...sometimes they'll be in a wooden chair and the chair won't burn, but there'll be nothing left of the person. Except sometimes his teeth. Or the heart. No one speaks about this, but its for real."
"My name can't be *that* tough to prounounce"
"When I don't feel free and can't do what I want I just react. I go against it."
When told, "You'll just have to bite the bullet", his reply was, "Yes, but I don't have to eat the whole rifle"
"I'm a meathead man. You've got smart people, and you've got dumb people. I just happen to be dumb."
"I'm sorry my existence is not very noble or sublime."
[On being a star] "It can still be very surreal. It's easy to become very self-critical when you're an actor. Then you get critiqued be the critics. Whether you agree with them or not, people are passing judgement on you."
[On drugs] I've had wonderful experiences. I mean really wonderful. In teaching. Personal epiphanies. About life. About a different perspective -- help with different perspectives that you have. You know what I mean? Relationships to nature. Relationships with the self. With other people. With events.
Salary
Matrix Reloaded, The (2003) $15,000,000 (USA)
Replacements, The (2000) $12,500,000
Matrix, The (1999) $10,000,000
Devil's Advocate, The (1997) $8,000,000
Matrix Revolutions, The (2004) $15,000,000 (USA)