Keanu Reeves

Keanu Charles Reeves, whose first name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian, was born on September 2, 1964, in Beirut, Lebanon. He is the son of Patric Reeves, a showgirl and costume designer, and Samuel Nowlin Reeves, a geologist. Keanu's father was born in Hawaii, of Native Hawaiian and Chinese ancestry, while his mother is originally from Essex, England. After his parents' marriage ended, Keanu moved with his mother and younger sister, Kim Reeves, to New York City, then Toronto. His first stepfather was Paul Aaron, a stage and film director; he and Patric divorced within a year, after which she married (and later divorced) rock promoter Robert Miller. Reeves never reconnected with his biological father. In high school, Reeves was not particularly interested in academics but took a strong 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 roles and a handful of made-for-TV movies, he scored a supporting role in the Rob Lowe hockey film *Youngblood* (1986), which was filmed in Canada. Shortly after the production wrapped, Reeves moved to Hollywood. He gained attention for his performance in the dark adolescent drama *River's Edge* (1986), and landed a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated *Dangerous Liaisons* (1988), directed by Stephen Frears. His first popular success was the role of Ted "Theodore" Logan in *Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure* (1989). The wacky time-travel movie became a cultural phenomenon, and audiences often confused Reeves's real-life persona with that of his on-screen counterpart. He then joined the casts of Ron Howard's comedy *Parenthood* (1989) and Lawrence Kasdan's *I Love You to Death* (1990). Over the next few years, Reeves attempted to move beyond the "Ted" image with a series of more serious 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 John 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 marked an era of five years in which Reeves alternated between small films, such as *Feeling Minnesota* (1996) and *The Last Time I Committed Suicide* (1997), and big films like *A Walk in the Clouds* (1995) and *The Devil's Advocate* (1997). There were also a couple of misfires: *Johnny Mnemonic* (1995) and *Chain Reaction* (1996). After this, Reeves passed on the *Speed* sequel but struck box-office gold again a few years later with the Wachowski siblings' cyberadventure *The Matrix* (1999). Now a bonafide box-office star, Keanu appeared in a string of smaller films—including *The Replacements* (2000), *The Watcher* (2000), *The Gift* (2000), *Sweet November* (2001), and *Hardball* (2001)—before *The Matrix Reloaded* (2003) and *The Matrix Revolutions* (2003) were both released in 2003. Since the end of the *Matrix* trilogy, Keanu has divided his time between mainstream and indie fare, landing hits with *Something's Gotta Give* (2003), *The Lake House* (2006), and *Street Kings* (2008). He also kept *Matrix* fans engaged with films such as *Constantine* (2005), *A Scanner Darkly* (2006), and *The Day the Earth Stood Still* (2008). He also returned to art-house territory with *Ellie Parker* (2005), *Thumbsucker* (2005), *The Private Lives of Pippa Lee* (2009), and *Henry's Crime* (2010). Most recently, as post-production on the samurai epic *47 Ronin* (2013) continued, Keanu appeared in *Side by Side* (2012), a documentary on celluloid and digital filmmaking, which he also produced. He also directed another Asian-influenced project, *Man of Tai Chi* (2013). In 2014, Keanu played the title role in the action revenge film *John Wick* (2014), which was well-received by critics and audiences. He reprised the role in *John Wick: Chapter 2* (2017), taking the now-iconic character to a better opening weekend and even more enthusiastic reviews than the first film.