Keanu Reeves

January 27, 5:27 PMCelebrity Profile ExaminerAndy Williamson

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KEANU REEVES

Keanu Charles Reeves was born on September 2nd, 1964 -- he is a Canadian-American actor whose roles in films like Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Speed, and The Matrix Trilogy have brought him worldwide fame.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr., an American geologist of Chinese, Hawaiian and English descent, and Patricia Bond (Taylor), an English performer and costume designer, Keanu was named after an uncle, Henry Keanu Reeves. In Hawaiian, “Keanu” means “cool breeze over the mountains.”  Keanu’s father was imprisoned in Hawaii for selling heroin at the Hilo airport.  When Keanu was 3, the man abandoned his wife and family -- Keanu has no relationship with him to this day.  Keanu also has one biological sister, and two half-sisters (one from each of his parents).

After his parents’ divorce in 1966, Keanu’s mother moved him and his sisters all around the world -- from Australia to New York to Toronto -- marrying and divorcing three men (a director, a rock promoter, and a hairdresser) along the way.  Growing up primarily in Toronto, Keanu attended four different high schools in five years.  During this time, he grew to have two major passions: acting and hockey -- while playing goalie at one of he schools, he was voted MVP and nicknamed “The Wall.”

Keanu began acting at age nine, appearing in productions like Damn Yankees and Romeo and Juliet.  He made his television debut in a CBC comedy series, Hangin’ In.  In the early 1980s, he performed in a number of commercials, short films, and stage plays.  Keanu’s first major theatrical film was the hockey film Youngblood, starring Rob Lowe -- the movie was shot in Canada and Keanu played the goalie.  After the film came out, Keanu drove to Los Angeles, where his ex-stepfather Paul Aaron, a television director, got him an agent and manager.

After a few minor roles in forgettable films, Keanu appeared in the 1986 teen-thriller River’s Edge.  Much work followed, including work in Permanent Record and Dangerous Liaisons.  Yet it wasn’t until 1989, and a little film called Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure that Keanu came to national prominence, and a catchphrase was born: “Whoa.”  That movie, and its 1991 sequel, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, about two teenage slackers who travel through time, put Keanu on the map in a way he never could have planned.  In fact, despite the success of both films, typecasting as an adolescent airhead almost derailed his career -- yet Keanu was determined not to let that happen.

In the early 90s, determined to break out of teen films, Keanu appeared in ensemble work like Ron Howard’s Parenthood, Lawrence Kasdan’s I Love You to Death, Katherine Bigelow’s Point Break with Patrick Swayze, Gus Van Zant’s My Own Private Idaho with River Phoenix, Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and Kenneth Branaugh’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Yet in 1994, Keanu hit upon the role that would finally break him out of supporting part obscurity: that of Officer Jack Traven in Speed.  While the film was touted early on as just another copycat thriller, Die Hard on a Bus (especially because that film’s cinematographer, Jan DeBont, was making his directorial debut), the movie became a worldwide smash, turning not only its little known lead actor into a movie star, but also his costar, Sandra Bullock.

And yet, after Speed, Keanu’s star dimmed a bit.  No one seemed to know what to do with this oddly named, oddly visaged, actor.  His follow-up, the sci-fi thriller Johnny Mnemonic bombed, A Walk in the Clouds, while being a sweet and very romantic movie, did not find and audience during its theatrical run (it has since become a minor cult classic), and Feeling Minnesota did not feel like anything audiences wanted to pay to see.

After a minor hit with director Taylor Hackford’s 1997 film The Devil’s Advocate (Keanu deferred his salary so that Al Pacino could be cast as the devil), the Wachowski brothers came calling with a unusual (to say the least) film called The Matrix.

The film told of a bleak future in which reality perceived by humankind is actually a simulated computer program called the Matrix, created by machines to pacify their minds while their bodies were used as ... batteries.  Keanu played Thomas Anderson, aka Neo, the Promised One who would save mankind from this mechanical enslavement.  The film would prove to be groundbreaking for its star, its makers, and its cutting edge special effects.  Keanu’s career would never be the same.

After a couple of smaller films, The Watcher with James Spader, Sam Raimi’s The Gift (where Keanu played way against type as a severely abusive husband), and Sweet November with Charlize Theron, Keanu returned to the role of Neo in two Matrix sequels shot back-to-back: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.  Neither film was as well-recieved or reviewed as the original, but both did huge box office numbers.

Next came another supporting role as Jack Nicholson’s doctor in the wonderful romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give, a demon slayer in Constantine, and as an animated narc in Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly.  While years earlier, Keanu had opted not to appear in the 1997 sequel to Speed, entitled Speed 2: Cruise Control (honestly, one of the worst films ever made), he did reunite with his former costar, Sandra Bullock, for a mystical romantic drama called The Lake House.  While critics balked, audiences turned it into a minor hit.

In 2008, Keanu starred in a remake of Robert Wise’s classic 1951 sci-fi thriller The Day The Earth Stood Still.  The film was a commercial and critical disaster.

Keanu has never married, and his private life remains greatly ... private.  He plays bass in a band called Dogstar, and maintains a residence in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Up next: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Stompanato, and Cowboy Bebop.