Keanu Reeves

Relationships

In the past, Keanu has been linked to actresses Parker Posey, Lynn Collins, Jennifer Syme and China Chow (the daughter of restaurant owner Mr Chow). Keanu nearly became a father with girlfriend Jennifer Syme in 1999, but the baby was stillborn. He was faced with more tragedy when, just 16 months later, Jennifer was killed in a car accident.

Before They Were Famous

Keanu was born in Lebanon to dad Samuel Nowlin Reeves, who was a geologist, and mum Patricia Taylor, a costume designer who worked for rock stars including Alice Cooper. Keanu – whose name in Hawaiian means 'cool breeze over the mountains’ – has one sister and two half-sisters. After his parents divorced, Keanu’s mum went on to marry a further three times.

A young Keanu was not particularly interested in education (he attended four different high schools, including the Etobicoke School of the Arts, from which he was expelled) but showed a keen interest in and talent for ice hockey. He eventually lost all interest in school and dropped out at 17 to pursue his true passion – acting.

After landing a couple of stage gigs and movies that were not particularly well received, he scored the role in hockey flick Youngblood (1986), filmed in Canada. Once filming wrapped up, he left and drove to Hollywood in his 1969 Volvo to pursue his budding career.

Keanu popped up in a few films like River’s Edge (1986) and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), which garnered praise and commercial success. The latter developed a huge following by audiences who were unable to differentiate between his on-screen character and off-screen persona. Unable to shake the character from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Keanu moved on to more intellectual and challenging films, such as 1993’s Shakespeare adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.

Career Highlights

Keanu’s big break came in 1992 when he scored a role in Point Break alongside Patrick Swayze. He then went on to film 1994’s big-budget action film Speed, starring opposite Sandra Bullock. His next choices were eclectic, with a return to smaller indie films such as Feeling Minnesota (1996) and The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997) and bigger – but critically panned – flicks including Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and Chain Reaction (1996).

Hollywood was stunned when Keanu turned down the sequel to Speed to instead play the title role in a small theatre production of Hamlet. However, he struck gold a few years later when he accepted a role in The Matrix (1999), which went on to produce two further sequels and a string of positive reviews. In the past decade, Keanu has starred in a range of films including The Gift (2000), Constantine (2005), Street Kings (2008), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) and most recently in 2009, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, in which he starred alongside big names including Robin Wright Penn, Julianne Moore, Winona Ryder and Blake Lively.

Upcoming projects include a film adaptation of the anime series Cowboy Behop and the samurai film 47 Ronin.

Famous Quotes

‘It's always wonderful to get to know women, with the mystery and the joy and the depth. If you can make a woman laugh, you're seeing the most beautiful thing on God's Earth.’