The Hall of Fame

Keanu Charles Reeves (born Wednesday, September 2, 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon) is an Anglo/Canadian Hollywood film actor. Although currently working in the United States, Reeves has dual citizenship in both Canada and America and is an avid ice hockey player/fan who was his high school team's MVP. His first name refers to a cool breeze over the mountains (Or 'coolness') in Hawaiian. The deeper meaning is "one who is constantly absorbed in God consciousness," while the magazine Time refers to him as the embodiment of "freon-cool satori." His father, Samuel Reeves, is of Chinese, Irish and Hawaiian descent, and his mother, Patric Taylor (pronounced Patrice), is British. He has one sister, Kim, who lives in Capri, Italy. He also has a half-sister, Karina.

Biography

Reeves gained the notice of the critics in 1986's River's Edge, but his first major film role was in 1986, in the hockey movie Youngblood, starring Rob Lowe. Reeves's first popularly successful film was Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, in 1989. Indeed, and perhaps unfortunately for Reeves, much of his subsequent portrayal in the press has been influenced by his comically air headed character Ted in that film.

His work in diverse roles span from small independent movies such as My Own Private Idaho has earned him critical acclaim. Reeves has become a major box-office draw, and several of his films have become extremely popular. Speed, released in 1994, was a tremendous success for Reeves, surpassed in 1999 by the science fiction hit The Matrix. Reeves reprised his starring role from that movie for the sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both box-office hits.

In December of 1999, Reeve's girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth to Ava Archer Reeves. The baby was stillborn. Then, in April of 2001, Jennifer Syme was killed in an automobile accident. She was buried next to their daughter in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

In January 31st 2005, Reeves was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his achievements in the entertainment industry. Usually this honour is tied with a recent project from the artist, Reeves' was his latest film Constantine.

Reeves is reported to be very generous with his time and money, lending both to a variety of causes. He took a significant amount of the profits from his Matrix series and treated the 12 hard-working stuntmen to motorcycles, among other things. He does not have (by 'Hollywood' standards) many possessions and keeps his life uncluttered. He began playing bass with the rock band Dogstar, which has now gone "into hibernation". More recently, he played bass in a band called Becky with former Dogstar drummer Rob Mailhouse, guitarist Paulie Kosta and singer Rebecca Lord. In early 2005, he announced that he left the band and his musical career for good.

Trivia

Reeves once managed a pasta shop in Toronto. (Source: The Book of Useless Information, page 18, published 2002.)

He is reportedly fond of chess, motorcycles, ice hockey, and plays a ferocious game of ping-pong.

When he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, several ads were published congratulating Reeves on receiving his star, one of them was signed as Sandy B. as in Sandra Bullock his Speed Co-star, she congratulated him and expected him to do the same when she got hers... A few weeks later Sandra received her star and she got her one page congrat ad from "Neo" himself.

Reeves has an unexplainable habit of working with fellow actors more than once:

• Charlize Theron: The Devil's Advocate, Sweet November
• Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving: The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions
• Rachel Weisz: Chain Reaction, Constantine
• Sandra Bullock: Speed, and the upcoming Il Mare
• Tilda Swinton: Constantine, Thumbsucker
• Vincent D'Onofrio: Feeling Minnesota, Thumbsucker
• Winona Ryder: Dracula and the upcoming A Scanner Darkly
• Uma Thurman: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Dangerous Liaisons
• Patrick Swayze: Youngblood, Point Break
• Alex Winter: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, Freaked
• River Phoenix: My Own Private Idaho, I Love You to Death
• Lori Loughlin: The Brotherhood of Justice, The Night Before
• Delroy Lindo: The Devil's Advocate, Feeling Minnesota
• Fred Ward: The Prince of Pennsylvania, Chain Reaction

Is left handed but plays bass right handed.

Loves punk rock bands such as The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, etc.

Filmography

• One Step Away (1985)
• Flying (1986)
• Youngblood (1986)
• River's Edge (1986)
• The Night Before (1988)
• Premanent Record (1988)
• The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988)
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
• Parenthood (1989)
• I Love You to Death (1990)
• Tune in Tomorrow... (1990)
• Providence (1991)
• Point Break (1991)
• Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
• Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
• Freaked (1993) (Cameo)
• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)
• Little Buddha (1993)
• Speed (1994)
• Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
• A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
• Chain Reaction (1996)
• Feeling Minnesota (1996)
• The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997)
• The Devil's Advocate (1997)
• The Matrix (1999)
• Me and Will (1999) (Cameo)
• The Replacements (2000)
• The Watcher (2000)
• The Gift (2000)
• Sweet November (2001)
• Hard Ball (2001)
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
• The Animatrix: Kid's Story (2003) (voice) (short subject)
• Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003) (documentary)
• The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
• Something's Gotta Give (2003)
• Thumbsucker (2005)
• Constantine (2005)
• Il Mare (2006) (currently in post-production)
• A Scanner Darkly (2006) (currently in post-production)
• The Night Watchman (2006) (currently announced start of production)

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