Keanu Reeves

Keanu Charles Reeves, a Canadian actor known for his nobility in the Hollywood film industry, is a humble and down to earth actor who does not shy away from sharing his success with the co-actors and the crew of his movies. The gentle actor famously gave away most of his earnings from the blockbuster trilogy ‘The Matrix’ to the special effects and costume designer team of the movie because he felt that they were the real heroes of the movie. He also gave away the opportunity to earn millions just so his production team could afford ace actors for his movies like Al Pacino for ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ and Gene Hackman for ‘The Replacement’. Reeves had an emotionally instable childhood because his father left him and his mother when he was only 3 years old and his mother went on to marry three more times after that. He travelled along with his mother to Sydney, New York and Toronto before he decided to leave for LA for good to start his acting career at the age of 15. Reeves has given many blockbuster hits like: ‘The Matrix’. The Matrix Reloded’, ‘The Matrix Revolutions’, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’, ‘Speed’, ‘Constantine’, etc. He is a recluse and tries to stay away from the media and enjoys ballroom dancing and surfing more than anything. He has faced many tragedies in his life like the birth of his still born daughter ‘Ava’, death of his longtime girlfriend Jennifer Syme and the death of his dear friend and actor River Phoenix. Recently, Reeves made his directorial debut with the movie ‘Man of Tai Chi’ in 2013.

Career

In 1979, when Reeves was only 15, he acted at the Leah Posluns Theatre in the stage production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. After that he did his debut on TV with CBC Television’s sitcom ‘Hangin’In’. In 1980s, he did commercials for big brands like Coca-Cola, short films like ‘One Step Away’, stage productions like ‘Wolfboy’, etc. In 1984, he also did correspondence for a TV youth program ‘Going Great’, for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1986, Reeves did his first drama film ‘River’s Edge’ - the movie showed a group of teenagers affected by a murder. After the success of this movie, Reeves got noticed and was offered more and more roles in the movies appropriate for his age, like: ‘Permanent Record’. In 1989, he played the role of ‘Ted Logan’ in the movie ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ and in 1991 its sequel ‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey’ came out. These movies did a lot of good to Reeves’ career but also stereotyped him into a ‘troubled teen’. The media started to describe him as an idealist teen.

In an effort to break his stereotypical image and move forward from the teen movies, Reeves played a young rich boy who spent more time with people from the lower strata in the movie ‘My Private Idaho’ opposite River Phoenix. The movie was very well received with the critics and worked well towards breaking his image as a spaced out teenager. In 1992, he worked in the ‘Point Break’ which got him the MTV award for the ‘Most Desirable Male’. Continuing to play serious and meaningful roles, Reeves played the role of an unlucky lawyer who ends up into a vampire’s burrow in ‘Dracula’ in 1992.

In 1994, it was time for Reeves to receive a well deserved fame and position in Hollywood with the release of ‘Speed’. It made him a big-budget action star. He worked in the movie with already established actress Sandra Bullock. Even after the huge success of ‘Speed’ he carried on doing more experimental roles and also accepted the offer for supporting roles as long as he felt that the role is meaningful and the script of the film is well written. He was offered to do ‘Speed 2: Cruise Control’, a sequel to ‘Speed’ but he refused to do it even when he was offered around 11 million US dollars.

Throughout the late 90s, he did movies like: an American romantic drama ‘A Walk in the Clouds’ in which he played the role of an army man who returns home after the war to settle down with his newlywed wife. It was an adaptation of an Italian movie with the title ‘Four Steps in the Cloud’. In 1996, he did ‘Feeling Minnesota’ opposite Cameron Diaz, an American romantic comedy. Then it was time to do some big budget movies like: ‘Johnny Mnemonic’, a sci-fi released in the year 1995 and an action thriller called ‘Chain Reaction’ released in 1996.

All the movies that Reeves did after the great success of ‘Speed’ did not do as well as one would have expected but ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ in 1997, an American mystery-thriller, escalated his career. He starred along with Al Pacino and Charliez Theron. The movie did very well at the box-office and many film critics said that Reeves’ acting skills were maturing with time. But there were still a few who thought that he could have done better.

It was 1999 and Reeves’ career was about to touch the heights with Wachowski Brothers’ sci-fi ‘The Matrix’. The movie did extremely well at the box-office and Reeves’ character ‘Neo’ became an instant hit with the audience and the film critics. The success of this movie was used in making another two sequels namely: ‘The Matrix Reloaded (2003)’ and ‘The Matrix Revolution (2003)’. The trilogy performed as expected and did wonders for his career. He had now established himself as an actor with versatile talent and mature demeanor.

In between completing the trilogy of ‘The Matrix’, Reeves did movies like ‘The Gift’ in 2000, The Watcher in 2000, ‘Sweet November’ in 2001- a romantic drama starring Charlize Theron opposite him, a comedy called ‘The Replacements’ in 2000 and ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ with Jack Nicholson. None of these movies could really leave a mark on the entertainment world and Reeve was criticized for his acting skills. But ‘Constantine’ in 2005, a horror-thriller, did quite well at the box-office and everyone again started talking about how good Reeve’s was.

Again in 2006, Reeve’s movie ‘A Scanner Darkly’, a sci-fi based on the novel by Philip k. Dick, did fairly well business wise but his much awaited romantic drama ‘The Lake House’ in 2006 alongside his ‘Speed’ co-star Sandra Bullock did not quite workout for him and his career and left audiences and his fans feeling disappointed. His next few releases like: ‘Street Kings’ in 2008, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ in 2008 and ‘The Private Life of Pippa Lee’ in 2009 did mildly at the box-office.

In 2010, Reeves did some low-budget movies like ‘Henry’s Crime’ and ‘Generation Um…’and did a big-budget film as well, known as ’47 Ronin’. During the filming of these movies, Reeves did pre-production work on his home-production and directorial debut, ‘Man of Tai Chi’, a movie inspired by the life of a famous stuntman and his friend Tiger Chen. ‘Man of Tai Chi’ was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and the Beijing Film Festival and was admired by John Woo, director of action movies, alongside being awarded in Beijing.

In 2011, Reeves produced a documentary on the replacement of the photochemical film by the digital camera technology called ‘Side by Side’. He interviewed the ace directors of the industry like: Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, etc. In the same year, he wrote a book called ‘Ode to Happiness’ with photographs by Alexandra Grant.