Born in Beirut, Lebanon

September 2, 1964

Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the son of Patricia Taylor, a costume designer/performer, and Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr., a geologist. Reeves' mother is English, and his father is of Japanese American, Hawaiian-Chinese, and Portuguese descent. Reeves's mother was working in Beirut when she met his father. Reeves' father worked as an unskilled laborer and earned his GED while imprisoned in Hawaii for selling cocaine at the Hilo airport. He abandoned his wife and family when Reeves was 13, and Reeves does not currently have any relationship with him. Reeves is named after his uncle, Henry Keanu Reeves. When Reeves first arrived in Hollywood, his agent thought his first name was too exotic, so during the early days of his film career he was sometimes credited as K.C. Reeves.
Reeves has one full sister named Kim (born 1966 in Australia) who was diagnosed with leukemia in the early 1990s. Additionally, through his mother he has a half-sister named Karina Miller (born 1976 in Toronto) and through his father another half-sister named Emma Rose Reeves (born 1980 in Hawaii).

Youngblood

January 31, 1986

Reeves' first studio movie appearance was in the Rob Lowe ice hockey film Youngblood, which was filmed in Canada. In it, he played an ice hockey goalie. Shortly after the movie's release, Reeves drove to Los Angeles in his 1969 Volvo. His ex-stepfather Paul Aaron, a stage and television director, had convinced Erwin Stoff to be Reeves' manager and agent before he even arrived in Los Angeles. Stoff has remained Reeves' manager, and has coproduced many of his films.

River's Edge

September 10, 1986

After a few minor roles, Reeves received a more sizable role in 1986's River's Edge. River's Edge is a cinematic portrayal of hopelessly delinquent youths, their unconscionable actions and the dysfunctional relationships, mind-numbing drugs and caustic environment that made them so. The teens' misplaced loyalties, disturbing indifference and deviant behaviour are set to a nihilistic heavy metal soundtrack.

Permanent Record

April 22, 1988

Reeves spent the late 1980s appearing in a number of movies aimed at teenage audiences, including Permanent Record.

David (Alan Boyce) seems to have everything. He is smart,talented, funny and popular. He is best friends with Chris (Keanu Reeves), a quirky outsider. He seems to have it all together, yet his personal academic expectations and those of his parents become overwhelming,though he keeps his problems to himself. At a party with his school friends along the coast, he takes a walk to the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Chris, playful as ever, decides to sneak up on his friend, but when he emerges from behind a rock, David is not there. He has fallen to his death. Originally assumed to be a horrible accident, the situation changes when Chris receives a suicide note in the mail. Chris and David's girlfriend Lauren (Jennifer Rubin) want to hold some type of memorial, but a reluctant school decides against it, leaving the kids to memorialize their friend in their own way. The movie ptimarily deals with the profound effect the suicide has on his friends, and how they work through their grief.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Feburary 17, 1989

Reeves co-starred in the unexpectedly successful 1989 comedy, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, a film in which an American comedy/science fiction movie in which two slackers travel through time in order to assemble a menagerie of historical figures for their high school history presentation.

Point Break

July 12, 1991

Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves), is an FBI agent and former Ohio State quarterback who, with his partner Pappas (Gary Busey), is investigating a string of bank robberies. Suspecting a connection between the bank robbers, known as the Ex-Presidents because they use masks of former US presidents, and local surfers, Utah goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community. Knowing little of the lifestyle, Utah convinces surfer Tyler (Lori Petty) to mentor him.

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

July 19, 1991

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, which, along with its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, typecast Reeves as a sweet-natured buffoon. Much of his subsequent portrayal in the press and much of the response to his acting has been influenced by his portrayal of the airheaded Ted. Reeves has said that "I used to have nightmares that they would put 'He played Ted' on my tombstone".

My Own Private Idaho

October 18, 1991

The story follows two friends, Mike (River Phoenix) and Scott (Keanu Reeves), as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them to Mike's hometown in Idaho and then to Italy in search of Mike's mother. Scott is based on Prince Hal, the son of the king in the Shakespearean history Henry IV. He is the son of the wealthy mayor of Portland, Oregon and claims his street behavior, which includes prostitution to male clients, is largely rebellion. Mike, however, is gay, narcoleptic and has no other means of support. The two develop a strong friendship that is tested by Scott's ambivalence to street life and his forthcoming inheritance, as well as Mike's romantic affection for his companion.

Arrested

May 1, 1993

Reeves was arrested in Los Angeles; charged with drunk driving in May 1993.

Speed

June 10, 1994

In 1994, Reeves' career reached a new high as a result of his starring role in the action film Speed. His casting in the film was controversial since, except for Point Break, he was primarily known for comedies and indie dramas. He had never been the sole headliner on a film. The summer action film had a fairly large budget and was helmed by novice cinematographer-turned-director Jan de Bont. The unexpected international success of the film made Reeves and co-star Sandra Bullock into A-List stars.

A Walk in the Clouds

August 11, 1995

Reeves' career choices after Speed were eclectic: despite his successes, Reeves has never stopped accepting supporting roles, and he has always been willing to support experimental efforts. He scored a hit with a romantic lead role in A Walk in the Clouds.

The film is set in 1945, when Paul Sutton, a World War II veteran returns home to his wife Betty (Debra Messing) whom he married the day before he left. He comes home with all these dreams and hopes, one being to quit his former job. His wife has different plans and sends him off to his former job as a door to door candy salesman, during his trip he accidentally meets Victoria Aragon, a Stanford student who belongs to a Mexican-descent family which owns a vineyard in Napa Valley, California. As she is pregnant by her professor, Paul offers to introduce himself to the very traditionalist family – especially her raging father Alberto – as her husband and leave the day after. Instead, he stays one more day – supposedly for the grape harvest – and more, until they eventually fall in love. He comes home, only to find out that his wife is involved on a separate relationship, and she proposes an annulment of their marriage. Paul happily returns to Victoria's home. Evangelina Elizondo, plays the grandmother, in charge of the annual foot grape squeeze, always busy running the household's kitchen and help.

The Devil's Advocate

October 17, 1997

Kevin Lomax, a ruthless young Florida attorney that never lost a case, is recruited by the most powerful law firm in the world. In spite of his mother's disagreement, which compares New York City to Babylon, he accepts the offer and the money that comes along. But soon, his wife starts feeling homesick as she witnesses devilish apparitions. However, Kevin is sinking in his new cases and pays less and less attention to his wife. His boss and mentor, John Milton, seems to always know how to overcome every problem and that just freaks Kevin right off.

The Matrix

March 31, 1999

The 1999 science fiction hit, The Matrix, solidified Reeves's place as an international superstar.

The film describes a future in which reality perceived by humans is actually the Matrix, a simulated reality created by sentient machines in order to pacify and subdue the human population while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Upon learning this, computer programmer "Neo" is drawn into a rebellion against the machines. The film contains numerous references to the cyberpunk and hacker subcultures; philosophical and religious ideas; and homages to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Hong Kong action movies, Spaghetti Westerns and Japanese animation.

Stillborn Daughter

December 1, 1999

Reeves has never been married. In December 1999, Reeves' girlfriend Jennifer Syme gave birth to a stillborn daughter who was named Ava Archer Syme Reeves.

The Replacements

August 11, 2000

The film opens with a professional football game being played in Washington, D.C. During the final minutes of the game, commentators John Madden and Pat Summerall (playing themselves) discuss the fact that at midnight, all of the players in the League will go on strike since contract negotiations with the owners have failed, perilously close to the end of the regular playing season. Due to League regulations, the strike cannot extend into the post-season. The Sentinels are poised to continue into the post-season play-offs if they win three of the last four regular season games. Edward O'Neil, owner of the Washington Sentinels, contacts former head coach Jimmy McGinty, recruiting him to put together a team of replacement players during the strike. McGinty agrees on two conditions: that he have no interference in his coaching from O'Neil and that his choices for the replacements be unquestioned. While other teams recruit semi-pro or former pro players, McGinty assembles an eclectic group of players that confuse the other coaching staff.

Estranged Girlfriend Killed

April 1, 2001

In April 2001, Syme was killed in a car accident. She was buried next to their daughter in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

The Matrix Reloaded

May 15, 2003

Six months after the events of the first movie, Neo wakes up after a nightmare where Trinity had been shot by an agent while falling from a building and begins to plummet to the ground. Morpheus receives a message from captain Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) of the Logos calling an emergency meeting of all Zion's hovercraft ship fleet. She has successfully recovered the information left by Captain Thaddeus (in the Animatrix short film "Final Flight of the Osiris," recovered in the video game Enter The Matrix): 250,000 Sentinels are tunneling towards the underground city of Zion and will reach it in 72 hours. Commander Locke, the ranking military officer of Zion, orders all ships and their crews, including Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and new operator Link, to return to Zion to prepare for the onslaught of the machines. Morpheus asks a ship to remain behind to contact the Oracle, in defiance of Commander Locke's orders. The Caduceus receives a message from the Oracle, and the Nebuchadnezzar, also in defiance of Locke's order, ventures out to allow Neo to contact her. Meanwhile, one of the Caduceus crew members, Bane, encounters Agent Smith, who takes over Bane's body. Bane/Smith then leaves the Matrix via the nearby hard line.

The Matrix Revolutions

November 5, 2003

The Matrix Revolutions is the third and final film in The Matrix trilogy. The film, a combination of philosophy and action like its predecessors, sought to conclude the questions raised in the preceding film, The Matrix Reloaded.

Hollywood Walk of Fame Star

January 31, 2005

Reeves was honoured with a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on January 31, 2005.

The Lake House

June 16, 2006

The film stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as Alex Wyler and Kate Forster, respectively an architect living in 2004 and a doctor living in 2006. The two are introduced and share correspondence across the years by leaving letters in a mailbox at the lake house they've both lived in at separate points in time. This film also reunites Reeves and Bullock for the first time since they co-starred in Speed in 1994.