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Keanu Reeves Biography
Keanu Charles Reeves (born September 2, 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon,) is a Canadian actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Neo in the action film trilogy The Matrix and for roles in Speed and comedies such as Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. He also played bass in a grunge band, Dogstar, during the 1990s.
Reeves was born to Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr. (born 1942), an American geologist, and Patricia Taylor (born 1944), an English showgirl and costume designer who was working in Beirut when she met Reeves' father at a local nightclub.
His paternal grandfather, Samuel Nowlin Reeves, was born in Hawaii to Charles Armistead Reeves, a Tennessee-born Irish American, and Rose Lokalia Miguel, who was of Chinese and Hawaiian descent. Reeves was named after his uncle Henry Keanu Reeves. The name originated with Reeves' great-great-uncle Keaweaheulu, whose name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian. 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, Norman Kreeves or Chuck Spadina (an avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada).
Reeves has a sister, Kim (born 1966 in Beirut, Lebanon), a half-sister named Karina Miller (born 1976 in Toronto), and another half-sister named Emma Rose Reeves (born 1980 in Hawaii). Kim has been battling leukemia for several years. Keanu visits her often at the home he purchased for her on the island of Capri.
Keanu's parents divorced in 1966, and his mother moved to New York City with Reeves and his sister in 1969, where she met, and subsequently married, Paul Aaron, a Broadway and Hollywood director. The couple, who divorced in 1971, then moved to Toronto, where Reeves grew up.
Reeves' mother was later married to Robert Miller (between 1976 and 1980), and he has a half-sister, Karina Miller. Reeves grew up in Toronto and worked at a pasta shop, sharpened skates at an ice rink, and was voted MVP on his high school ice hockey team (De La Salle College).
Within a span of five years, Reeves attended four different high schools, including a performing arts school from which he was expelled. Reeves began his acting career at the age of 15, appearing in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet at the Leah Posluns Theatre. After leaving the Catholic boys' high school where he played ice hockey, he attended a free school, which allowed him to obtain an education while working as an actor; he later dropped out, never obtaining his high school diploma.
Keanu Reeves is eligible for U.S. citizenship through his American father and British citizenship through his English mother. While living in Canada, Reeves became a naturalized Canadian citizen.
Canada, Britain, and the United States accept the concept of multiple citizenships, so he is eligible to hold all three citizenships contemporaneously. However, Reeves generally considers himself a Canadian, Canada being the country where he grew up, went to school (at Malvern Collegiate Institute, a high school in the Beaches, a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada), and got his start in show business. Although Keanu Reeves was born in Lebanon, he is not a Lebanese citizen because his parents were only temporary residents of Lebanon and were not themselves of Lebanese descent (cf. jus soli and jus sanguinis).
Personal life
In December 1999, Reeves' girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth to a stillborn daughter who was named Ava Archer Syme Reeves. 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.
Reeves has never reconnected with his estranged biological father, who served time in prison and was paroled after serving two years of a 10-year sentence for selling heroin at Hilo Airport in 1992.
Reeves enjoys riding motorcycles and coined the term "demon ride" to describe how he often rides with no headlights at night. On one of his "demon rides" in 1988, he crashed near Topanga Canyon and broke several ribs and ruptured his spleen; he has had an abdominal scar ever since – when the paramedics arrived – an emergency medical technician trainee dropped one end of the stretcher by mistake.
For nearly a decade following his initial rise to stardom, Reeves lived a vagabond existence in hotels, opting not to buy a house or find a permanent place of residence, despite earning millions. Reeves has lived in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles since 2003, but also has an apartment in New York City. He does not formally practice any religion, although he has a Christian background and is interested in Buddhism.
Reeves is fond of chess, motorcycles, ice hockey, and table tennis. He is left-handed, but plays the bass guitar right-handed and loves punk rock bands such as The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and The Clash, as well as legendary R&B singers such as Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding. In a 1992 New Year's Eve party show, Reeves filled in on bass for punk rock band The Vandals while bassist Joe Escalante was at a wedding. He began playing the bass with rock band Dogstar, which has now gone "into hibernation".
Reeves also had a part in New York thrash metal band Anthrax's "Safe Home" music video. 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 is leaving the band and his musical career for good.
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 twelve stuntmen who worked on the films to motorcycles, among other things.
His sexual orientation is matter of dispute - bisexual or heterosexual - according to some interviews he has given. Keanu Reeves had always been subjected to the rumors of being homosexual or bisexual -- at one point the yellow press reported he had married film producer David Geffen, whom he had never met -- but has always kept a very tight lid on his romantic and private lives. He has denied being homosexual, but he refuses to answer if he is bisexual or heterosexual. In June 2006, he said that he would like to get married and to have children.
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| Keanu Reeves Biography |
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