Keanu Reeves was born on September 2, 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon. His parents would divorced when Keanu was still a child he, his mother, and his sister moved to New York City. Eventually the family would end up in Toronto, Ontario where Keanu still makes his home to this day. In high school he did not care too much for books and learning but he excelled in the sport of ice hockey where he became a star goaltender that earned the nickname “The Wall.” Keanu, who’s name in Hawaiian means “cool breeze over the mountains,” did not make it through high school as he quit at 17 to pursue a career in acting. In his acting career Keanu has made some great decisions and then he has made some decisions that seemed great but wound up backfiring on him. But throughout his career he has been able to put the public perception of himself to the side and land a variety of roles that showcase him as a very versatile actor. But no matter what Keanu Reeves does on screen now he will always be remembered for what he did on screen years ago.

Keanu Reeves began his acting career like any other actor would, on the stage. He landed parts in various stage productions and even found himself in a few made for television movies. In 1986 he landed a small role in the Rob Lowe movie Youngblood which, conveniently for Reeves, was filmed near his home in Canada. Soon after he was done shooting for Youngblood Keanu Reeves decided to try his luck at Hollywood and headed out west. His first notable role when he got to Hollywood was in the 1986 movie River’s Edge. It did not take Keanu Reeves long to land work when he got to Hollywood but it did take him a few years to land his first starring role and when he finally got that role little did he realize it would follow him for the rest of his life.

In 1989 Keanu Reeves starred along with Alex Winter in the hit cult comedy Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Starring as Ted Logan Keanu put on a convincing performance as an airheaded California high school kid just looking to graduate from high school so he could play in his band. Forgetting the fact that a 25 year old Reeves may look a little out of place playing a high school student the movie went on to become a huge financial success. But its quirky plot with some very strange plot twists and extremely childish humor caused it to be also looked down upon as a joke and Reeves was forever branded as an airhead in real life because of the acting job he did in the movie. It is a mystique that Reeves has never been able to shake and it is something that has caused much of the movie going public to not take him very seriously.

Keanu Reeves has gone on to star in action movies like Speed and science fantasy mega hits like The Matrix trilogy but he has never been able to escape that stigma of being less than intelligent. He keeps his personal life very guarded especially since his relationship with Jennifer Syme which included a stillborn baby and Syme being killed in 1999 in a car crash. He prefers to keep to himself and continues to make the movies he wants to make.