Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1964 and grew up primarily in Toronto. Before becoming a film star, he acted in Canadian television and theater. One of his early American film roles was in *River’s Edge* (1986), a drama about teenagers confronting a classmate’s murder.

Reeves gained wider recognition playing Ted “Theodore” Logan opposite Alex Winter’s Bill S. Preston in *Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure* (1989). The film’s time-traveling friends became enduring characters: Reeves returned for *Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey* in 1991 and *Bill & Ted Face the Music* in 2020. Between those releases, he took on markedly different parts. He played an undercover FBI agent investigating surfers in Kathryn Bigelow’s *Point Break* (1991), and appeared with River Phoenix in Gus Van Sant’s *My Own Private Idaho* the same year.

In *Speed* (1994), Reeves played police officer Jack Traven, who must keep a Los Angeles bus moving after a bomb is rigged to explode if it slows down. Sandra Bullock co-starred. Five years later, Reeves played Neo in *The Matrix*, directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Its story of a simulated reality and its distinctive action sequences made Neo one of his best-known roles. He returned for two sequels in 2003 and for *The Matrix Resurrections* in 2021.

Reeves began another major action series with *John Wick* (2014). His character is a retired assassin drawn back into a criminal underworld after a violent attack and the killing of a puppy left to him by his late wife. Reeves reprised the role in three sequels, culminating in *John Wick: Chapter 4* (2023). Other projects include the supernatural film *Constantine* (2005), Richard Linklater’s animated adaptation *A Scanner Darkly* (2006), and *Man of Tai Chi* (2013), which Reeves directed and acted in.

His work extends beyond live-action films. He voiced the stunt performer Duke Caboom in *Toy Story 4* (2019) and played Johnny Silverhand in the video game *Cyberpunk 2077* (2020). He also plays bass in the rock band Dogstar, which released the album *Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees* in 2023 after a long recording hiatus. With motorcycle designer Gard Hollinger, Reeves co-founded ARCH Motorcycle, a company that builds custom production motorcycles. These ventures sit alongside a screen career that has moved from teenage comedy to science fiction, drama, and physically demanding action roles.