History Creator / KeanuReeves

* CanadaEh: He is a proud Canadian and finally got to play it up in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'' as Duke Caboom, Canada's greatest stuntman.
-->'''Duke:''' Yes, we CAN-ada!

* TomHanksSyndrome: ''Film/PointBreak1991'' is the first [[ActionGenre action movie]] which he starred in and the first film where he played ActionHero, while his past career was mainly composed of teenage movies and arthouse. Some critics even criticized the film because of this, fearing that with this Keanu would ruin his serious career.

* HollywoodHypeMachine: He had a solid career for about a decade, but the mega-success of ''Film/TheMatrix'' placed a spotlight on his limited acting style. He never completely stopped working, but the dominate conversation for just about any movie he was in afterwards was DullSurprise. It wasn't until about ''Film/JohnWick'' that public opinion started shifting more in his favor, talking more about him being a NiceGuy in real life, his exceptional physical presence, and ability to convey TranquilFury, peaking in 2019's "Keanussance" where his roles in ''Film/JohnWickChapter3Parabellum'', ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', ''Film/AlwaysBeMyMaybe'' and his surprise involvement in ''VideoGame/{{Cyberpunk 2077}}'' made Keanu perhaps the most widely hyped actor over 50 in Hollywood.

* DyeingForYourArt: Has fattened, bulked, and even shaved his head for some roles. He's also gone through an ''incredible'' amount of weapons training for the ''John Wick'' films, ensuring that his gunfighting skills are second-to-none in his role as the nigh-unstoppable assassin.
* FakeAmerican: He was born in Lebanon and raised in Canada, but most of his roles are this. In total fairness, his estranged father was American (being born in Hawaii and responsible for most of the multi-continent ancestry soup mentioned elsewhere on this page) and he did briefly live in New York as a kid.

* OneBookAuthor: ''Film/ManOfTaiChi'' is the only movie he directed so far.

* NiceGuy: Has a reputation of being one of the nicest, coolest, and most kind-hearted actors in the world.

Reeves made his feature film debut in 1986's ''Film/{{Youngblood|1986}}''; his [[StarMakingRole breakthrough role]], coming three years later, would be as Ted in ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'', which he reprised for [[Film/BillAndTed future films]]. His career has been marked by work in numerous genres alongside several periods of critical and commercial ups and downs, but his undisputed heights of stardom so far have been as Neo in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' series (beginning in 1999) and as John Wick in [[Franchise/JohnWick the namesake series]] (beginning in 2014), both of which made great use of his ability to play [[TheStoic stoic]], badass action heroes.

He's also known for having a sizable following on the Internet for a variety of reasons, many of them revolving around [[MemeticMutation memes]], his NiceGuy stature, or [[MemeticBadass both]]. These include his affinity for saying "Whoa" earlier in his career, his tendency to [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/conspiracy-keanu ponder conspiracies]], the likelihood of him being [[http://www.keanuisimmortal.com/ an immortal]], his wager of [[Series/SaturdayNightLive eleventy billion dollars]], his complimentary word of choice being [[VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077 "breathtaking"]], and his status as one of the biggest [[TheWoobie Woobies]] in Hollywood through the [[http://i.imgur.com/2fonu.jpg "Sad Keanu"]] meme started on Website/FourChan.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Reeves went through several serious hardships in his life: he hardly knew his dad, his daughter was stillborn, and the mother died in a car accident a few months later. He also lives very conservatively and tends to donate most of his salary to charity. Various pictures show him looking sad and contemplative, contrasting the idea that he is [[TheStoic a stoic]].[[/labelnote]] Unsurprisingly, he is annoyed by the attention this has garnered him, though he's also [[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ouqge/keanu_reeves_ask_me_if_you_want_almost_anything/ccvu9dq stated]] that he found the "Sad Keanu" meme [[ActuallyPrettyFunny funny]]. He also has a glowing reputation on Website/{{Reddit}}, with an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/KeanuBeingAwesome/ entire community]] dedicated to him with hundreds of thousands of followers, under the name "Keanu Reeves Being Awesome".

Keanu Charles Reeves (born September 2, 1964) is a Lebanese-born Canadian actor of English, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, and Irish descent, best known for mixing [[DullSurprise a subdued speaking style]] with [[BewareTheQuietOnes powerful and precise physical acting]]. After all, [[Franchise/TheMatrix he knows]] [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Kung Fu]].

Outside of movies, he's [[LeadBassist a bassist]], most famously for the defunct band Dogstar.

He's also known for having a sizable following on the Internet for a variety of reasons, many of them revolving around [[MemeticMutation memes]], his NiceGuy stature, or [[MemeticBadass both]]. These include his affinity for saying "Whoa" earlier in his career, his tendency to [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/conspiracy-keanu ponder conspiracies]], the likelihood of him being [[http://www.keanuisimmortal.com/ an immortal]], his wager of [[Series/SaturdayNightLive eleventy billion dollars]], his complimentary word of choice being [[VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077 "breathtaking"]], and his status as one of the biggest [[TheWoobie Woobies]] in Hollywood through the [[http://i.imgur.com/2fonu.jpg "Sad Keanu"]] meme started on Website/FourChan.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Reeves went through several serious hardships in his life: he hardly knew his dad, his daughter was stillborn, and the mother died in a car accident a few months later. He also lives very conservatively and tends to donate most of his salary to charity. Various pictures show him looking sad and contemplative, contrasting the idea that he is [[TheStoic a stoic]].[[/labelnote]] Unsurprisingly, he is annoyed by the attention this has garnered him, though he's also [[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ouqge/keanu_reeves_ask_me_if_you_want_almost_anything/ccvu9dq stated]] that he found the "Sad Keanu" meme [[ActuallyPrettyFunny funny]]. He also has a glowing reputation on Website/{{Reddit}}, with an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/KeanuBeingAwesome/ entire subreddit]] dedicated to him.

Reeves made his feature film debut in 1986's ''Film/{{Youngblood|1986}}''; his [[StarMakingRole breakthrough role]], coming three years later, would be as Ted in ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'', which he reprised for [[Film/BillAndTed future films in the series]]. His career has been marked by work in numerous genres alongside several periods of critical and commercial ups and downs, but his undisputed heights of stardom so far have been as Neo in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' series (beginning in 1999) and as John Wick in [[Franchise/JohnWick the namesake series]] (beginning in 2014), both of which made great use of his ability to play [[TheStoic stoic]], badass action heroes.

Previously believed to be dumb (most likely due to his recognition as Ted, who alongside Bill is famously stupid, and his shyness in interviews), Reeves is actually [[BadassBookworm ridiculously well-read and contemplative]]. On several occasions, he has talked about the philosophical meaning he sees in his characters, even the silly ones. He also believes that every project, no matter the subject matter, should have the highest-quality cast possible, and has been known to give up his upfront salary so that films can hire top-level talent that wouldn't be affordable otherwise. He's additionally famous as an incredibly NiceGuy and purportedly one of the most normal, well-adjusted people in Hollywood. How far this is based on fact, only those close to him can say, but one possible translation of his first name is "The Coolness", so...

He's also known for having a sizable following on the Internet for a variety of reasons, many of them revolving around [[MemeticMutation memes]], his NiceGuy status, or [[MemeticBadass both]]. These include his affinity for saying "Whoa" earlier in his career, his tendency to [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/conspiracy-keanu ponder conspiracies]], the likelihood of him being [[http://www.keanuisimmortal.com/ an immortal]], his wager of [[Series/SaturdayNightLive eleventy billion dollars]], his complimentary word of choice being [[VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077 "breathtaking"]], and his status as one of the biggest [[TheWoobie Woobies]] in Hollywood through the [[http://i.imgur.com/2fonu.jpg "Sad Keanu"]] meme started on Website/FourChan.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Reeves has gone through several serious hardships in his life: he hardly knew his dad, his daughter was stillborn, and the mother died in a car accident a few months later. He also lives very conservatively and tends to donate most of his salary to charity. Various pictures show him looking sad and contemplative, contrasting the idea that he is [[TheStoic a stoic]].[[/labelnote]] Unsurprisingly, he is annoyed by the attention this has garnered him, though he's also [[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ouqge/keanu_reeves_ask_me_if_you_want_almost_anything/ccvu9dq stated]] that he found the "Sad Keanu" meme [[ActuallyPrettyFunny funny]]. He also has a glowing reputation on Website/{{Reddit}}, with an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/KeanuBeingAwesome/ entire subreddit]] dedicated to him.

* FakeAmerican: He was born in Lebanon and raised in Canada, but most of his roles are this. In total fairness, his father was American (being born in Hawaii and responsible for most of the multi-continent ancestry soup mentioned elsewhere on this page).