Before Keanu Reeves made a breathtaking appearance at Microsoft’s E3 conference.
Before John Wick: Chapter 3 would debut at $57 million dollars first week at the box
office
, becoming the only person to successfully take out The Avengers, Sorry Thanos
Before Reaves would admit the longtime Crush he had on Sandra Bullock
Before he would have a hilarious cameo in Netflix’s “Always Be My Maybe”
And become a voice for a new character Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4
Even Chris Evans appears to be a fan.
And the two might be working on something soon because Reeves is rumored to have a character
in Marvel’s MCU
Before Keanu Reeves would become known as one of the nicest people in Hollywood for
doing things like hanging out with homeless people, giving up his seat on the train to
strangers and driving a woman 50 miles out of his way just because her car broke down
Although, he doesn’t get too comfortable with strangers as you can see by his hand
placements.
And Before Keanu Reaves would become a living legend and take the internet by storm with
memes flying left and right praising the man’s greatness
And all of that, was just this year! Everything seems to be lining up perfectly for the Keanu
Reeves world takeover. It’s been exactly 20 years since the original release of the
Matrix in 1999 and its crazy to think, Reeves might not have reached his peak yet. In 2019,
Keanu’s name has been everywhere online, and for multiple reasons. But most recently,
he is making an appearance in a new video game droping in 2020. His character in the
game is named Johnny Silverhand, but let’s be real with ourselves, Reeves has the golden
touch:
And like Joe Rogan says:
But this success didn’t happen overnight. Because he planted some Keanu seeds, that
grew into Keanu trees that then sprouted… some Keanu leaves. Because of the scripts
that Keanu Reeds, he made some money for the family that Keanu feeds, but when it comes
down to it, acting, is all that Keanu needs.
Now before I get carried away with the puns, I just need to say that this is one of my
favorite Before They Were Famous videos yet. Keanu’s story involves everything from wanting
to be a pro hockey player to moving to Winnipeg, Canada, which got him blackballed in the industry
for 10 years, high school dropouts, family doing prison time, massive success, failures
and more than anything perseverance.
What’s going on good people in the comment section? My name is Jeremy Hecht, I hope you’re
having one Hecht of a day, and I’ll be your host for today’s video as we take a look
at Keanu Reeves breathtaking rise to fame here for you of course, on Before They Were
Famous. If you’re new here, I’m the LA host for this channel and if you are a part
of the Fame Gang, then you know what it is already! Shoutout to everyone watching at
school, at work, after work, after school, on the toilet or with their friends… Hopefully
not with their friends on the toilet though. Anyways, we’ve recently covered other actors
for this channel like Samuel L. Jackson and we did a full ones on the cast of The Avengers
and House Stark from Game of Thrones - so be sure to let us know who’s up next in
the comment section below. Before we start, here’s a trivia question:
“What was Mr. Reeves greatest fear at 23 years old?”
Alright, now let’s get into the video!
So how did Keanu Reeves become a mythical legend within the film world. Well let’s
start at the beginning.
In Hawaii, the name Keanu means a cool breeze that comes from the mountains. The term fittingly
describes Keanu’s laid-back persona both on-and off screen. Keanu Charles Reeves was
born on September 2, 1964 in Beirut to parents Patricia and Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr. I swear
everything about this man’s life sounds like it is the creation of a mythical being.
His mother is English and hails from Essex, which is a country in the south-east of England.
While his father is from Hawaii and is of Chinese-Hawaiian, English, Irish and Portuguese
descent. Yes, all of those. So Keanu was influence by a multitude of cultures, stating:
"My grandmother is Chinese and Hawaiian so I was around Chinese art, furniture, and cuisine when
I was growing up."
His mother’s English culture was instilled in him in the form of good manners and a love
for British comedy.
His father was on drugs for much of Keanu’s young life and he was later imprisoned in
Hawaii for selling heroin at an Airport. After being sentenced to 10 years in prison, he
was placed on parole after 2 years. But before that, his parents divorced in 1996 and Samuel
lost touch with his son after one final vacation together when Keanu was 13 years old. Samuel
didn’t reach out for 10 years after that. But in an interview, Samuel said that he had
written many letters to his son over the years, but was always too scared to send them. Patricia
became a costume designer and moved Keanu to Sydney and then New York. She married a
Hollywood director named Paul Aaron in 1970. And before long, the family relocated once
again to Toronto, Canada where Patricia and Paul divorced just a year later. Patricia
designed costumes for famous acts like Dolly Parton, David Bowie and Alice Cooper and these
stars would even stop by the Reeves’ residence for the occasional dinner while on tour. Alice
Cooper even used to place fake dog poop on the couch for the family’s cleaning lady
to find the following day, leaving her the duty to become Alice Scooper… Sorry.
But Keanu was able to learn about the film business from his step-father. He worked as
a production assistant on some of Paul’s movies. The string of bad-marriages unfortunately
continued for Patricia, marrying a rock music promoter named Robert Miller in 1976 and divorcing
in 1980. Then marrying another man named Jack Bond who was a hairdresser, with their marriage
ending in ’94. While all of this was going on around him, Reeves was raised alongside
his sisters by his grandparents as well as nannies who took care of them in the Yorkville
neighborhood of Toronto.
Reeves attended 4 different high schools. One of them, he actually got expelled from.
He explained in an interview that he would run his mouth a little too much. But he had
talents outside of school as he played goalie in hockey for De La Salle College. His original
dream was to play for team Canada one day in the Olympics. But an injury lead him to
quit and give up his on-ice dreams. He began to pursue his next dream of becoming an actor.
This dream was not exactly new to him though. Keanu began acting at the age of 9 when he
appeared in the theatre production of Damn Yankees at his summer camp. At his school
he auditioned for The Crucible because he loved the idea of being someone else on stage.
At 15 he appeared in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet at Leah Psluns Theatre. One
of his friends suggested that they audition for a performing arts high school and Keanu
thought why not. He got in. He said of his early acting days:
I really didn't have a chance as a beginner. Think about it. I was a damned hockey player.
But the teachers must have seen enough potential to give me a chance. And suddenly I didn't
do anything else. It was as though I finally found my place in this world, I finally knew
who I was. I had the key to my identity in my hand. There is nothing more important for
a teenager going through puberty.
He later got expelled from the school and at 17, he decided to drop out of high schools
all-together to pursue acting full time.
He started to take acting courses at night to develop his skills. His screen acting debut
came in an episode of the show Hangin’ In in the early 1980’s. And Reeves landed himself
odd gigs including commercials for Coca-Cola, short films and stage work. In 1984 he was
a correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s TV Youth program called “Going
Great.”
His first movie appearance was in the film “Youngblood” in 1986 which he ironically
got to play a Canadian hockey goalie. I guess he got to live out dreams after all. But while
his hockey dreams resided in Canada, he knew he needed to head out to LA to make this dream
a reality, and luckily, his step-father who was American, was able to provide him with
a green card. By 20 years old, he took his 1969 Volvo 122 and drove to out to Hollywood
with nothing but $3000. He stayed with his step father down there, who had also convinced
a man named Erwin Stoff to be Reeve’s manager and agent.
He was seeing some minor success in smaller roles after his big move, and Reeves finally
landed a bigger role in the film “River’s Edge.” The movie was well received by critics
and gave him the opportunity to get his shot as the lead actor in movies like Permanent
Record and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Reeves was also the bassist in an alternative rock band called “Dogstar.” In 1992, he
won the award for MTV’s “Most Desirable Male.”
But his career really reached a new level when he starred in the 1994 hit movie “Speed.”
Although, initially, there was some push-back with his casting. This was his first role
in an action film and the budget behind it was huge, so a lot was riding on its success.
But Reeves actually declined the offer to star in the movies sequal, Speed 2 despite
the 11 million dollars that he was offered to play the role. Instead, he toured with
his band and played Hamlet in the Manitoba Theatre Center’s production of the Shakespeare
classic, in none other than Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. My hometown. I feel a strange connection
to Keanu Reeves right now, I might have just become his biggest fan. And shoutout to my
hometown but let me tell you, nobody in the history of humanity other than Keanu Reeves
has turned down 11 million dollars to go to Winnipeg. And quite frankly, nobody will ever
do that again, so take a moment to appreciate that historical decision.
But while the people of Winnipeg were probably thrilled to have an A-list star come to town,
Hollywood was, not so impressed. 20th Century Fox allegedly blacklisted the actor from all
of their films for the next decade.
And the next run for Reeves was not an easy one. His films “Johnny Mnemonic,” “Chain
Reaction” and “Feeling Minnesota” did not succeed at the box office, or critically.
He was left wondering where his next moves would take him, so he needed to make sure
that they were the right ones. In fact, he was so set on making his next films successes,
that he took substantial pay cuts in order to have the right actors cast. For “The
Devil’s Advocate” he took a $1 million dollar cut to play alongside Al Pacino. He
also took an incredible 90 percent pay cut so that Gene Hackman could be cast in “The
Replacements.” His decisions panned out and he was back in the good graces of Hollywood.
All of these moments, and all of these decisions lead him to one breaking point moment in his
career. In 1999, Keanu was cast as the star of the barrier-bending and generation defining
classic movie, The Matrix. Two sequels were produced making it one of the most critically
acclaimed trilogies of all time, and in 2005, Reeves received a star on The Hollywood Walk
of Fame. I just saw the Matrix recently actually and I could do a whole video on what I think
the meaning behind it is, but either way, it’s a classic.
His success continued, and although many thought The Matrix would remain the height of his
career, in 2014, he became John Wick for the first time. The third project in the series
recently came out to astounding box office numbers and critical acclaim. And quite frankly,
I’m just excited to see what the man does next. What a journey that was. And to think
that his biggest fear back in 1988, was that he would have a poop stain on his underwear
when sleeping with a woman he had just met for the first time. Although he did clarify
later on in the interview that he was practically celibate at the time, so who knows what he
was actually afraid of.
Either way, there’s the answer to your question from the beginning of the video.
But as for the rest of the story, well, we’ll have to wait and see because this is Before
They Were Famous.