Keanu Reeves

Keanu Charles Reeves, born September 2, 1964, in Beirut, Lebanon, to an English-Hawaiian-Chinese-Portuguese father and a British costume designer mother, and raised primarily in Toronto, Canada, is one of the most beloved and enduringly popular figures in American cinema, an actor whose career has spanned four decades, two landmark franchise revolutions — the sci-fi action series The Matrix and the neo-noir action series John Wick — and a personal biography of extraordinary private tragedy met with a public grace and generosity that has made him something closer to a cultural folk hero than a conventional film star. He grew up in a series of cities following his parents' divorce, eventually settling in Toronto with his mother, where he played ice hockey, studied at Etobicoke School of the Arts, and was described by teachers as a natural, instinctive performer. His film career began with small Canadian television roles before he moved to Los Angeles, landing breakthrough roles in River's Edge (1986), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and its sequels, and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) before the action thriller Speed (1994), in which his chemistry with Sandra Bullock on a runaway bus made him a global action star. He took a career-altering risk with the Wachowskis' The Matrix (1999), a philosophical sci-fi action film that became one of the most influential movies of the decade, requiring months of martial arts training and launching two sequels and, two decades later, a fourth installment. The two Matrix sequels were followed by a period of mixed critical reception but enormous popularity, before the surprise success of John Wick (2014) revealed a new chapter of action stardom — the meticulous, grief-driven retired assassin became one of the decade's defining action archetypes and spawned three sequels, a franchise, and a television spinoff.