Keanu Charles Reeves ( often mispronounced as kee-AH-noo; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian-American-British actor best known for his portrayals of Neo in the action film trilogy The Matrix, Ted Logan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, and Officer Jack Traven in Speed. Other notable roles include starring as Siddhartha Gautama in Little Buddha; as Scott Favor in the drama My Own Private Idaho opposite River Phoenix; as Johnny Mnemonic in the sci-fi film Johnny Mnemonic opposite Dolph Lundgren; as Kevin Lomax in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate opposite Al Pacino; the chevalier Danceny in Dangerous Liaisons; and starring roles in Chain Reaction, Constantine and the surf drama Point Break opposite Patrick Swayze. He played bass guitar in the grunge band Dogstar during the 1990s, and more recently in the band Becky. In an ET online survey in 2006, he was included in the "Top Ten of America's Favorite Stars". On January 31, 2005, Reeves received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life

Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the son of Patricia Bond (née Taylor), a costume designer/performer, and Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr., a geologist. Reeves's mother is English, and his father is an American of Hawaiian and Chinese descent. Reeves's mother was working in Beirut when she met his father. Reeves' father worked as an unskilled laborer and, it is alleged, earned his GED while imprisoned in Hawai i for selling heroin at Hilo International Airport (Reeves' father confirmed this in a 2001 interview). He abandoned his wife and family when Reeves was 3, and Reeves does not currently have any relationship with him. Reeves is named after his uncle, Henry Keanu Reeves. Keanu is a Hawaiian word which means cool breeze over the mountains. When Reeves first arrived in Hollywood, his agent thought his first name was too exotic, so during the early days of his film career he was sometimes credited as K.C. Reeves.

Reeves has one biological sister named Kim (born 1966 in Australia) who was diagnosed with leukemia in the early 1990s. Additionally, through his mother he has a half-sister named Karina Miller (born 1976 in Toronto) and through his father another half-sister named Emma Rose Reeves (born 1980 in Hawai i).

Reeves experienced an unstable childhood moving around the world frequently and living with various stepfathers. His parents divorced in 1966. His mother became a costume designer and moved the family to Australia and then to New York City. There she met and married Paul Aaron, a Broadway and Hollywood director. The couple moved to Toronto but divorced in 1971. Reeves' mother then married Robert Miller, a rock promoter, in 1976, but the couple divorced in 1980. Her fourth husband, Jack Bond, was a hairdresser. That marriage broke up in 1994. Grandparents and nannies babysat Reeves and his sisters.