Keanu Reeves

Early career and first action roles

Keanu Reeves was born on 2 September 1964 in Beirut and grew up in Toronto. He started on the Canadian series Hangin' In in 1984 and made his film debut in Youngblood (1986), playing an ice hockey goalie. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) was his breakthrough.

His first big physical role was Johnny Utah in Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break (1991), an FBI agent undercover among bank-robbing surfers. He took surfing lessons in Hawaii to prepare. Jan de Bont's Speed (1994) made him an action star as Jack Traven, a Los Angeles SWAT officer.

The Matrix: four months with Yuen Woo-ping

For The Matrix (1999) the Wachowskis hired Hong Kong choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, who built the fights from kung fu technique and Hong Kong wire work. Cast training was scheduled for four months from October 1997, and Yuen began by building up the actors' strength.

Reeves had just had surgery on his cervical spine. He could not kick for two of the four months, so Yuen had him work on punches and lighter moves, and Neo kicks little in the first film. The dojo scene, with its triple kicks, had to be reshot a few days later. His stunt double was Chad Stahelski, badly hurt during the subway fight. Reeves returned in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and in The Matrix Resurrections (2021).

Man of Tai Chi and 47 Ronin

In 2013 he made his directing debut with Man of Tai Chi, partly inspired by his friend Tiger Chen, who plays the lead: a tai chi practitioner drawn into underground fights in Hong Kong. Reeves plays Donaka Mark, the man who runs them. Some critics liked it, but it flopped at the box office. The same year he played Kai in 47 Ronin, a fantasy take on the samurai legend and another commercial failure.

John Wick, a fighting style

John Wick (2014) was directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, his former Matrix stuntmen and coordinators and the founders of 87Eleven. Reeves recommended them for the job. He trained for about four months, several hours a day, in judo, Japanese jujutsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and arnis, plus tactical shooting and stunt driving. The character's style, which the team calls gun fu, mixes throws, ground locks and point-blank shots. Reeves performed much of his own action. The film took $86 million on a $20 million budget.

Then came John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019) and Chapter 4 (2023), which drew strong reviews. In 2025 he returned as Wick in the spin-off Ballerina, led by Ana de Armas. A fifth film has been announced with Stahelski.

Legacy

Reeves received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005. In 2021 Tae Kwon Do Life magazine named him the world's number one martial arts movie star, and Time listed him among its 100 most influential people in 2022. John Wick brought back long fights shot in wide frames, where the audience can see the actor perform the choreography, and made 87Eleven a reference for Hollywood action.