9 Little-Known Facts About Keanu Reeves That’ll Make You Love Him Even More

When describing Keanu Reeves’ personality, it’s hard to stay indifferent to him — his outstanding and noble nature can persuade anyone to believe in the fact that chivalry does exist. Nevertheless, there are certain facts about his life that usually tend to stay behind the scenes and that’s what we are going to tell you about in this article.

We at Bright Side carefully studied Keanu’s biography and are ready to share with you some lesser-known facts, proving that nothing compares to the amount of chivalry he has inside.

1. Reeves almost changed his name at the beginning of his career.

The name Keanu is derived from Keaweaheulu, his great-great-uncle’s name, which, in the Hawaiian language, means “cool breeze over the mountains.” When Reeves was taking his first steps in the world of acting, his agent told him to change his name because it didn’t sound good enough. He suggested the name Chuck Spadina to his agent, but eventually, Reeves managed to break through with his real name.

2. Keanu Reeves is a child of many nations.

The actor has a rich ancestry that includes Chinese, Portuguese, English, Irish, Native Hawaiian, and English. His mother, Patricia Taylor, comes from Essex, England, and his father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr., comes from Hawaii. Additionally, Reeves’ grandmother from his father’s side is a mix of Chinese and Hawaiian.

3. Keanu was a bassist in a band called Dogstar in the 90s.

Together with Robert Mailhouse, he was one of the 2 founding members, as well as a back-up vocalist. The band was working in the alternative rock genre until the early 2000s. Keanu had to leave it in order to catch up with his acting schedule. You can see one of their performances in the video below.

4. Reeves has published his own poetry book.

Together with artist Alexandra Grant, Keanu Reeves has published a book of his own poetry called Ode to Happiness. Each page of the book contains a line of the actor’s poem and a blotted ink drawing created by Grant.

5. Keanu had a crush on Sandra Bullock while filming Speed.

Reeves himself admitted this on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show. Whether it was an act of politeness or a real confession, it seems that Sandra Bullock and Reeves had some kind of chemistry between them.

6. Keanu used to be a great hockey player.

In his early teens, Reeves played a lot of hockey and dreamt of representing the Canadian National Hockey team in the Olympics. At the age of 15, the future actor realized that acting was what he wanted to do in life and left hockey.

7. Reeves directed his own movie.

The movie is called Man of Tai Chi and it’s Reeves’ debut as a director.

8. Keanu once shaved his head in protest.

The director of the movie, Speed, Jan de Bont, didn’t want Reeves to have long hair while shooting the movie because it made the actor look like a hippie. In response, Reeves decided to go for a complete buzzcut, which terrified everyone around him. They had to wait a while until his hair grew back a bit to start filming.

9. He wants love desperately.

This is what Keanu confessed in one of his interviews, “I’m trying not to be alone so much. And man, it’s a struggle. I want to get married. I want to have kids. That’s at the top of the mountain. I’ve got to climb the mountain first. I’ll do it. Just give me some time.”

Bonus: He’s the only man who can pull off the hover hand.

What movie starring Keanu Reeves do you like the most? Do any of these facts make him a greater man than he already is? We would be glad to hear from you in the comments!