Keanu Reeves

Actor

Keanu Reeves played the messianic hero Neo in the sci-fi film The Matrix and its two sequels, which together became one of the highest-grossing film series in history. After his early success in the wacky 1988 comedy Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure, Reeves was pegged by most as a surfer dude or slacker type. He managed to fight his way into mainstream roles, breaking through as a leading man by playing a cop in the blockbuster Speed (1994, with Sandra Bullock). He fortified his reputation as a hunky hero in movies like The Matrix series (1999-2003, with Laurence Fishburne) and the football comedy The Replacements (2000). Critics love to harsh on Reeves's acting ability, pointing to such films as Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula (1992) and Chain Reaction (1996, with Morgan Freeman), but he remains a big draw at the box office. His other films include Johnny Mnemonic (1995, from a story by William Gibson), Devil's Advocate (1997, opposite Al Pacino), The Gift (2000, starring Cate Blanchett), the time-travel romance The Lake House (2006, reuniting him with co-star Bullock), and the sci-fi tale A Scanner Darkly (2006, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick).

Extra credit: It's true: Reeves is a high school dropout...Reeves has played bass guitar in the rock band Dogstar.