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Keanu Reeves - Not Your Ordinary Average Action Hero
Hardly the ideal candidate for the all-American golden boy, this offspring of Hawaiian and Chinese parents defied all stereotypes to emerge as a name to reckon with. His signing amounts for the two sequels to the super duper blockbuster `Matrix`, `Matrix Reloaded` and `Matrix Revolutions` has catapulted him into unprecedented heights of Hollywood extravagance.
Hardly the ideal candidate for the all-American golden boy, this offspring of Hawaiian and Chinese parents defied all stereotypes to emerge as a name to reckon with. His signing amounts for the two sequels to the super duper blockbuster “Matrix”, “Matrix Reloaded” and “Matrix Revolutions” has catapulted him into unprecedented heights of Hollywood extravagance.
But for the dude who was first noticed in his goofball role in the mild comedy, ”Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure” the proverbial road to fame has hardly been a cakewalk. Along the way, he’s had a fair share of total turkeys and disasters, but just when it looked like his 15 seconds of fame were over, he invariably bounced back into the reckoning, not just once but twice.
Early in his career, he displayed surprising wisdom in making some remarkable choices. In only his fourth movie, he was sharing credits with the likes of heavyweights Glenn Close and John Malkovich in the highly acclaimed “Dangerous Liaisons“. Another film later, was another ensemble cast in “Parenthood” which put him in the company of Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Dianne Wiest, among others.
“Point Break” saw him co-starring with the already established Patrick Swayze in Katherine Bigelow’s tale of a gang of surfers who rob banks. Another high profile project bursting at the seams with big names was Francis Ford Coppolla’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. He even tried his hand at Shakespeare, much before the Shakespeare craze hit Hollywood, in Kenneth Branagh’s “Much Ado About Nothing”.
Where directors of substance were concerned, Reeves displayed a knack for picking on the right ones. The tragedy however was that the movies didn’t turn out to be winners, whether it was Gus Van Sant with “My Own Private Idaho” and “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” or Bernardo Bertolucci (Little Buddha).
It was in 1994 when he jumped onto a speeding bus that Hollywood welcomed him as its latest action hero in the smash hit “Speed”. All of a sudden, he was the new sex symbol. Much later, he took everybody by surprise when he turned his back on the “Speed” sequel that led to Sandra Bullock, the female lead reprising her role. He had the last laugh however, when “Speed 2” turned out a cropper.
Post “Speed” another dry spell followed and just when everybody had thought he was finished, he burst back with a vengeance as the title character in the Wachowski brothers’ “Matrix” which shattered all-time box office records. With back-to-back sequels, "Matrix Reloaded" and "Matrix Revolutions" there`s no saying just how far Reeves is destined to go. - Jigme Palden Pazo
Filmography
Matrix Reloaded, The (2003) ... Neo
Sweet November (2001) ... Nelson Moss
Hardball (2001) ... Conor O`Neill
Replacements, The (2000) ... Shane Falco
Watcher, The (2000) ... David Allen Griffin
Gift, The (2000) ... Donnie Barksdale
Matrix, The (1999) ... Thomas A. Anderson/Neo
Last Time I Committed Suicide, The (1997) ... Harry
Devil`s Advocate, The (1997) ... Kevin Lomax
Feeling Minnesota (1996) ... Jjaks
Chain Reaction (1996) ... Eddie Kasalivich
But for the dude who was first noticed in his goofball role in the mild comedy, ”Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure” the proverbial road to fame has hardly been a cakewalk. Along the way, he’s had a fair share of total turkeys and disasters, but just when it looked like his 15 seconds of fame were over, he invariably bounced back into the reckoning, not just once but twice.
Early in his career, he displayed surprising wisdom in making some remarkable choices. In only his fourth movie, he was sharing credits with the likes of heavyweights Glenn Close and John Malkovich in the highly acclaimed “Dangerous Liaisons“. Another film later, was another ensemble cast in “Parenthood” which put him in the company of Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Dianne Wiest, among others.
“Point Break” saw him co-starring with the already established Patrick Swayze in Katherine Bigelow’s tale of a gang of surfers who rob banks. Another high profile project bursting at the seams with big names was Francis Ford Coppolla’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. He even tried his hand at Shakespeare, much before the Shakespeare craze hit Hollywood, in Kenneth Branagh’s “Much Ado About Nothing”.
Where directors of substance were concerned, Reeves displayed a knack for picking on the right ones. The tragedy however was that the movies didn’t turn out to be winners, whether it was Gus Van Sant with “My Own Private Idaho” and “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” or Bernardo Bertolucci (Little Buddha).
It was in 1994 when he jumped onto a speeding bus that Hollywood welcomed him as its latest action hero in the smash hit “Speed”. All of a sudden, he was the new sex symbol. Much later, he took everybody by surprise when he turned his back on the “Speed” sequel that led to Sandra Bullock, the female lead reprising her role. He had the last laugh however, when “Speed 2” turned out a cropper.
Post “Speed” another dry spell followed and just when everybody had thought he was finished, he burst back with a vengeance as the title character in the Wachowski brothers’ “Matrix” which shattered all-time box office records. With back-to-back sequels, "Matrix Reloaded" and "Matrix Revolutions" there`s no saying just how far Reeves is destined to go. - Jigme Palden Pazo
Filmography
Matrix Reloaded, The (2003) ... Neo
Sweet November (2001) ... Nelson Moss
Hardball (2001) ... Conor O`Neill
Replacements, The (2000) ... Shane Falco
Watcher, The (2000) ... David Allen Griffin
Gift, The (2000) ... Donnie Barksdale
Matrix, The (1999) ... Thomas A. Anderson/Neo
Last Time I Committed Suicide, The (1997) ... Harry
Devil`s Advocate, The (1997) ... Kevin Lomax
Feeling Minnesota (1996) ... Jjaks
Chain Reaction (1996) ... Eddie Kasalivich
Johnny Mnemonic (1995) ... Johnny Mnemonic
Walk in the Clouds, A (1995) ... Paul Sutton
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994) ... Julian
Little Buddha (1994) ... Prince Siddhartha
Speed (1994) ... Jack Traven
Freaked (1993) ... Juan the Dog Boy
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) ... Don John
Bram Stoker`s Dracula (1992) ... Jonathan Harker
Bill & Ted`s Bogus Journey (1991) ... Ted "Theodore" Logan
My Own Private Idaho (1991) ... Scott Favor
Point Break (1991) ... Johnny Utah
I Love You to Death (1990) ... Marlon James
Tune in Tomorrow (1990) ... Martin Loader
Parenthood (1989) ... Tod
Bill & Ted`s Excellent Adventure (1989) ... Ted "Theodore" Logan
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) ... Chevalier Danceny
Permanent Record (1988) ... Chris Townsend
River`s Edge (1987) ... Matt
Youngblood (1986) ... Hoover
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