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Keanu Reeves: A Life Story That Will Inspire You
Why he is the saddest man in Hollywood.
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Alex Li San
May 14, 2020 · 9 min read
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@creative commons
If we could make a movie about Keanu’s life, it would probably win a few Oscars. Of course, there is only one man who could portray the role perfectly.
Reeves doesn’t often talk about the string of events that made him who he is. Only he knows every twist and turn in the motion picture of his life, and he has an admirable grace and restraint when it comes to sharing his story. The incredible misfortunes that befell him were just one part of the picture.
For a long time, he was his only audience, and then something changed.
Keanu Reeves’s career took a winding path to success and it was only later that the world took notice of him and acknowledged him for what he is — a fighter, humanitarian, and above all, a humble man.
Who Is Keanu Reeves?
Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon on September 2, 1964 (he is of English-Hawaiian descent).
Long before becoming a heartthrob and an action movie hero, the actor didn’t sleep in a bed of roses.
His father, Samuel Reeves, spent half of his life behind bars for dealing heroin, only to abandon his family when Keanu was just 3 years old.
Keanu’s mom, Patricia, was left to take care of the boy and his sister Kim all by herself. Although she was a costume designer, reportedly she was working as a stripper at the time, and she was the only breadwinner in the family. First, the family of three moved from Lebanon to Sydney and then to New York.
Eventually, they settled down in Toronto. Throughout this time, Keanu’s mother remarried 3 times, which meant that the actor-to-be had 3 stepfathers over a short period of time.
As a teenager, the future star struggled with dyslexia and a tendency to disobey authority which caused him to eventually drop out of school. In his interview with Today, Keanu told the reporter that “he did not have a traditional path because he changed 4 high schools” so this whole period was rather bumpy for him.
