FAQ: Keanu Reeves
Answers to some normal frequently asked questions. Go here for questions about the truth of less normal social media claims about Keanu.
Q: Does Keanu have an official Twitter/Facebook/Instagram account?
A: No. Keanu has stated many times that he is not on social media, but the internet is full of scammers impersonating him to try and trick fans into giving them money. Keanu's two Reddit AMAs and a Dogstar Q&A in 2000 were about the only times he officially interacted with fans online.
Q: Is Keanu married?
A: No, and he has never been. He had a daughter with his girlfriend Jennifer Syme, but the baby – Ava Archer Syme Reeves – was stillborn. Shortly after, Syme died in a car accident, thought to be from drug use in conjunction with anti-depressant medication.
Q: What's Keanu's race/ethnicity?
A: His mother is a white British woman. His father is of primarily Chinese-Hawaiian descent going all the way back to the first Chinese settlers in Hawaii. The Reeves name comes from Keanu's great-grandfather, Charles Armistead Reeves, an Irish-American from Tennessee who moved to Hawaii and was disowned by his family for marrying a "savage".
Going purely by biology, Keanu is roughly 2/3 white, 1/3 Asian and 100% immortal. However, this is not clear cut; like many families in Hawaii, Keanu's paternal side has been very racially mixed for the past few generations.
In the 1990s, Keanu referred to himself as a "bourgeois white boy". In the late 2000s he started describing himself as "Chinese, Hawaiian and English". When asked if he identifies as a person of colour, he said yes but that he does not consider himself a spokesperson.
Q: What's Keanu's nationality?
A: He has dual British-Canadian citizenship. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon while his father was working there, then spent his childhood in Hawaii, Sydney and New York before settling in Toronto. He usually describes himself as Canadian.
Q: Not American then?
A: Nope. He currently lives in Los Angeles, though.
Q: Is Keanu gay?
A: Probably not. When asked this in 1990, his response was "No... but ya never know." In 1995, when asked why he didn't give a more definitive 'no' to shut down the speculation for good, he awesomely replied: "Well, I mean, there's nothing wrong with being gay, so to deny it is to make a judgment. And why make a big deal of it? If someone doesn't want to hire me because they think I'm gay, well, then I have to deal with it, I guess. Or if people were picketing a theater. But otherwise, it's just gossip, isn't it?" Cut from the article, according to its writer Michael Shnayerson, was the additional quote: "The fact is, I've never had a male sexual experience in my life." (via webmaster Merlin at KeanuWeb)
Q: Is Keanu married to Alan Cumming?
A: No. This rumour originated as an April Fool's joke that a few media outlets took seriously and reproduced, because journalists are shoddy. Alan Cumming has been married to his husband Grant Shaffer since 2007.
Q: Was Keanu married to David Geffen?
A: No, that was a hoax. Of course, there are the usual conspiracy theorists who think that the hoax itself was a hoax to cover up the truth, but officially, no. If tabloid reports are to be believed, Keanu was getting married simultaneously in Los Angeles, Hawaii, the Hamptons and France, all while he was off playing Hamlet in Canada. Some people believe that Keanu is omnipresent, but most of us here don't.
Q: Is Keanu a Buddhist?
A: No, though multiple sources seem to think he is – partly due to him playing the Buddha in 1993's Little Buddha, as well as being one of the narrators for the 2004 Buddhist documentary Discovering Buddhism. Keanu says that while he has great respect for the religion and has studied it intensively, "I haven't taken refuge in the dharma".
Q: Is Keanu an atheist?
A: Probably not, though again multiple sources seem to think so after he was wrongly placed on one 'Famous Atheists' list that criminally excluded Douglas Adams, an actual famous atheist. That list then got reposted and quoted on other sites, again because journalists are shoddy. Keanu has expressed a belief in God or some higher power: "Sure I believe in God and the Devil but they don't have to have pitchforks and a long white beard." At other times he said he was unsure.
Q: What's Keanu's religion then?
A: He says he's not going to talk about it, because "I think it’s personal and private." He was raised without any religion and has not publicly aligned himself with any. He says he has seen ghosts in the past, and harbours a belief in astrology. His general stance on such matters seems to be that he's spiritual but not religious.
Q: Does Keanu have a house?
A: Yes, in West Hollywood. He also apparently has an apartment in New York City. He did however go for much of his life without a permanent residence, buying his first house only in 2003, when he was 39 years old. He used to live out of hotel rooms and movie set trailers. Apart from books and his couch – which he kept in his sister's place – all his worldly belongings once fit into a single suitcase.
Q: Which agency represents Keanu?
A: Keanu is currently signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME). He was previously with Creative Artists Agency.
Q: Does Keanu read fanmail?
A: In the ancient past, he used to both read and respond to fanmail. He no longer does.
Q: Is Keanu a nice guy?
A: People who have met him or worked with him say yes. There are also some really nice stories over here, like one which goes:
"A family friend builds movie sets, doesn’t design, is one of the poor dudes that just builds. Anyways he worked on the set for the Matrix and Keanu heard about family trouble he was having and gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus to help him out. He also was one of the only people on the set that genuinely wanted to know peoples names, would say hello and mean it, and would talk to people as they were his peers and not below him just because they were practically making nothing to build a set. I’ve never heard anyone say Keanu is douche, seems like the nicest person in Hollywood from a second hand experience."- kahi
People who have known Keanu generally have nothing but lavish praise for what a great guy he is, and how he goes out of his way to be generous and help both friends and strangers in need. Most of the few negative things I've heard about Keanu have to do with him being aloof and not talking much, or where he was clearly having a bad day. These are far outnumbered by the positive stories.
That said, he's not flawless. He's just had many centuries of practice. Various things he's said and done in the past would likely be cause for media outrage today, but throughout his life Keanu has shown himself to be humble and always willing to listen and grow as a person. Who he is today means so much more precisely because it took that effort and commitment on his part to become a better person; he wasn't born perfect, gliding through the multiverse on a rainbow of kindness and generosity. He had to build that rainbow. And that gives us all hope.
Q: Isn't Keanu breathtaking?
A: We're all breathtaking!