Keanu Charles Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and spent much of his youth in Toronto, Canada. His career spans almost 40 years, and he’s graced the silver screen in some of the highest-grossing and most popular films of all time.

After experiencing a nomadic lifestyle and seeing his father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr., and his mother, Patricia Taylor, divorce, he would move to Toronto and get his first acting gig in a school production at the age of nine when he performed in a theater production of “Damn Yankees.”

During his youth, Reeves’ mother met and married four different men, but he would spend the bulk of his childhood in Toronto. However, his beginnings as a Canadian actor would only last as long as it took for him to move to Los Angeles in the 1980s.

What is Keanu Reeves Net Worth?

Over the course of his career, Keannu Reeves has seen paydays as high as $15 million-plus a cut of the gross for his involvement in “The Matrix” movies, as well as humbler paychecks of $2 million, which he was paid for each of the “John Wick” films, playing a retired hitman. Over the course of his career, Keanu Reeves has amassed a fortune of at least $380 million.

The Matrix franchise and the John Wick franchise don’t represent Keanu’s first brush with fame or fortune. In the 1990s, he starred with Sandra Bullock in the high-grossing film “Speed,” which told the story of a disgruntled man who put a bomb on a bus and demanded money to deactivate the bomb. “Speed” would earn more than $350 million at the box office.

When Reeves moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, his paychecks were particularly humble. Reports suggest he was paid just $3,000 for his performance in “Youngblood,” which was about a hockey team, and also co-starred Patrick Swayze, of “Ghost” and “Dirty Dancing” fame. He would later star in the drama “Point Break” with Swayze, which would become a classic cult film.

Many have called Keanu a philanthropist for his charitable activities, and he’s taken that generous nature to his movies, too. For the 1990s film “The Devil’s Advocate,” Keanu agreed to defer his $2 million salary so that the production could afford to hire Al Pacino for the project.  

In fact, he was quoted in “The Chicago Tribune” as saying, “Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I’ve already made for the next few centuries.” Keanu has earned millions upon millions of dollars in his career, but he hasn’t let his net worth go to his head despite his critical and commercial success.

Keanu Reeves Career Highs and Lows Throughout the Years

Keanu Reeves salary has grown steadily in his 40-year career, but his paychecks haven’t always matched the caliber of the films in which he’s acted. His huge paychecks for the first three Matrix movies and the recent Matrix 4 sequel are in stark contrast to his humble $2 million paydays for the John Wick series.

His success starring in movies has come and gone over the years, and Reeves starred in a series of films in the mid-2000s  and early 2010s that weren’t completely panned but weren’t considered critical successes either. His success starring in some of the biggest action-thriller films of the 1990s and the biggest sci-fi action films of the early-2000s was followed by a slow period for his box office earnings with films like “Constantine” and “The Lake House.”

Those films made some money at the box office, but they weren’t received as positively as some of the juggernauts of his early career. Some of his early films, too, made quite a small amount. For example, the 1991 film “My Own Private Idaho” had a budget of $2.5 million and earned just $6.4 million for domestic box office grosses.

Similarly, some of Reeves most iconic roles in films like “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Bill & Teds Bogus Journey” performed well but not astonishingly so. The first “Bill & Ted” film had a budget of $10 million and made $40.5 million when it was released. Johnny Mnemonic, a sci-fi film released in the 1990s, had a budget of $26 million and made just $52.4 million.

Some of Keanu’s time acting hasn’t even been in pursuit of theatrical success. He’s participated in stage performances over the course of his career, and one of his earliest roles was in a theater production of “Wolfboy.” His first film wasn’t a huge box office success either. It was a short film called “One Step Away,” which was made in 1985.

The Acting Career of Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves worth has reached stratospheric heights because he hasn’t spent his time spending his money on leisure pursuits like other actors of his generation. The world will probably never see Reeves net worth plunge because he bought a mega-yacht or decided to purchase his own island.

Keanu has pursued some interesting hobbies throughout his career, with one of the more surprising moves as the bass guitar player for the band Dogstar. Keanu has cultivated a very low-key persona despite his fame, so his involvement in a rock band isn’t the first activity one might think he’d pursue.

In addition to his career as an actor, Reeves has also become a producer with his production company called Company Films. The first movie the company made was “Man of Tai Chi,” and the film premiered in 2013. His company was also involved in producing the script called John Wick and its sequels, so he doubtlessly made money on the producing side of the franchise.

Interestingly, despite Keanu Reeves net worth reaching hundreds of millions of dollars and his films earning the respect of moviegoers worldwide, he’s never won the Academy Awards, and his only award for Best Male Performance came from the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. He was also named Best International Actor in 2008 at the Bambi Award show.

Reeves has had incredible grosses during his career, but the bulk of the awards and nominations for his performances have been for the “worst” of something or another. For the Golden Raspberry Award show, he was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor in 1994’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and was nominated twice in 1995 for Worst Actor in “A Walk in the Clouds” and “Johnny Mnemonic.”

Keanu Reeve’s Personal Life

One of the quietest facets of Keanu Reeve’s life is his personal life. He doesn’t often step out in public with the women he dates, and he normally refrains from mentioning his personal relationships. In the late 1990s, Reeves experienced the terrible loss of his daughter, who he and his partner named Ava Archer Syme Reeves.

He would eventually break up with his partner, Jennifer Syme, and she would die just a few years later in a car crash. He was also briefly linked to China Chow, the daughter of a famous restaurateur. Sandra Bullock and Winona Ryder have both been romantically linked to Keanu. Most recently, Keanu has been in a relationship with Alexandra Grant, a visual artist.

Interesting Keanu Reeves Factoids

• Reeves earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.
• In Los Angeles, Reeves house is a 5,000 sq. ft. mansion in the Hollywood Hills.
• There is a Keanu Reeves film festival called KeanuCon, which debuted in 2019.
• Worldwide box office earnings for Keanu’s films are almost $4 billion.
• Reeves starred in a Coca-Cola commercial in one of his earliest gigs.

The Future of Keanu Reeves

For fans of Keanu Reeves, the future is bright as the actor intends to continue with the John Wick franchises, and there are rumors he might star in more Matrix sequels. From his early life on the high school hockey team to various stage productions and a meteoric career as a professional actor, Keanu Reeves has built a positive reputation for philanthropy. 

He has a private foundation that funds children’s hospitals and cancer research, and he’s been quoted as saying he was embarrassed by his net worth and wanted to give his money away. He’s been known to give actors in co-starring roles, personal friends, and various charities lavish gifts.