KEANU FACT FILE

Age: 25.

Born: In Beirut and raised in Toronto, Canada.

Looks: Brown hair and blue eyes [??? Keanu’s eyes are brown!].  He’s half Hawaiian and his name (pronounced Key-o-noo) means ‘cool breeze from the mountains’.  He gets very embarrassed about being described as a sex symbol.  "I just hate seeing pictures of myself when I have this look in my eye where it’s like ‘Oooh, I’m so sensitive!’."

Hobbies: He loves motorbike riding and spending quiet evenings in having a nice shower, reading a good book, listening to his fave music and enjoying a nice glass of wine.

First Role: At school he did Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible.  His first line on stage was "What am I?"  A girl in the audience behind Keanu’s mother apparently murmured dreamily "A hunk..."

Ambitions: Keanu says he’s embarrassed by interviews "because I haven’t done anything yet."  He hopes to do some more stage work soon, especially an off-Broadway play.

KEANU’S FILMS

Youngblood (1985); Keanu played an ice hockey player.  The film also starred Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze.

Brotherhood Of Justice (1986); Kiefer Sutherland also starred in this tale of a gang of lads who form a vigilante posse to fight crime at their school.

River’s Edge (1986); A shocking film in which a boy murdered his girlfriend.  Keanu played a drug addict and mostly had to sit around looking stoned!

Permanent Record (1986); A big teen angst drama in which Keanu is forced to question his own value after his best mate kills himself.

The Night Before (1988); An embarrassing film for Keanu in which he does all sorts of unsavoury things while rather drunk.

Dangerous Liaisons (1988); He played a handsome aristocrat being manipulated by Glenn Close.  The Prince Of Pennsylvania (1988); A tearaway young son rebels against his father who wants him to be a miner like him.

Parenthood (1989); A huge hit worldwide in which Keanu plays a hippy son with the weirdest haircut you’ve ever seen!

Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989); See review.  (See under Excellent Adventure articles)

I Love You To Death (1989); Not released here yet.  William Hurt and Kevin Kline star in this black comedy in which Keanu and Hurt are hired to bump off a cheating husband.

Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter (1989); Not released here yet.  Set in New Orleans in 1950, Keanu plays a trainee lawyer who longs to be a writer.

ON HIMSELF

"I’d rather be cross-eyed and kind of making some stupid face in photographs than have that sombre, actor look."

"I don’t think I’m the most handsome guy in the world but I know I’m not a dog."

"I went to a performing arts school in Toronto. It was a fun year but I was rude and stuff so I got kicked out and failed!"

"I’m your basic insecure clichéd actor. I’m kind of like a pseudo-quasi method actor."

"Acting is the only thing that keeps me still. If I’m not working, I bounce off walls." (!)