Keanu Reeves is one of the most beloved Hollywood actors and there are plenty of good reasons for that. Not only has he starred in a lot of fan-favorite movies (1), but he is also well-known for overcoming many tragedies in his life without becoming bitter. Even more than that, he’s also famous for his charity work and his active work to help save children’s hospitals across the country.
His Lifelong Tragedies…
Abandoned by his father when he was only 3-years-old, switching between four different high schools, having trouble learning due to dyslexia, Keanu has also lost one of his best friends to drug overdose. And if that wasn’t harsh enough, Keanu also experienced the loss of a stillborn child, and the death of a loved one in a car crash.
What makes people love Keanu so much isn’t just sympathy for his losses, however – we all have losses to cope with – it’s how even after all of it, he continues to go forward and help others with his work.
Keanu Reeves Charity Work
In addition to his successful movie career, Keanu Reeves has also done a lot of charity work, both directly and through his private foundation that works to assist children’s hospitals and cancer research. In 2009 he said in an interview with Ladies’ Home Journal that (2):
“I have a private foundation that’s been running for five or six years, and it helps aid a couple of children’s hospitals and cancer research. I don’t like to attach my name to it; I just let the foundation do what it does.”
And according to one report (3), “In addition to this, Keanu also manned the phones at a Stand Up to Cancer telethon in 2008 and volunteered to be the goalkeeper during a charity ice hockey match for Score (Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment) which was founded in support of players with spinal injuries.”
All this shows why Keanu Reeves is so beloved and admired by everyone, even people who aren’t necessarily fans of his acting chops and movie career. It’s rare to see a genuinely nice guy in Hollywood these days and Keanu definitely stands out. As one Reddit user puts it: (4)
“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 people’s names, would say ‘hello’ and mean it and would talk to people as they were his peers and not below him.”