Hollywood star Keanu Reeves recalled his early days in the industry when he was told by his agents to change his name to something less ‘ethnic’.
Speaking at a recent episode of the comedy podcast ‘Smartless’ earlier this week, the ‘Matrix’ star revealed that he was suggested to change his name – over three decades ago – when he was starting during the mid-1980s.
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Reeves stated, “I got my first car when I was 20, and I drove to Hollywood. Of course, when I got here, they wanted to change my name.”
Yeah, they were like, ‘Keanu, it’s too ethnic’,” he remembered.
“I remember I had driven across the country and I remember they told me… I was driving up and down along the beach in Santa Monica going, ‘What the f*ck?'” the actor added.
He mentioned that he actually came up with alternatives, but failed to get along during the auditions.
“I was like, ‘OK, well, what’s my name going to be?’ And I was like, ‘Templeton?’ So, eventually, I came up with my first and middle initial, so I was Casey Reeves. Oh, my god,” Reeves narrated.
“But then I had auditions and they’d be like, ‘Casey?’ and I like wouldn’t even look up. Eventually, I went back to my agents and I was like, ‘I can’t change my name’.”
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“One of the first plays I ever did, I was playing John Procter and one of the lines is like, ‘Because it is my name, because I can have no other,’ and that was just running through my head,” he shared.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Keanu Reeves’ latest release, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is currently ruling the Box Office. The neo-noir action thriller by Chad Stahelski debuted in theatres over the past weekend, with an impressive opening of $73.5 million, while the reviews have been mostly positive as well.
