JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
All You Need to Know About Keanu Reeves’ Parents: Patricia Taylor And Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr
Discover the backgrounds of Keanu Reeves’s parents and how his close relationship with his mother, Patricia, contrasts with the strained bond he had with his late father, Samuel.
Like all rearing figures, Keanu Reeves’ parents had a profound impact on his life, though he primarily leaned on his mother after they separated when he was just 3 years old. Reeves was born in 1964 in Lebanon to Patricia Taylor and Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr., who passed away in 2018.
After the split, Reeves moved around the world with his mother, living in places like New York and Australia before settling in Toronto, where he spent his teenage years. Although Reeves is known for keeping his personal life private, including details about his family, he has shared glimpses into the influence his parents had on his life.
Here’s a closer look at Keanu Reeves’ relationship with his parents and how their influence helped shape his journey, providing a deeper understanding of the actor’s life and family background.
ALSO READ: Throwback: When John Wick Producer Revealed Keanu Reeves Begged To 'Kill Off' His Character
Keanu’s mom is English, and his dad was Chinese and Hawaiian
Reeves' mother Patricia hails from England, while his father Samuel was Chinese and Hawaiian, making Keanu one of those eccentric mixes of Western and Asian.
The actor opened up about his heritage in a 2021 NBC interview, saying his relationship with his Asian identity has always been “good and healthy.” In The Matrix movies, Keanu, who does a lot of martial arts, said that he views it as an honor to his heritage.
“With the martial arts, [we’re] presenting those art forms in an artful way, in a respectful way,” the actor said. “Not in a way where it's experienced as a caricature, but from a place of reverence.”
Patricia and Samuel met in Beirut in their early 20s
Reeves revealed this piece of information in a 2019 interview with Charlie Herzfeld on his Conversations With Charlie podcast, where he mentioned his parents met when they were roughly 21 or 22. “So they met, they fell in love, and they had a baby, and that was me,” he explained. Reeves further shared that his parents lived in Beirut only for a few months after his birth and ended up going to Australia for a short while.
After Australia, per Reeves, his parents split, and his father moved back to Hawaii, leaving him, his mother, and his sister behind. The family then moved to the Big Apple before settling in Toronto.
Patricia also worked in the entertainment industry
Keanu’s mom has had a prolific showbiz career of her own. From working as a showgirl in Paris to working in Hollywood, she has done it all.
In the same interview as mentioned above, Keanu revealed that his mother took odd jobs in the City of Lights, including picking up pins in fashion houses. The effort, however, as odd as it may seem from the outside, ended up shaping Patricia’s career, as Reeves says it's while doing this job that she ended up falling in love with designing clothes.
Patricia, who became a fashion designer later in her life, has made costumes for musicians like Dolly Parton and Anne Murray. Of her work for the former, Reeves said it was his mother who designed the singer’s iconic bunny suit for her 1978 Playboy cover.
Reeves, when speaking to Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk in 2021, divulged that he wore the costume one Halloween because long after the shoot was done, his mother had kept it as if it was a prized possession.
The popular kids' show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? also sourced costumes from Patricia.
ALSO READ: ‘It Surprised Me ’: Keanu Reeves Opens Up About His Thoughts While Writing First Novel
Keanu did not have a relationship with his father
On the SmartLess podcast in 2023, hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett asked Reeves about his history, and the actor, in a very blunt response, said all his history would be attached to his mother because his father was nowhere in sight while he was growing up.
Reeves revealed at the time that the last time he spoke to his father was when he was 13.
During an interview with The Guardian, Reeves again reminisced about his relationship with his not-so-present dad, saying the experience was definitely traumatizing for him.
One of Patricia’s husbands helped Keanu break into Hollywood
Patricia married producer and director Paul Aaron in the early ‘70s, followed by music promoter Robert Miller in the late ‘70s. Her fourth marriage was to Jack Bond, which lasted a few years in the early ‘90s and ended in a divorce in 1994.
Per Reeves, however, it was his mother’s second husband and his first stepfather, Aaron, who helped him with his showbiz career. On the Conversations with Charlie podcast, Reeves detailed his bond with Aaron, saying he was around for a few years, and then he stayed in touch with him.
Reeves, per his account, was a PA on one of Aaron’s movies when he was 15.
After due encouragement from his mom, Reeves said he began acting, and years later, he met up with Aaron again when he served as a producer for 1991’s Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, the sequel to one of Reeves’s earliest hit movies, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Patricia remains an important part of Keanu’s life
Keanu brought his mom as his date to the 2020 Oscars, during which his film Toy Story 4 won the Best Animated Feature prize.
On the red carpet, Ryan Seacrest spoke to the mother-son duo and asked Patricia if she knew anything about Reeves’ then-upcoming movie, The Matrix Resurrections. A trained media personality, she coyly responded that she only knew about the preceding installments of the film
ALSO READ: Keanu Reeves Opens Up About His Experience Filming The Matrix; Says, ‘It Changed My Life...’
FAQ
Latest Articles
