Keanu Reeves Nearly Adopted a Stage Name Before Sticking with His Own
Keanu Reeves has revealed that he almost entered Hollywood under a completely different name – and it wasn’t the only one he considered.
The 61-year-old actor admitted that early in his career, he briefly went by KC Reeves and even toyed with the moniker Chuck Spadina before realizing that nothing felt right except his real name.
Speaking on the New Heights podcast with NFL stars Jason and Travis Kelce, Reeves recalled his early days in Los Angeles and the pressure to change his identity.
“I got paid when I was like 16, so I was a professional actor around 16, 17. I was in Toronto, Canada, and then I got a manager who lived in Los Angeles,” Reeves said.
“At 20 years old, I drove in my car to Los Angeles. Got out of my car and my manager said, ‘We want to change your name.’ So that’s like, a welcome to Hollywood [moment]. I remember I was walking on the beach and I was just like, ‘My name? What if I change my name? What?’”
Reeves recalled the bizarre stage names he brainstormed, most of which never caught on.
“My middle name is Charles, so I was like, ‘…Chuck?’ And I grew up on a street called Spadina, [therefore] Chuck Spadina,” Reeves said. “And then I was something Templeton. So then I became KC Reeves. I was credited as KC Reeves.”
IMDb confirms the actor’s brief credit as KC Reeves in the 1986 anthology series The Magical World of Disney.
Reeves also admitted that the alternate name didn’t sit well with him.
“And then I couldn’t do it. So then I would be in auditions and they would go, ‘KC Reeves.’ And I wouldn’t even answer. Six months later, I was like, ‘I’m not doing this.’ That’s a Hollywood moment.”
The struggle to keep one’s name isn’t unique in Hollywood. Earlier this year, Leonardo DiCaprio shared a similar experience, revealing that his manager suggested the stage name Lenny Williams because his birth name was “too ethnic.”
“They said, ‘Your name is too ethnic,’” DiCaprio recalled on the New Heights podcast. “I go, ‘What do you mean? It’s Leonardo DiCaprio.’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never gonna hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.’”
Fortunately, DiCaprio’s father intervened, rejecting the new name outright.
“My dad saw this photo, ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.’”
Currently, Reeves is back in the spotlight with Good Fortune, the directorial debut of Aziz Ansari.
The film has already drawn praise for Reeves’ performance, described by Clarisse Loughrey as: “What emerges from that slight muddle of ideas is, ultimately, Reeves’s perfectly tuned performance as a naive celestial slowly being drawn down to earth.
He really has a way with those mock-serious, declarative readings of lines like, ‘see how superficial your life is now?’ And, out of his mouth, the word ‘chicken nuggies’ bears the adorable, giggling energy of a fawn taking its first steps, rather than the usual infantilizing millennial speak.”
Good Fortune hits UK cinemas on 17 October.
