The Secret to an Excellent Life Is to Live Like Keanu Reeves

Timeless lessons from the nicest guy in Hollywood — possibly the world

It’s common to seek the wisdom of people who have led remarkable lives. One such man is Keanu Reeves, who’s something of a pop-culture icon, not because of any particular film, but for being Keanu Reeves himself.

Much of what we know about his offscreen persona has been shared or reported by others, in part because of his desire for privacy.

But, perhaps, it’s also why we’re so drawn to him in the first place. In a time rife with cynicism, hopelessness, and selfishness, he comes across as humble, kind, even almost heroic in every sense of the word.

I’ll say it again: The world would be a better place if everyone was more like Keanu Reeves.

A road trip for the ages

Did you hear about that time a plane had to make an emergency landing and Keanu Reeves was helping to schedule everyone’s travel back home?

The flight, which was originally from San Francisco to Burbank, had to be rerouted to Bakersfield due to a mechanical issue. Once on the ground, Keanu worked with airline staffers to arrange for a fleet of vans to escort every single one of the passengers to their exact destinations.

Keanu himself hopped into one of the vans and spent the next two hours entertaining his fellow travelers.

He reads them facts about Bakersfield — did you know its population is around 380,000, making it the ninth most populous city in California? He plays some Bakersfield sound, a subgenre of country music, on his phone. He makes small talk.

By the end of the trip, the van’s passengers seem to have genuinely bonded with one another.

Here is the internationally famous star of The Matrix, John Wick, and Bill & Ted franchises, stuck at an airport against his own will. Rather than using his celebrity resources to flee the airport in private, he puts on a brave face, connects with his companions in misery, and makes the most out of a bad situation.

Seriously, how many of us would act in the same way as Keanu did? It sounds crazy — almost unreal — but this is just one of the random acts of everyday kindness that Keanu has been documented for over the years.

Ultimate nice guy

Look up “Keanu Reeves nice guy” and you will find no shortage of listicles highlighting his good deeds.

Just read some of these, including one where he goes out of his way to sign an autograph for a young fan. There’s also that famous clip — watched 42 million times on YouTube — of Keanu giving up his subway seat for someone who was carrying a large bag.

However, Keanu’s generosity goes beyond small gestures.

For 15 years, he has played a blockbuster role for children with cancer, raising funds and making personal visits after his sister’s diagnosis of leukemia. Until his connection to the foundation was leaked in 2018, he had done it all anonymously.

In 1999, his sister Kim told Australian magazine Woman’s Day:

“Keanu helped me so much through my illness. When the pain got really bad, he would sit with me and hold my hand, and keep the ‘bad man’ from making me dance. He was supporting me and comforting me all the time, even when he was away.”

Such heartfelt stories are why, when a now-deleted news report claimed that Keanu had donated 70 percent of his earnings from the original Matrix movie to cancer research, the internet didn’t think twice.

However, the actor’s publicist debunked the rumor, telling Newsweek: “The story is not true, Keanu Reeves did not donate 70 percent of his salary to charity.”

It does say something about Keanu’s special standing in the public’s heart that people were so eager to believe the claim was true.

Donating a large part of one’s paycheck seemed such a Keanu thing to do.

Be like Keanu

Although there are many stories of Keanu’s acts of kindness, he remains an incredibly modest person and has never spoken about any of these in public.

It helps, too, that little is known about his personal life. The bits that we do know suggest unimaginable loss, the kind that would shape someone’s experience of life.

In September 1999, Keanu and his then-partner Jennifer Syme’s child was stillborn; two years later, Syme died in a car crash. His childhood doesn’t appear to have been smooth-sailing either. His father was imprisoned for drug offenses, and the family moved frequently.

Although he didn’t begin his life in a stable family environment, he grew into a man who takes responsibility for his own life. Where many may have sunk into the backgrounds or even resented their upbringing, it seems that Keanu chose to find stability in chasing his aspirations.

In 2019, outside the famed Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Keanu said:

“I love movies. Gosh, I love movies. I love watching them, and I love making them.”

That’s how he is able to show up every day, improve his craft, and make the world a better place with his infectious personality. He’s more than kind — he loves what he does, too.

There can be something icky about our tendency to rave about celebrities performing the smallest acts of kindness, or exhibiting the barest hints of decency. But there’s undeniable sincerity behind every anecdote about Keanu’s kindness.

Yes, we pay extra attention because he’s famous, but the type of kindness he displays would be admirable in anyone, regardless of their level of fame.

It seems likely that we’d all want to be more like Keanu Reeves, even if Keanu Reeves wasn’t, well, Keanu Reeves. He seems like a great guy, not only by Hollywood standards but also by general human standards.

In true Keanu Reeves fashion, we’re all breathtaking. We have the capacity to live out wholesome lives, as long as we actively try to be a little bit better than we were yesterday.

Perhaps to the point that being genuinely nice is the rule, not the exception, and Keanu Reeves doesn’t have to stand out for simply being human.

In 2017, during the promotion of John Wick 2, a journalist asked him whether he had a set of rules to live his life by. “No,” he responded. “I don’t have the, like, ‘Here it is.’ I have the basic stuff, you know? Try not to lie, try to be kind, and all of those good things. I’m okay at it. I’m not great.”

Yes, he isn’t great. He’s excellent.