Keanu Reeves has revealed that he almost went by the stage name Chuck Spadina, and even used KC Reeves for a short while before sticking with his real name.
On the New Heights podcast with brothers Jason and Travis Kelce, Reeves, 61, said he moved to Los Angeles at 20 and had a manager who was insistent he needed to change his name.
“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 goes on to list the stage names he came up with, and that none of them took.
“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.”
According to his IMDb page, Reeves is indeed credited as KC Reeves in a 1986 anthology series called The Magical World of Disney.
“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.”
In September, Leonardo DiCaprio shared that his manager told him that his name was “too ethnic” and wanted him to go by Lenny Williams.
“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.’”
The new name was supposed to be both a nickname for Leonardo and a version of DiCaprio’s middle name, which is Wilhelm. However, his father did not appreciate the change after seeing his son’s headshot with the name Lenny Williams printed on it.
“My dad saw this photo, ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.’”
Reeves is currently promoting his latest film Good Fortune, also Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut.
The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey praised Reeves’ performance in her three-star review of the film, writing: “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 infantilising millennial speak.”
Good Fortune is in cinemas from 17 October.
