Keanu Reeves has become one of the most popular and famous Hollywood stars, and it all comes down to the movies that defined his career. Reeves has been a star for almost four decades, and over his career, he has done a lot. After starting in young adult dramas, he became a mᴀssive comedy star before finally morphing into a legitimate action hero.

The action genre is where Keanu Reeves remains best known for today. However, his road there has taken a few turns, starting as a good cop in police action movies and moving on to sci-fi action and then his most famous role as John Wick. Along the way, he has become an icon, and someone that fans love for just being Keanu Reeves.

River’s Edge (1986)

Keanu Reeves Plays Matt

Things started for Keanu Reeves with his role in his third-ever, feature-length movie role. In 1986, Reeves starred in three films, and the best of these was the crime drama River’s Edge. Reeves stars alongside a young Crispin Glover in the story of a group of teens who have to deal with the fact one of their friends killed their girlfriend.

Daniel Robuck stars as John, the teen who killed his girlfriend, and Joshua Miller stars as Tim, another teen who becomes infatuated with the idea of the murder. Reeves plays Matt, a friend who is disturbed at the murder, while Glover plays Layne, a teen who wants to help cover up the crime. Soon, all their lives fall apart.

Dennis Hopper co-stars as an older man who had killed his own girlfriend years before. Reeves is one of the only decent people in the story, someone who wants to do the right thing, but who knows he is as guilty as anyone at covering up a crime. It was an introduction to the conflicted, but good characters Reeve mastered in his career.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Keanu Reeves Plays Theodore “Ted” Logan

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is the movie that made Keanu Reeves a star. It was a complete 180 from his role in River’s Edge, as Reeves played a slacker with no direction in life in this comedy. Alex Winter co-stars as Bill, while Reeves plays Ted, two friends who want nothing more than to be big rock stars.

However, neither man has any desire to actually work for it, and Ted finds his life in a tough spot when his dad threatens to send him to military school if he doesn’t pᴀss his history class. Luckily, Bill and Ted meet a time-traveler named Rufus (George Carlin) who allows them to use his machine to meet historical figures.

The entire movie is heavy on comedy and brings everyone from Napoleon and Abraham Lincoln to Billy the Kid and Beethoven to the present day, where Bill and Ted have to wrangle these historical figures to somehow save the world. There were three films in the Bill & Ted series, Reeves’ first ever franchise.

Point Break (1991)

Keanu Reeves Plays Johnny Utah

After Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, it seemed that Keanu Reeves would end up typecast as a slacker in comedies, since that was what people now knew him as. However, he rejected this proposal and went in the opposite direction. While still taking on the “slacker” personality, he moved to the action adventure genre next.

Reeves starred in Point Break with Patrick Swayze. In the film, Reeves portrayed Johnny Utah, a police officer sent undercover to investigate a group of extreme sports enthusiasts that police believed were also bank robbers who wore the masks of former U.S. presidents. Swayze played Bodhi, the leader of this group.

The movie proved that Reeves could be a leading man in action movies, which would lead to his biggest success in the future and help him break out of the stereotype that Bill & Ted placed him in. Point Break remains a beloved action classic, and was even remade in a lesser version in 2015.

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Keanu Reeves Plays Scott Favor

After the Bill & Ted franchise and Point Break, Keanu Reeves made his name as a mainstream Hollywood star. However, much as he proved in his earlier appearance in River’s Edge, there is more to Reeves than his movie star good looks. He proved this once again in his most critically acclaimed role in My Own Private Idaho.

For Reeves, it was a risky move since it was in 1991, and he was just starting to get bigger roles. Phoenix plays Mike, a Sєx worker, while Reeves plays Scott, one of his friends, and another Sєx worker in Seattle. The two young men then set out on a journey of self-discovery in a movie that has become a classic of New Queer Cinema.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Keanu Reeves Plays Jonathan Harker

It might have seemed like a no-brainer, but taking the role of Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a movie that almost derailed Keanu Reeves’ career. The role was a classic one, as Harker was an important part of almost every main Dracula movie since the first in 1931. However, fans never bought into Reeves’ performance.

This was one of Reeves’ biggest movies at the time, a grand Francis Ford Coppola film that was the last great release for that filmmaker, who has never matched his early career success since this film. While critics and fans hated Reeves in the movie at the time, he rebounded quickly and proved later that he was better than many thought.

Speed (1994)

Keanu Reeves Plays Jack Traven

While Point Break proved that Keanu Reeves could be a top-line star in an action movie, Speed proved that he could be the leading man. The film was a career breakout performance for both Reeves as LAPD Officer Jack Traven and Sandra Bullock as Annie Porter, a pᴀssenger on the hijacked city bus.

Dennis Hopper is here as the villain, reuniting him with Reeves after River’s Edge. This movie proved that Reeves and Bullock were both box office attractions, with the movie making an impressive $350.4 million. There was also a sequel, but only Bullock returned and Reeves moved on to other things.

This movie ᴀssured that Reeves had plenty of opportunities for leading roles in action movies for the next decade, but nothing reached the level of success as Speed until 1999, when he got a chance to star in a groundbreaking sci-fi action movie.

The Matrix (1999)

Keanu Reeves Plays Neo

The Matrix revolutionized sci-fi action movies with things like Bullet Time as well as the philosophical storytelling that eventually weighed down the sequels. However, through it all, Reeves Neo was not only the “Chosen One,” but he was the heart and soul of the entire series.

This movie made Reeves a major Hollywood box office star, and helped make him one of the most popular actors on the planet thanks to his laid-back acting style, even while taking on over-the-top action scenes. There have been four Matrix movies, but nothing beats the first one.

Constantine (2005)

Keanu Reeves Plays John Constantine

It seems like everyone has played a character in a DC or Marvel Comics movie, but Keanu Reeves got an early start with a role in the 2005 DC Comics horror movie Constantine. The character of John Constantine has a big life on TV thanks to Matt Ryan’s comic-accurate portrayal of the character, but Reeves did it first.

When Constantine came out, Reeves received a lot of criticism for the portrayal because he didn’t look or act like Constantine from the comics. However, like his performance in Dracula, people have reappraised the film, and it is now considered a cult classic and a film that many fans want to see a sequel to.

John Wick (2014)

Keanu Reeves Plays John Wick

Most actors would be happy to have one major franchise on their shoulders. However, Keane Reeves is not only the main star in The Matrix movies, but he is also the star of one of the most successful action movie franchises of all time, John Wick. He plays the main star of the franchise, and it all started with this 2014 film.

The John Wick franchise is an anomaly. There are no diminishing returns here, as the movies have made more and more money with each entry. This franchise lives and dies on Keanu Reeves’ shoulders, and he has proven to be one of the most successful movie stars in Hollywood today.

Always Be My Maybe (2019)

Keanu Reeves Plays Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves has become more than just a Hollywood actor. He is a legend and icon in his own right. This has been proven thanks to some movie roles he has taken on since his success in The Matrix and John Wick made him a bankable star. This happened in the Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe.

Randall Park and Ali Wong are the main leads, former childhood friends who grew up together before going their separate ways after they had Sєx as teens, and it ruins their friendship. As adults, Sasha is a celebrity chef and Marcus is still playing in a small band. They reunite, but as Marcus wants to win her back, he has compeтιтion.

Sasha is dating Keanu Reeves, who plays a fictionalized version of himself in this movie. The fact that the actor warrants playing a version of himself in a movie shows the level of star the former Bill & Ted actor has achieved, and it is a testament to his cult idol status for movie fans.