Keanu Reeves Was Advised to Change His Name at Start of His Career – Here’s What He Tried Going By

We almost knew Keanu Reeves by a different name.

During a podcast appearance, the 58-year-old John Wick actor revealed that he was advised by his agents that he couldn’t go by Keanu in Hollywood when he arrived to kickstart his career.

He explained why they recommended the change, the name he was tempted to switch to and what he ultimately tried before deciding that he would go by Keanu.

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While on Smartless podcast, Keanu shared that he was asked almost immediately upon arriving to Hollywood to try something different.

“I got my first car when I was 20, and I drove to Hollywood,” he recalled. “Of course, when I got here, they wanted to change my name.”

Why? He said that there were concerns it to was “too ethnic.”

“I remember I had driven across the country, and I remember they told me and I was like stomping up and down along the beach in Santa Monica going ‘What the f-ck.’”

Keanu decided to try it out. “I was like, ‘OK, well, what’s my name going to be?’ And I was like, ‘Templeton.’”

Obviously Templeton didn’t work out. Instead, he tried to go by his first and middle initial, making him K.C. Reeves.

“But then I had auditions and they’d be like, ‘K.C.,’ and I wouldn’t even look up,” he shared. “Eventually, I went back to my agents and I was like, ‘I can’t change my name.’”

Keanu also recently spoke out about his relationship with longtime girlfriend Alexandra Grant.

Press play on Keanu Reeves’ podcast appearance below…