Keanu Reeves reflects on initial days of career when he was told to change his name

Keanu Reeves, who is currently garnering praises for John Wick: Chapter 4, released on Thursday, March 24, recalled the starting days of his acting career, when he was told to change his name.

The Matrix actor looked back on the past during the his film's press tour and also recalled what it was like when he first started acting in the mid-1980s at his recent appearance on a podcast SmartLess.

Reeves revealed how his agents at the time asked him to change his name because it was "too ethnic."

"I got my first car when I was 20, and I drove to Hollywood. Of course, when I got here, they wanted to change my name. Yeah, they were like, 'Keanu, it's too ethnic.'" he said.

"I remember I had driven across the country and I remember they told me... I was driving up and down along the beach in Santa Monica going, 'What the expletive?'" told Reeves while expressing he was pretty annoyed by the remark.

The Point Break and Constantine actor revealed he tried a different name using the initials of his first and middle name, "Keanu Charles."

Reeves explained, "I was like, 'OK, well, what's my name going to be?' And I was like, 'Templeton?' So, eventually, I came up with my first and middle initial, so I was Casey Reeves. Oh, my god."

However, the Canadian star said he could not get along with the name as he didn't even respond to it during auditions.

"But then I had auditions and they'd be like, 'Casey?' and I like wouldn't even look up. Eventually, I went back to my agents and I was like, 'I can't change my name.'" told the actor.

"One of the first plays I ever did, I was playing John Procter and one of the lines is like, 'Because it is my name, because I can have no other,' and that was just running through my head," he added.