Keanu Reeves reportedly donated $31.5m of his Matrix salary to cancer research

Actor Keanu Reeves is known as Hollywood’s resident nice guy, and for good reason.

The 57-year-old’s down-to-earth manner has seen him capture headlines for going out of his way to sign autographs for fans, help out production crews during filming, and how respectful he is with female fans. He was even captured giving up his seat on the subway.

Now there is another item to add to the list.

The star reportedly donated 70 per cent of his earnings from The Matrix, approximately $31.5 million - to fund leukaemia research, according to LadBible.

There’s a moving personal reason why this cause is so important to Reeves. In 1991 his little sister Kim, now 55, was diagnosed with cancer and battled it for almost a decade.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Although the claim he donated 70 per cent of his Matrix earnings to hospitals that treat leukaemia is contested by fact-checkers at Snopes in a 2016 article, the website reports that he certainly is generous with his cash when it comes to good causes.

In 2009 he revealed that he has his own private foundation which aids children’s hospitals and cancer research. He told Ladies’ Home Journal: “I have a private foundation that’s been running for five or six years, and it helps aid a couple of children’s hospitals and cancer research.

He added: “I don’t like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does.”

He reportedly handed over a percentage of his profits from the Matrix sequels to the special effects and costume design teams, according to a 2001 Wall Street Journal report. He also apparently took pay cuts during other projects so films could afford to hook in other actors, such as Al Pacino in Devil’s Advocate.

In 2020 he auctioned off a private Zoom call in aid of the Camp Rainbow organisation, an Idaho children’s cancer charity.

Reeves, known affectionately as “the internet’s boyfriend”, has also gifted his colleagues personalised Rolex watches and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

And those are just some of the star’s good deeds.

Keanu for president 2024.