Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr. is the father of Keanu Reeves. Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr.’s son Keanu is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in Youngblood.
Who is Keanu Reeves’ father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr.?
Keanu Reeves’ father, Samuel Nowlin was a Hawaiian-Chinese farmer. Samuel was born and lived most of his life in Honolulu.
In the early 1960s, Keanu Reeves’ father studied geology at the American University of Lebanon. This is where he met Keanu’s mother, Patricia Taylor, an Englishwoman. In 1964, the two love birds got married and moved to Beirut.
Samuel and Patricia divorced after only a few years of marriage. Patricia moved her son Keanu and his sister Kim to Canada, where she worked as a fashion designer for rock bands like Led Zeppelin. Samuel later married Morita, with whom he had a daughter named Emma Rose in 1980. Samuel eventually divorced and married for the third time.
What happened to Keanu Reeves’ father?
Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr. made a living as a farmer. But he struggled with this. Dragged down by debt and his drug habit, he began importing Mexican heroin and cocaine in the 1990s.
Samuel was sentenced to two years in prison as part of a ten-year sentence in 1992 for selling heroin at Hilo International Airport. While incarcerated, he completed his GED. Samuel had a lifelong addiction problem and was estranged from his children. Samuel Reeves, 75, died on January 26, 2018, in Ewa Beach. Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr. was claimed to have diabetes and Grave’s disease, an immune disorder which can cause heart failure. Before his death, he said: “I know I’ve done wrong, but I just wish Keanu would forgive me as I could die any day.”
Emma Rose is 38-year-old Keanu’s half-sister from his father Samuel’s marriage to his second wife Marita. But she has only met him twice despite growing up only about 10 hours’ drive from LA where he is based.
Samuel Nowlin’s daughter from his second marriage revealed: “I always felt there was a part of my life that was missing because I didn’t know Keanu and his sister Kim. I was a little hurt that he didn’t get in touch with me when we were younger but, to be honest, I can understand why he didn’t.
“We have a strange family with a lot of difficult dynamics. And after he became well-known, I was afraid he would think I only wanted to meet him because of who he was.”
Emma Rose was 12 years old when she first met her famous brother. But she’d seen him on the big screen a few weeks before in his smash hit Speed. “I couldn’t get over his resemblance to our father – especially around the eyes and nose,” she says. It was simply incredible.
Samuel Reeves’ son Keanu Reeves
Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr.’s son Keanu Reeves is discreet about his spiritual beliefs, saying that it is something “personal and private”. When asked if he was a spiritual person, he said that he believes “in God, faith, inner faith, the self, passion, and things”, and that he is “very spiritual” and “supremely bountiful”. Although he does not formally practice Buddhism, the religion has left a strong impression on him, especially after filming Little Buddha. He said, “Most of the things I’ve come away with from Buddhism have been human—understanding feelings, impermanence, and trying to understand other people and where they’re coming from.”
When asked on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2019 about his views on what happens after death, Reeves replied, “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.”
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