Keanu Reeves gifts 70% of his ‘Matrix’ earnings to cancer research

Canadian Hollywood actor, Keanu Reeves donated 70% of his ‘Matrix’ salary to cancer research, TopNaija reports.

57-year-old Reeves was reportedly paid $10 million upfront for the 1999 sci-fi flick, before earning a further $35 million when the movie became a box office blockbuster.

Lad Bible reported the actor donated 70% of the money, a whopping $31.5 million to leukemia research.

The report said Reeves “was inspired to fund research into the blood cancer after his sister Kim, now 55, was diagnosed in 1991.” She reportedly spent a decade in and out of treatment before finally entering remission in 2001.

Reeves has continued to give money to research in the years after Kim was cured, even creating his own cancer fund.

In addition to his sizable donation, the Speed and Point Break star has also launched a cancer charity foundation, telling Ladies Home Journal back in 2009 that he has” 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.” Reeves, however, doesn’t “like to attach” his name to it and just lets “the foundation do what it does.”

Over the years, Reeves has built up quite the reputation as being charitable with his earnings. As Daily Mail points out, “according to a 2001 Wall Street Journal report, the star handed over a significant portion of his second and third Matrix film back-end points to the VFX and costume design teams.” There have also been smaller gestures along the way, such as buying $9,000 Rolex watches for members of the John Wick 4 stunt team back in the Fall.

Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986). He had his breakthrough role in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), and he later reprised his role in its sequels.