Keanu Reeves in a black suit and shirt in Chapter 3- Parabellum Lionsgate

Keanu Reeves Almost Changed His Name to ‘Chuck Spadina’

Originally posted on Nerdist | By Michael Walsh | Last updated Oct 17, 2025 11:29 AM ET

With apologies to Juliet, it turns out a rose by any other name might smell as sweet. Yeah, it’s actually possible to make something inherently less good if you call it something really stupid. And that’s exactly what someone wanted to do to Keanu Reeves when the actor first arrived in Hollywood. His manager wanted someone who now has one of the most famous, recognizable names in the industry to changes his name. And for a brief moment, Reeves actually considered changing his name and calling himself “Chuck Spadina.”

:Tone Loc voice: Funky Chuck Spadina. Yeah, seriously, that’s the name (minus the funky) the guy who played Neo and John Wick almost went by. During an appearance on the the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast (which we first heard about at Variety) Reeves shared a very funny story about the start of his career.

He told his hosts about how his first true Hollywood moment happened immediately. It began when he drove his car to Los Angeles at 20. “Got out of my car and my manager said, ‘We want to change your name,’” he said. “I remember I was walking on the beach and I was just like, ‘My name? What if I change my name? What?’”

Reeves came up with ‘Chuck Spadina’ because his middle name is Charles and he grew up on a street named Spadina. As he told Jimmy Fallon in 2017, he also considered Templeton Paige Taylor. But he ultimately settled on “KC Reeves,” a name he was credited under in a 1986 Disney TV movie. Ultimately though he couldn’t do it. “I would be in auditions and they would go, ‘KC Reeves.’ And I wouldn’t even answer,” he said. So after six months, he was once again Keanu Reeves, his real name we all know him by.

Thank goodness. A rose would not smell nearly as sweet if we had to call it Chuck Spadina or KC Reeves.

This article first appeared on Nerdist and was syndicated with permission.

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