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by Stevie Martin |

Keanu Reeves really is the nicest man in Hollywood, Guys. We knew this back in 2014 when Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, A Scanner Darkly, Speed, 90s heartthrob, lookhimupifyoudontknowwhatimonabout) waited patiently for 20 minutes in the rain outside the wrap party of his own film, Daughter of God, after a mix-up because he didn’t want to cause a scene.

He didn’t say, ‘Hey I’m Keanu Reeves’ or ‘Yo man, this is my party’ once to the bouncer – and the owner of the club was horrified when he found out afterwards that the actor was standing in the rain. ‘I didn’t know he was kept waiting, and he didn’t say anything to me! He’s a very relaxed person,’ he told the Mail Online.

Thing is, this wasn't the first time Keanu has quietly proven he’s probably one of the nicest dudes in Hollywood. Forget loud and brash donations to charity in front of the world’s media, or tipping millions then Instagramming the receipt – Keanu goes about his business and we think he deserves to be recognised as being The Coolest.

If these don’t make you go ‘awwwww’ then you’re dead inside:

1. He takes pay cuts and gives other people money on set all the time

The stories of Keanu’s on-set antics are less diva, more total legend. Yeah, he got shitloads for fronting The Matrix in 1999 – but chose to give a huge chunk (totalling a reported $75 million) of his earnings for the second two films, to the special effects guys and people behind the scenes whom he felt deserved it more.

Also, when he was at the height of his heartthrob status, Keanu took a $2 million pay cut for The Devil’s Advocate, so the studio would be able to afford to hire Al Pacino as the lead. He also took a reported 90 per cent pay cut on The Replacements so they could hire Gene Hackman. And, best of all, is this story from Reddit:

‘A family friend builds movie sets, doesn’t design, is one of the poor dudes that just builds. Anyways he worked on the set for The Matrix and Keanu heard about family trouble he was having and gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus to help him out. He also was one of the only people on the set that genuinely wanted to know people’s names, would say hello and mean it, and would talk to people as they were his peers and not below him just because they were practically making nothing to build a set. I’ve never heard anyone say Keanu is douche, seems like the nicest person in Hollywood from a second hand experience.’

2. He is very nice while on public transport

3. He hangs out with homeless people, and not for attention

In 1997, again at the height of his ‘OMG he’s so fit’ fame, Keanu met a homeless guy and decided to just hang out with him in the side streets of West Hollywood. He was snapped eating snacks, sharing his drink and lying on his back while listening to the guy’s stories – and the best thing was, it wasn’t some sort of PR stunt. A couple of paps came across him by accident.

4. He once drove a girl 50 miles out of his way because her car had broken down

While this is unverified, and exists on the Reddit thread where people share stories about Keanu (go read them, they’ll warm your cockles), a commenter’s friend was stranded on the side of the road because their car had broken down. A Porsche pulls up, and it’s Keanu Reeves. ‘He tried to help her jump-start the car and when it didn’t work, he called AAA for her,’ the redditor writes.

‘When they towed her car, he offered her to drive her home, which she accepted. He drove about 50 miles out of his destination just to drive her home. She told me she hoped he would hit on her but he didn’t, he was just a gentleman, dropped her at her house, gave her his phone number and told her to call him if she needed further help.’

5. He knows who he is, and he’s self deprecating, maaaan

Known for his dumb Bill and Ted character, Keanu hasn’t exactly been touted as the most intelligent of people. When he became massive, a lot of people took the piss out of his LA drawl and propensity for playing stupid-but-pretty characters. Keanu’s response to this in an interview with Details magazine is brilliant: ‘I’m a meathead, I can’t help it, man. You’ve got smart people and you’ve got dumb people. You just happen to be spending some time with a dumb person.’ We don't know about dumb, but we can say that he is really nice. Which is what counts.

God bless Keanu, and may more celebrities take after his brilliant example. Yes, Kanye ‘I am a god’ West, we’re looking at you.

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Follow Stevie on Twitter: @5tevieM