--- title: Keanu Reeves on Changing His Name on Jimmy Fallon VIDEO description: Keanu Reeves may be one of the most well-known stars in the business, but it turns out fans almost knew him by a completely different name. canonical: https://time.com/4834839/keanu-reeves-on-name-change-on-fallon/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-27T16:53:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:56.259Z og:title: Why Keanu Reeves Almost Changed His Name to Chuck Spadina og:description: And why it didn't work out og:url: https://time.com/4834839/keanu-reeves-on-name-change-on-fallon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Keanu Reeves Almost Changed His Name to Chuck Spadina twitter:description: And why it didn't work out twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Hilarious Reason Keanu Reeves Once Almost Changed His Name to Chuck Spadina > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d64b1fdd-f48e-4306-8ee2-38ffe0023002&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jun 27, 2017 4:53 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jun 27, 2017 4:53 PM UTC [Keanu Reeves](http://time.com/4663702/john-wick-chapter-2-review/) may be one of the most well-known [movie stars](http://time.com/4201149/america-favorite-movie-stars-men-tom-hanks/) in the business, but it turns out fans almost knew him by a completely different name. During a Friday appearance on _The Tonight Show_, the [_John Wick_](http://time.com/4665005/john-wick-chapter-2/) actor revealed that his agents asked him to change his name pretty much the second in arrived in Hollywood. “I’m 20 years old and I’m going to drive in my first car, And I’m going to drive to Hollywood. ” Reeves told host Jimmy Fallon. “And I get there and my manager, my agents say…’Great to see you, but we want to change your name.’ They did it the first day I got there.” However, his team made the mistake of giving him the option to pick out the new moniker on his own. “So I go to the ocean because this is a big deal for me…And I scream, ‘What’s my name?,'” Reeves explained before revealing his memorable choice: “Chuck Spadina.” Watch the full clip above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4834839/keanu-reeves-on-name-change-on-fallon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4834839/keanu-reeves-on-name-change-on-fallon/"},"headline":"The Hilarious Reason Keanu Reeves Once Almost Changed His Name to Chuck Spadina","datePublished":"2017-06-27T16:53:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:56.259Z","description":"And why it didn't work out","url":"https://time.com/4834839/keanu-reeves-on-name-change-on-fallon/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","jimmy fallon","TV","Late Night Television","The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4834839/keanu-reeves-on-name-change-on-fallon/","name":"The Hilarious Reason Keanu Reeves Once Almost Changed His Name to Chuck Spadina"}}]}] ```