Courtesy of Warner BrosFilm & TV / NewsFilm & TV / NewsKeanu Reeves has donated most of his Matrix earnings to Cancer ResearchThe actor has given away approximately $31.5 millionShareLink copied ✔️January 4, 2022January 4, 2022TextGünseli Yalcinkaya Keanu Reeves, AKA Hollywood’s resident Nice Guy, has seemingly built a reputation on his relentlessly kind nature, whether that’s taking his mum to the Oscars, gifting his John Wick 4 stunt team Rolex watches, or auctioning a one-on-one Zoom call for charity. Now, Reeves is donating 70 per cent of his earnings from the original 1999 The Matrix to cancer research – that’s approximately $31.5 million. According to The New York Post, Reeves made a total of $45 million USD for the blockbuster, but has decided to give away 70 per cent of his earnings to Cancer Research. At the time of filming, the actor’s younger sister was battling the disease. Even after her recovery, however, Reeves has continued his philanthropic work, establishing a private fund back in the early 2000s for cancer research. The fourth addition of The Matrix franchise came out last month, yet failed to perform at the box office. Nevertheless, promotion of the film has unearthed some crucial Keanu pop facts, including one podcast interview where the actor revealed that he once dressed up as Dolly Parton’s iconic 1978 Playboy cover as a teen. Speaking on Red Table Talk, Reeves told host Jada Pinkett Smith: “My mother was a costume designer and she made some costumes for Dolly Parton and she once did the cover of Playboy,” he said, referring to her work on Dolly’s black and pink sequinned ensemble – originally designed by Zelda Wynn Valdes, the first Black designer to open a shop on New York’s Broadway Street.” “Somehow I guess (Dolly) didn’t take that home, so we had it, and it was Halloween,” he continued. “So I put on the ears, then the bustier, I wore sneakers with fishnet stockings and a bowtie. I had some pretty long hair… I was Dolly Parton as the Playboy bunny.” Read our interview with The Matrix Resurrections’ costume designer, Lindsay Pugh, here. Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MOREGetting to the bottom of the Heated Rivalry discourseMarty Supreme and the cost of ‘dreaming big’Ben Whishaw on the power of Peter Hujar’s photography: ‘It feels alive’Atropia: An absurdist love story set in a mock Iraqi military villageMeet the new generation of British actors reshaping Hollywood Sentimental Value is a raw study of generational traumaJosh Safdie on Marty Supreme: ‘One dream has to end for another to begin’Animalia: An eerie feminist sci-fi about aliens invading MoroccoThe 20 best films of 2025, rankedWhy Kahlil Joseph’s debut feature film is a must-seeJay Kelly is Noah Baumbach’s surreal, star-studded take on fameWatch: Owen Cooper on Adolescence, Jake Gyllenhaal and Wuthering Heights