Happy birthday Keanu Reeves! Here are 10 awesome facts about the Bill & Ted star

Woah! Keanu Reeves is 56, and he's back on our screens this month in Bill & Ted Face the Music.

We're celebrating his special day with 10 awesome facts about the Hollywood veteran. Scroll down and party on dudes.

1. He’s a seriously charitable guy

Tis true. Keanu regularly gives great wodges of cash to charity and is well known in Hollywood for his kindness to his co-workers, often taking a pay cut to allow either a movie to get made or to allow more money for the crew. And check out this clip of him giving up his seat for a lady on the subway. What a dude.

2. He’s seen a ghost

As a kid, Reeves once had a terrifying encounter with a ghostly suit. In an interview with The Sun, he recalled: "I remember just staring at this suit which had no body or legs in it as it came into the room before disappearing. It was a double-breasted suit in white and I looked at my nanny, who was just as shocked as me. I just couldn't get back to sleep afterwards."

3. His name means 'cool breeze over the mountains' in Hawaiian

4. He’s been a rock star

From 1991-2002 he was the bassist in alternative rock band Dogstar.

5. He’s left-handed, but plays the bass right-handed

6. He speaks fluent French

Il fait vraiment.

7. He’s not just a pretty face

Though Keanu was often ridiculed, early in his career, for being an airhead (note to critics – Bill and Ted aren’t real), he’s actually a bit of an intellectual. He’s apparently read ALL of Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (and there’s a LOT of it – the seven-volume work is roughly one and a half million words long). He can also recite Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 from memory, and – due to his love of the Bard – turned down the Al Pacino part in Michael Mann’s Heat in order to star as Hamlet on stage in Canada.

8. He’s quite possibly immortal

Paul Mounet was a French actor from the late 19th century. But could it be that he DIDN’T die in 1922 and instead carried on living, changing his name to Keanu Reeves. Could it be possible? (No.) Could Keanu really be Paul Mounet? (No) Is Keanu Reeves immortal? (No.)

9. He performs his own stunts

Remember that scene from The Matrix where Neo climbs out of the office window? Keanu performed this scene himself, all of 34 stories up. Crikey. And that awesome scene on the horse in John Wick 3? Again, it was all him.