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Keanu Reeves is riding high

Broadcast Date: June 5, 1985

Giddy-up! It's 1985, and the CBC-TV youth program Going Great is hitting the trails on horseback. And the television host of this lesson in equestrian is none other than a 20-year-old Keanu Reeves. He's in Woodstock, Ont. to take riding lessons from 16-year-old instructor Susan Keers, who runs her own riding school. But as we see in this clip, the future action hero can't help but show off his athletic chops - leaping onto a horse from behind, and pulling off an impressive somersault dismount.

Keanu Reeves is riding high

• Keanu Reeves was born in Beruit in 1964. He moved to Toronto as a boy and dropped out of school to become an actor. In 1986 - the year after this episode aired - he appeared in the feature films Youngblood and River's Edge. He became famous for his 1989 role in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, and starred in Point Break and My Own Private Idaho (1991), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Speed (1994), Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and The Matrix trilogy.

• According to the Internet Movie Database, the name Keanu is Hawaiian for "cool breeze over the mountains."

• In 2009, Keanu reeves was expected to be at TIFF to promote the film The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Reeves plays Chris Nadeau, the recently-divorced son of the titular character's neighbours.

Keanu Reeves is riding high

Medium: Television

Program: Going Great

Broadcast Date: June 5, 1985

Host: Keanu Reeves

Duration: 6:00

Last updated:
June 16, 2010