After Octavia Spencer Got A Birthday Greeting From Keanu Reeves, She Couldn’t Help But Cry

In May 2020 Spencer was marking a milestone birthday. It was her 50th, and in order to celebrate the occasion, her friends collated a series of video messages recorded for the actress. But while there were a number of famous faces sending their good wishes, one had a particular impact on Spencer.

That particular tribute came courtesy of Reeves, whose kind words made Spencer cry. It seems that the actor’s message particularly resonated with the actress because of her history with The Matrix star. The pair, it turns out, go way back – though Reeves might be unaware of their shared connection.

As it turns out, Spencer’s admiration for Reeves started long before she was a star herself. Ahead of making it big in the movies, the actress had lived in Alabama, where she was born and raised. And while she’d grown up far from the bright lights of Hollywood, in a family with seven siblings, she was always drawn to performance.

That being said, her mother believed that Spencer should pursue something practical. In a TV interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October 2020 the actress revealed, “My mom had aspirations for me to either be a doctor or a lawyer then on to be a judge.” But regardless of her mother’s wishes, she would ultimately follow her own dreams.

Spencer emerged from Auburn University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts and English. After that, she took up a spot behind the camera helping with movie castings in her home state of Alabama. But before long, the actress found herself on the other side of the lens, landing her first role in a movie adaptation of A Time to Kill just one year after completing college.

Spencer got her role in A Time to Kill by chance. She was originally involved in casting but auditioned at the request of director Joel Schumacher. The opportunity changed everything for Spencer, leading to other jobs with her co-star Sandra Bullock and the filmmaker Tate Taylor, who worked on the movie behind the scenes.

Spencer decided to relocate to Los Angeles following the role to focus on acting. But after most of an early appearance on The Sixth Man was cut from the movie, she decided to take up lessons. And before long, she’d landed small parts on TV shows including The X-Files and ER.

Appearances in the short-lived television series City of Angels and The Chronicle followed for Spencer. But things really picked up for the actress in 2003 when she appeared in the short comedy film Chicken Party alongside Melissa McCarthy and Allison Janney. Treading the boards for the first time, she also hit the stage in an L.A. production of The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife, earning her critical acclaim.

Over the following years, Spencer gained a reputation as a supporting actress par excellence. Memorable roles from this period include those in the 2003 film Bad Santa and later as I.N.S. agent Constance Grady in the TV series Ugly Betty. But it was a project with her old friend Taylor that would take her career to new heights.

Taylor was a childhood friend of Kathryn Stockett, the author behind the novel The Help. The story follows the experiences of two opposing groups of Southern women in the 1960s – namely, white housewives and their black maids. The filmmaker had acquired the movie rights to the book before it came to be published, and amazingly, Stockett had taken inspiration from Spencer when developing her character, Minny.

Spencer was also involved in the promotion of The Help from the novel’s release. She accompanied Stockett on a book tour where she read the parts of the African-American maids in the story. But even so, when the time came for a movie adaption, Spencer wasn’t a dead cert for the role of Minny.

Because The Help was a bestseller, there was some expectation that a more famous actress should play Minny. But Spencer got the role following a successful audition. The film went on to be a huge success, earning Spencer a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the process.

Following her standout performance on The Help, Spencer’s reputation as a great actress was secured. More prominent roles came her way, including those in Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water, both of which attracted Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for the star. Meanwhile, she also served as an executive producer on the Academy-Award-winning movie Green Book.

But while Spencer had reached the dizzying heights of success in Hollywood, it seemed that she still had the ability to be starstruck. In particular, she harbored a bit of a soft spot for Keanu Reeves. Of course, it’s fair to say that she’s not the only person to consider themselves a fan of the actor. After all, he has a reputation for being one of the nicest celebs in Hollywood.

There are lots of stories floating around which point to the fact Reeves is just an all-round nice guy. For example, in 2015 he went viral for giving up his seat to another passenger on a busy subway train. There was also the time the actor bought an ice cream he then threw in the trash just so he could use the receipt to sign his autograph for a young fan.

As well as stories of random acts of kindness Reeves has committed, he’s also spoken out on important issues. For instance, he’s been open about his own experiences of grief. The actor has also shown himself to be an active feminist, championing female directors. He’s also been lauded for making a point of not invading the personal space of women he’s asked to pose alongside for publicity photographs.

As recently as June 2020 there was a new story about the star’s kind nature. It was then that stunt driver Jeremy Fry opened up to the website of British newspaper Metro about what it was really like filling in for the actor in the John Wick franchise. And he only had positive things to say about the star.

Speaking of Reeves, Fry said, “He is a giver, he is selfless, he works tirelessly. Every good thing you’ve heard about him is 110 percent true.” The pair had apparently connected over a shared love of motorcycles before the actor invited the stunt driver along to the Laguna Seca racing track in California.

Revealing how he had responded to the invitation, Fry confirmed, “When Keanu Reeves asks you if you wanna go pretty much anywhere, you say, ‘Yes.’” He continued, “Turns out he had rented Laguna Seca, which is a very well-known popular racetrack in California, and he rented it for two days, private rental, there were about 80 of his friends and people he knew.”

Recalling the scenes that awaited him at Laguna Seca, Fry added, “There were celebrities there, people from different industries there, a huge cross-section of people. He put us up in local hotels, he catered breakfast, lunch, dinners.” What’s more, Fry even got to take his brother along for the adventure. He told Metro, “That was a very special time for me for many different reasons.”

Someone else who has first-hand experience of Reeve’s kindness is Spencer, and her admiration of Reeves goes way back. During an appearance on the British TV chat show The Graham Norton Show in October 2020 she recalled her first meeting with the actor. And surprisingly, it was not at an awards show or a swanky Hollywood party.

Recounting the anecdote of how she met Reeves, Spencer revealed, “It was about 25 years ago, The Matrix had just come out,” The actress, meanwhile, explained that she “was on [her] way to pick up a script to read for an audition.” Clearly, this was quite a regular occurrence for Spencer, and as such, she hadn’t really dressed up for the occasion.

Revealing how she was attired, Spencer told Norton, “I wasn’t wearing any underwear. I was wearing sweats and my favorite college football T-shirt and it was worn, it was see-through – and no underwear, guys.” But while the star wasn’t exactly looking her best, her mode of transport was reportedly in an even worse state.

Spencer remembered, “My car hadn’t been washed because I always parked underneath the tree and there was bird crap all over the back of it.” Then, to add insult to injury, on this particular day, the future Oscar-winner had also encountered some mechanical difficulties, as her vehicle “broke down in this very posh area of Beverly Hills.”

While there had been plenty of folk around, no one rushed to Spencer’s assistance after her breakdown. She explained, “There was a café and there were all these people sitting out there but nobody would help me.” But just then, a Good Samaritan came to her aid. And it wasn’t just any old average Joe.

Continuing her anecdote, Spencer said, “All of a sudden this guy comes up with his sunglasses and a motorcycle helmet.” And despite the coverings, the actress recognized the man straight away. She revealed, “I knew immediately it was Keanu Reeves.” So, of course, she quickly started fangirling.

Without even pretending that she managed to keep her cool, Spencer revealed, “Of course, I was freaking out.” But in comparison, Reeves was relatively calm, asking the stranded actress if he could be of assistance in some way. As Spencer recalled of the meeting, “He was [saying] ‘Do you need some help?’ and I was like, ‘Sure!’”

Given that she was in the presence of a bona fide Hollywood A-lister, Spencer was willing to take on the hardest job to rescue her broken-down car. She explained, “I thought he was going to get in the car, so I got out of the car to push. He said ‘No, I’m going to push, you get in.’ So he pushed me out of the street.”

As the scene unfolded, others in the vicinity apart from Spencer realized there was a movie star nearby and rushed in to assist. All of a sudden, the pair found themselves overwhelmed with aid. The actress said, “Of course, when people realized it was Keanu Reeves helping me, everybody came down to help.”

Naturally Norton was eager to know if Reeves had since realized who it was he was helping that day. But Spencer replied, “I hope he doesn’t, honey, because all of this [points to her chest] was showing and I was mortified by it all. I kept thinking, ‘I need to get my car washed’. It was literally muds of bird poo on the back of it.”

Her appearance on The Graham Norton Show wasn’t the only time Spencer had retold the story of her encounter with Reeves on television. She’d previously opened up about the bizarre twist of fate in 2014, when she had been a guest on The Meredith Vieira Show. And it was then that she’d confessed Reeves had been the first celebrity she’d met in Los Angeles.

Because of her experience with Reeves, Spencer became a fan of the actor from that moment. She told Viera that she’d since gone to see every one of his movies on the first weekend they hit cinemas. Explaining why she felt supportive of the star, the actress said it was because helping her had been “a sweet thing to do.”

While Spencer might be eager to keep her true identity under wraps from Reeves, the actor certainly knows her now. In fact, when the Hidden Figures star celebrated her 50th birthday in May 2020 the Matrix actor was among the famous faces who sent their good wishes to Spencer ahead of the big day.

As we explained earlier, Spencer finally revealed what went down during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October 2020. She explained, “My friends put together this surprise for me that I didn’t know. They got a lot of people that I’ve worked with and that I like to do a special video for me.”

Intrigued, Kimmel inquired if there were any “famous people” on the video. Confirming that this was the case, Spencer responded, “Well, a few. You know, Chris Evans is a dear friend, Katy Perry is a dear friend, and then Keanu Reeves! You know, he surprised me. And of course, I started crying like a baby.”

Revealing her reaction to Reeves’ birthday message, Spencer began to re-enact how she’d responded. She said she’d exclaimed, “Keanu! Oh God!” Continuing with her anecdote, the actress added, “It was so fabulous.” The message came as such a surprise to Spencer because she was not exactly friends with the star who’d got her out of a sticky spot all those years earlier.

Explaining her relationship with Reeves, Spencer told Kimmel, “He’s somebody I like and my friends know that and it was like the sweetest thing, you know, on a – I think it was a Sunday. I can’t even remember what day it was but he sent this video in and everyone was looking all weird.”

Given that the surprise was for her, Spencer was among the last to know about the message from Reeves and co. She said, “I was wondering why everyone was calling me and [Facetiming me] and stuff. And there was like a pause. I guess they wanted to know how I felt about the video but I hadn’t received it yet.”

Although Spencer didn’t reveal the actual content of the message from Reeves, it’s clear to see his words made quite an emotional impact on her. It’s also not known if the actor realizes that it was her that he helped all of those years ago. No matter what the case, it seems that Spencer isn’t going to hand in her membership to the Keanu Reeves fan club any time soon.