Jennifer Syme

Biography

Jennifer Syme was an American actress, production assistant, record company executive, personal assistant known for works such as Ellie Parker(2005), Lost Highway(1997), "Hotel Room".

She was the girlfriend of Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves, they were together for about three years from 1998, till her death in 2001.

Family- Childhood

Jennifer Maria Syme was born on 7th December 1972 to Maria St. John(mother) & Charles Syme(father)- (a police officer) in Pico Rivera, California, United States and lived there till she was 18 and later moved to Los Angeles to seek a career in acting.

Her father is a retired California highway patrol officer. When she was in high school, her parents divorced, She grew up in Laguna Beach with her mother. 

Education

She was 16 when she started working. In 2001, she had enrolled in a film-supervision course at UCLA.

Relationship- Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves's sister Karen Reeves & Jennifer were friends, Karen who was concerned for Keanu's happiness thought the two could make a good pair, they were re-introduced by Karen in 1998. As per Jennifer's mother, Keanu and Jennifer knew each other for over a decade. [2]

Pregnancy

Keanu Reeves and Jennifer started living together from 1998, Jennifer got pregnant in the early 1999 and the couple were expecting a baby girl in December.

Keenu's Matrix series of movies were a superhit at the time, he was super famous, and the tabloids were willing to pay hefty money to get the pics of pregnant couple. As per her mother, the tabloids were willing to pay upwords of $100,000. The shy couple didn't want any of that.

The two weren't living together at the time, it is believed that Keanu Reeves bought her a house when she got pregnant.

During the last stages of pregnancy the baby had stopped moving in the uterus, worried couple went for an ultrasound checkup, they had a stillborn baby girl (Ava Archer Syme Reeves) on December 24th 1999.

Troubled by the pain and some difference, the couple separated shortly after the loss of baby, during the post death investigations Keanu revealed that they were back together as a couple, he was in fact one of the pallbearers at Jennifer Symes' funeral.

Image: Keanu Reeves & pregnant Jennifer Syme

Death

Jennifer died on 2nd April 2001 in Los Angeles, California from a car accident (at Cahuenga boulevard., Los Angeles, California, near Highway 101).

The Accident

She had lost her child an year ago, on March 17th, she lost her grandfather Alfonso Diaz too. Which according to her mother were devastating for her.

She had had brunch with Keanu Reeves on 1st of April and things looked back to normal for the couple.  She was driven home from the party at Marilyn Manson's home by a friend on the night of April 1st. After a while, at 6:20AM on that Monday, Jennifer while trying to drive herself back into the party, drove her 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee into three parked cars at the Cahuenga Boulevard (near the Hollywood Bowl) in Los Angeles, her car rolled over and she died instantly on the impact, the ejection had failed and she was not wearing the seat belt, she was 28 at the time.

The aftermath

There were couple of people from the neighboring apartments who witnessed the event, according to them, it was a quick death. One of the emergency crew who attended the case opined that she would have been alive if she had put on a seat belt.

Antidepressant drugs- clonazepam and cyclobenzaprine were found in her vehicle, along with two rolled-up $1 bills containing white powder, which was investigated for drugs. Jennifer's close friend filmmaker Scott Coffey said that she didn't have any kind of drug problem.[2]

Jennifer's mother Maria St. John sued Marilyn Manson for the illegal substance Jennifer might have consumed at the party. Manson made a statement on the issue and denied any responsibility for Jennifer's death, "the lawsuit was totally without merit" said Manson. 

Funeral- Burial

The funeral ceremony was held on Friday, April 6, family members and Jennifer's close friends from the film and music fraternity, like Marilyn Manson, Dave Navarro, Scott Ian, attended the event at Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills.

David Lynch played the slides from Jennifer's life, Keanu Reeves, Dave Navarro, Scott Ian and Scott Coffey served as pallbearers.

She was buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Image: Jennifer Syme car accident

Image: Jennifer Syme & Ava Reeves gravestones

Facts & Trivia

• Production Assistant: Jennifer worked as a production assistant on the sets of TV series "Hotel Room"
• Receptionist: Jennifer worked for director David Lynch in his Asymmetrical Productions on the movie project "Lost Highway", she also had a minor role in the movie
• Personal assistant: She worked as a personal assistant to musician Dave Navarro (of Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) on a music label, as part of the staff.
• Jennifer was depressed and taking medications for back pain and depression before her death
• She was attending film-supervision course at the UCLA at the time of her death.
• She had lost her baby in 1999, her grandfather in 2000. Her mother Maria believes these deaths drove Jennifer towards drugs.
• She worked at a record company in Los Angeles from 2000-2001

Mulholland Drive Dedication

Jennifer walked into David Lynch's office when she was 16. She was ahuge fan of the show Twin Peaks, she wanted to do any job available, but wanted to work with Twin Peaks. She worked with Lynch' s company, Asymmetrical Productions for five years. She had a 12 year association with him.

David Lynch dedicated his 2001 movie Mulholland Drive to Jennifer Syme, she had previously worked for him as an assistant. It is believed that she introduced some musicians to David which helped him get better music for his movie "Lost Highway".

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

In his 1998 memoir Marilyn Manson mentions how Jennifer helped him to work with director David Lynch. In his painting "A Mother Without a Daughter and a Daughter Without a Mother", he both depitcs Jennifer and dedicates it to Jennifer.

Career

In the 1993 3-part mystery series "David Lynch's Hotel Room", she worked as a production assistant. It starred Glenne Headly, Freddie Jones, Harry Dean Stanton (episode 1), Glenne Headly, Freddie Jones, Harry Dean Stanton, Griffin Dunne, Deborah Unger, Mariska Hargitay, Chelsea Field(Episode 2), Crispin Glover, Alicia Witt(Episode 3) in the main role and Clark Heathcliff Brolly (as Sean the Bellboy), Camilla Overbye Roos (as Maid) in the recurring role.

In the 1997 David Lynch surrealist neo noir film "Lost Highway", she worked as a receptionist in the office and played the minor role of a Junkie Girl in the movie.

In 2001 Scott Coffey's short movie Ellie Parker, She played the Casting chick. Naomi Watts played the titular role Ellie Parker, Rebecca Rigg played Sam, Scott Coffey the director played Chris, Mark Pellegrino played Justin. It was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2001. 

The short film was made into a full feature movie in 2005. Naomi Watts again played the Ellie Parker, Greg Fretias played Rick Saul, Gaye Pope played Leslie Towne. The story of the comedy movie revolved around a young woman's struggle in Los Angles, her acting career, friends, love..

Filmography

Sources

1. Jennifer Syme Wiki
2. Seany Daly's reporting of Jennifer's death
3.