Jennifer Syme was an actress, personal assistant, and record company executive from the United States. She and actor Keanu Reeves were together from 1998 until early 2000 when their daughter was stillborn.
Early Life
Jennifer Maria Syme was born in Pico Rivera, California, and grew up in Laguna Beach. Her parents were Maria St. John and Charles Syme, a former California highway patrol officer, but they separated after Syme’s birth.
As Syme embarked on her high school journey, she and her mother relocated to Los Angeles, where she cultivated a strong interest in the world of filmmaking, particularly in the works of David Lynch.
Jennifer Syme’s Acting Career
After starting as an intern, Jennifer Syme worked at Lynch’s company, Asymmetrical Productions, for five years. During this time, she played a significant role in introducing Lynch to numerous musicians for his projects and had a major impact on the music featured in the 1997 film Lost Highway, according to Coffey.
Syme was also featured in five independent short films directed by Scott Coffey. One of these, titled “Ellie Parker,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2001. Afterward, Syme became part of a music label’s team and served as a personal assistant to both Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro and, later on, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Syme’s first appearance in a film was in 1997, where she played a minor character named “junkie girl” in David Lynch’s Lost Highway. She later reprised her role as “casting chick” in Scott Coffey’s Ellie Parker, which was released in 2005 and based on a short film of the same name from 2001.
At the time of her passing in 2001, Syme was a student in a film supervision program at UCLA and held a position as an executive at a record company.
Personal Life
As per accounts, in 1998, Jennifer Syme and actor Keanu Reeves became acquainted at a gathering for Reeves’s band, Dogstar, and they began a romantic relationship.
Yet, Jennifer Syme’s mother, Maria St. John, contradicted these accounts and stated that the two had been acquainted for ten years and that she was present when Syme first met Reeves, and it was not at a party.
She welcomed her child with Reeves on December 24, 1999, after carrying the pregnancy for eight months. Sadly, the baby was stillborn, causing immense sorrow for Syme and Reeves.
This had a negative impact on their relationship, leading to their separation a few weeks later. Despite the breakup, they maintained a strong friendship and eventually got back together in 2001.
Death
Jennifer Syme went to a party at Marilyn Manson’s house on the evening of April 1, 2001. When she was given a ride home by someone else in the early hours of the next day, she then left her house and allegedly headed back to the party. While driving her Jeep Grand Cherokee on Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles, she crashed into a line of parked cars.
At the age of 28, Jennifer Syme tragically died in a car accident where she was partially thrown out of the vehicle and passed away immediately. The funeral was attended by Keanu Reeves, Dave Navarro, Scott Coffey, Scott Ian from Anthrax, and David Lynch, who all served as pallbearers.
Her final resting place was beside her daughter’s grave in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. In the end credits of his 2001 film Mulholland Drive, David Lynch paid tribute to Syme.
