• Keanu Reeves appeared to confirm his relationship status on Saturday when he made his first public appearance with a girlfriend in over 35 years.
  • The 55-year-old actor attended the LACMA Art and Film Gala in Los Angeles hand in hand with Alexandra Grant.
  • Grant, a Los Angeles artist, is a longtime friend of Reeves. They’ve collaborated on a visual poetry series and are business partners in the publishing house X Artists’ Books.
  • Reeves’ last serious public relationship was in 1999 with Jennifer Syme, who died in a car crash in 2001.
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Keanu Reeves made his first red-carpet appearance as part of a couple on Saturday, holding hands with Alexandra Grant, a Los Angeles artist.

The 55-year-old star of “The Matrix” arrived with Grant at the LACMA Art and Film Gala in Los Angeles, where the pair happily posed for photos.

Sources told ET that the two enjoyed catching up with friends – including Will Ferrell and Viveca Paulin, his wife – during cocktail hour and that Grant, 46, asked a friend to take a photo of her and Reeves on her phone.

Reeves and Grant happily smile for photos as they walk hand-in-hand down the carpet.

Foto: Reeves and Grant smiled for photos as they walked hand in hand down the carpet on Saturday.sourceEmma McIntyre/Getty Images for LACMA

"They were smiling and having a good time, and immediately after taking the photo, Will Ferrell spotted Keanu and rushed over to say hello, bringing with him a small group that included his wife, Viveca Paulin-Ferrell," a source told the publication.

Reeves, who has kept his personal life very private, had never posed with a girlfriend on the red carpet in his 35-year acting tenure.

But the "John Wick" star has previously been linked to a handful of celebrities, including Sofia Coppola, Amanda De Cadenet, and, famously, his "Speed" costar Sandra Bullock.

Reeves and Sandra Bullock at the 1994 Hollywood premiere of

Foto: Reeves and Sandra Bullock at the 1994 Hollywood premiere of "Speed."sourceDavid Keeler/Getty Images

Earlier this year, Reeves confirmed rumors on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that he and Bullock had real-life chemistry during the film's production. The actor said he had a crush on her but never told her. Bullock had made the same revelation to DeGeneres in December.

Reeves' last serious relationship was with Jennifer Syme. The couple tragically lost a baby daughter, who was stillborn, in 1999. Symes died in a car crash in 2001, at age 28.

While this was Reeves' first public appearance with Grant, they are longtime friends and business partners. The duo collaborated on an adult picture book called "Ode to Happiness" in 2011; Grant illustrated it, and Reeves wrote its poetry.

http://instagr.am/p/Buu3pyUlZLO

Following the success of the book and its sequel, "Shadows," they founded the publishing house X Artists' Books.

Grant's works have been featured in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the prestigious Galerie Gradiva in Paris, and the Harris Lieberman Gallery in New York. She also owns GrantLOVE, a project benefiting grassroots artists.

Representatives for Reeves did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.