Shia Labeouf celebrity profile, who is, net worth, photos and what films has he been in?

Shia LaBeouf’s natural charm and acting talent plus exciting energy has secured his place as one of Hollywood’s leading men.

Table of Contents

Birth Name: Shia Saide LaBeouf

Birth Place: Los Angeles, California, United States

Profession Actor starring in movies including Charlie’s Angels, I, Robot, Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Peanut Butter Falcon

Facts

Mother is a former ballerina; father is a stand-up comedian/rodeo clown who once toured as the Doobie Brothers’ opening act
Began performing raunchy stand-up comedy at age 10, and had hired an agent through the Yellow Pages by the time he was 13
Breakout role was Louis Stevens on the Disney Channel sitcom Even Stevens, which won him a 2003 Daytime Emmy Award
Was accepted into Yale University in New Haven, CT, but put off plans to attend in order to focus on his acting career
Appeared in movies from big-budget blockbusters like I, Robot (2004) and the Transformers trilogy (2007-2011) to indie films such as The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003) and Bobby (2006)
Convinced Dito Montiel, director of 2006’s A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, that he could handle the dramatic role by punching a hole in a casting-office wall
Suffered serious damage to his left hand in a 2008 auto accident in Los Angeles, requiring multiple surgeries
Completed the 2010 Los Angeles Marathon in 4 hours, 35 minutes
Appeared in the music video for Sia’s “Elastic Heart” in 2015

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Actor

For three years, from 2000 until 2003, most people knew him as the mop-headed, wise-cracking younger brother Louis on the top-rated Disney Channel series Even Stevens. But in 2003, thanks to his breakthrough lead role in the movie Holes, teen actor Shia LaBeouf made an almost seamless transition from the small screen to the big screen. That same year LaBeouf appeared in no fewer than three other movies, taking small roles in Dumb and Dumberer and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and starring in the acclaimed HBO show The Battle of Shaker Heights. It seemed LaBeouf was everywhere. He garnered praise from surprised critics, who called him an up-and-comer to watch. Teen People placed him firmly on their Young Hollywood Hot List in 2004, and his fan base grew broader by the minute. There was no stopping LaBeouf, who went on to costar in the 2005 blockbuster Constantine and to play American golf icon Francis Ouimet in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005). In less than two years LaBeouf transformed from cheeky child performer to an adult star to be reckoned with.

Filmography
Year Title Role
2019 Honey Boy James Lort
2019 The Peanut Butter Falcon Tyler
2017 Borg vs McEnroe John McEnroe
2016 American Honey Jake
2015 Man Down Gabriel Drummer
2014 Fury (2014) Boyd “Bible” Swan
2013 Nymphomaniac: Volume I Jerôme
2013 Nymphomaniac: Volume II Jerôme
2013 Charlie Countryman Charlie Countryman
2012 The Company You Keep Ben Shepard
2012 Lawless (2012) Jack Bondurant
2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Sam Witwicky
2010 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Jake Moore
2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Sam Witwicky
2008 New York, I Love You Jacob (Shekhar Kapur segment)
2008 Eagle Eye Jerry Shaw
2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Mutt Williams
2007 Transformers (2007) Sam Witwicky
2007 Surf’s Up Cody Maverick
2007 Disturbia Kale Brecht
2006 Bobby (2006) Cooper
2006 A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Young Dito
2005 The Greatest Game Ever Played Francis Ouimet
2005 Constantine Chas
2004 I, Robot Farber
2003 The Battle of Shaker Heights Kelly Ernswiler
2003 Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle Max
2003 Holes Stanley Yelnats
1984 Nausicaa, Valley of the Wind Asbel (English)

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Showbiz background

Like many young entertainers, Shia (pronounced SHI-yuh) Shaide LaBeouf comes from a showbiz family. He was born on June 11, 1986, in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Jeffrey and Shayna LaBeouf. At various times Jeffrey was employed as a comedian, a rodeo clown, and a performer in a circus, where it was his job to train chickens. Shayna was a former ballet dancer who eventually turned to designing clothing and jewelry. When the couple had their son they named him Shia after Shayna’s father, who was a Jewish comedian; Shia means “gift from God” in Hebrew.

In interviews LaBeouf claims that his Jewish mom and Cajun dad encouraged him to speak his mind from an early age. He took their encouragement to heart and began performing comedy routines at the age of three in the LaBeouf living room. As he told People in 2003, “I’d do five minutes on how crazy our life was, like how at Thanksgiving we’d have matzo gumbo or spicy gefilte.” (Gefilte is a traditional Jewish dish; it is a type of seasoned fish.) By the age of twelve the precocious youngster was doing stand-up at local coffeehouses; he also landed a gig at the Ice House Comedy Club in Pasadena. In the same People article, LaBeouf explained that his material was “really dirty and gross,” and “definitely not Disneyesque.”

After getting a taste of the spotlight LaBeouf decided he wanted to branch out into acting, especially after a friend of his began appearing on the television drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. The industrious thirteen-year-old pulled out the telephone book, found the name of an acting agent, and auditioned by performing one of his stand-up routines. The agent signed him immediately and sent LaBeouf on his first casting calls.

“It’s not like I’m Mahatma Gandhi. I’m just a kid from the Disney Channel.”

Auditions

LaBeouf did not have to endure hundreds of disappointing rejections. In fact, on one of his very first auditions he snagged a leading role on a new comedy series on the Disney Channel called Even Stevens, which centered around an upper-middle-class family living in Sacramento, California. Dad was an attorney; Mom was a state senator. Older son, Donnie, was a high school sports star; and Ren was the ideal daughter. That left the youngest son, Louis, the class clown who was less than perfect and who struggled to fit in with his perfect family.

With his easy grin, quick timing, and just the right touch of geekiness, LaBeouf was the perfect Louis. And, although the show was initially supposed to feature the entire family, it soon became apparent that Christy Romano (1984–) as Ren and LaBeouf as Louis were the program’s true stars. When Even Stevens premiered in June 2003, Carole Horst of Variety gave it a tentative thumbs up, but she had nothing but praise for Romano and LaBeouf. According to Horst, they “should start plotting the rest of their careers, as these two young thesps [actors] bring polish and excellent timing to the material.” Viewers agreed with the critics, and soon Even Stevens became the highest-rated daytime show on the Disney Channel. Over the next three seasons LaBeouf continued to be prominently featured, and he increasingly drew more and more fans of all ages. In 2003, when he was just sixteen, LaBeouf snagged a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series. (Daytime Emmies are awarded each year to honor excellence in all forms of daytime television production.)

Always in demand with agents calling

LaBeouf was not without a job for long in 2003. Competing against hundreds of other hopefuls, he auditioned for the Disney major motion-picture release of Holes. The movie is based on the enormously popular children’s book of the same name written in 1998 by Louis Sachar (1954–). Director Andrew Davis had never seen an episode of Even Stevens, but he still tapped the talented LaBeouf to play the main character of both the book and movie, Stanley Yelnats. Stanley is wrongfully convicted of stealing and is sent to a juvenile detention camp called Camp Green Lake, where all the detainees are forced to dig holes in the blistering desert heat.

Before the film began shooting, LaBeouf and cast spent two weeks going through a training camp where they climbed ropes, did countless push-ups, and, of course, dug holes. Although the physical preparation was tough, in interviews LaBeouf said he was glad for the experience because it got him in shape to work in 105-degree heat; plus it gave him a chance to bond with the rest of the actors. The young stars also became tight because they attended school together in air-conditioned trailers on the set. As LaBeouf laughingly told Marie Morreale of Scholastic News, it “was the only time in my life where I ran to school because I was getting air-conditioning and water.”

Author Louis Sachar also wrote the screenplay and was on the set every day providing pointers. He and LaBeouf became especially good friends, and as LaBeouf expressed in several interviews, he found the writer to be an “intriguing and knowledgeable character.” An ironic twist is that LaBeouf had not read Holes before taking the role of Stanley, but he was assigned to read the book for school during the shooting of the film.

Awards

2020 Independent Spirit Awards-Best Supporting Male: nominated
2018 Guldbagge Award-Best Supporting Actor: nominated
2017 Independent Spirit Awards-Best Supporting Male: nominated
2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards-Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: nominated
2006 Sundance Film Festival-Dramatic Special Jury Award: Best Ensemble Performance: winner