Shia LaBeouf

Shia LaBeouf
LaBeouf in 2003
Born	June 11 1986 (age 22) Los Angeles, California

Shia Saide LaBeouf (born June 11, 1986) is an American actor and former comedian. He became known after a starring role in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, and has since appeared in a string of Hollywood films, including Holes, I, Robot, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Constantine, Disturbia and Transformers

Biography

Early life

LaBeouf was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Jeffrey LaBeouf, a circus clown, and Shayna Saide, a ballerina; LaBeouf has described the two as "hippies" and his upbringing as similar to a "hippy lifestyle".^[1] His father is a Cajun and his mother is Jewish,^[2][3] and LaBeouf was raised in the Jewish religion. LaBeouf started his career by performing stand-up comedy around his neighborhood. One day, he saw one of his friends act on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and from then on he wanted to become an actor. He searched the Yellow Pages for an agent and called one using an adult voice claiming to know a great child actor (himself) who would someday be big. The agency signed him after he performed a stand-up routine. LaBeouf has said that his father used to grow cannabis and that they had smoked marijuana together;^[4] he has also described his father as being "on drugs - heroin and all kinds of wild stuff" during his childhood, and has said that his father was placed in rehab while his mother was "trying to hold down the fort".^[5]

LaBeouf attended the Hamilton Academy of Music in Los Angeles, California, and graduated in 2003.

Career

LaBeouf became well known after playing Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel weekly program Even Stevens, for which he was awarded a Daytime Emmy Award. In 2003, he appeared in another Disney production, Holes as Stanley "Caveman" Yelnats IV, opposite actors Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, and Tim Blake Nelson. That same year, he was heavily featured on the HBO documentary show "Project Greenlight", which chronicled the making of the independent film "The Battle of Shaker Heights". In 2005, he appeared in the horror film Constantine, opposite Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz. He also had a small role in I, Robot (2004). In 2006, he had a role in Bobby, which called for him to do his first nude scene when he strips naked while on an LSD trip.

LaBeouf will play Sam Witwicky (also known as "Spike"), a teenager who uncovers a robot invasion of Earth, in director Michael Bay's upcoming Transformers film, scheduled to be released on July 4, 2007.

He characterized the shift from working on Bobby with director Emilio Estevez to working on the Transformers film in an interview given to About.com: "To go from Emilio Estevez to Michael Bay is like walking out of, you know, like in a hammock in the sky, hanging out drinking Pina Coladas with Jesus and then getting smacked in the face and thrown in the devil’s s**pile and having to make a movie. I swear to God.” ^[6]

LaBeouf has noted that he is a fan of The Transformers television series and the 1986 The Transformers: The Movie.^[7]

Shia presented an award at the 2007 Kid's Choice Awards on March 31, 2007.

Shia appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on April 2, 2007 to talk about his new movie Disturbia which is planned to open April 13, 2007.

He is scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on April 14, 2007.

Selected filmography

Footnotes

Wikipedia information about Shia LaBeouf This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shia LaBeouf". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.