Shia Labeouf

Shia Saide LaBeouf (born June 11, 1986) is a Daytime Emmy Award-winning American actor and comedian. After growing up in California, he became known with a starring role in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens. He made the transition to film roles with Holes, a box office success, and has since appeared in several Hollywood films, including Constantine and The Greatest Game Ever Played. In 2007, LaBeouf starred in Disturbia, Transformers, and Surf's Up, and is slated to appear in 2008's Indiana Jones 4. Several media publications have speculated that LaBeouf, whose screen persona was described by Time magazine as that of the "scrappy kid next door", might become a major film star throughout 2007.

Career

LaBeouf has said that he initially became an actor because his family was "broke", not because he wanted to pursue an acting career. He became well known among young audiences after playing Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel weekly program Even Stevens, a role for which he was cast three months after being signed by his agent. His father, at the time just released from rehab, served as his on-set parent and the two bonded.LaBeouf was awarded a Daytime Emmy Award for the role<sup class="reference">]</sup> and has said that he "grew up on that show" and that his childhood was "kind of lost," although his being cast in the show was the "best thing" that has happened to him. During this time period, LaBeouf also appeared in sketch shows on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 2003, he appeared in another Disney production, Holes, as Stanley "Caveman" Yelnats IV, opposite Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and Tim Blake Nelson. While filming Holes, Voight gave LaBeouf a book on acting, and this made LaBeouf realize acting could be more than a job. The film was a moderate box office success.

That same year, he was heavily featured in the HBO documentary show Project Greenlight, which chronicled the making of the independent film The Battle of Shaker Heights. He had a small role in I, Robot (2004) and appeared in the action-horror film Constantine (2005), opposite Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz. In 2006, LaBeouf co-starred in the ensemble film drama Bobby, which called for him to do his first nude scene when he strips naked while on an LSD trip. LaBeouf has said that he is not the "All-American Disney role model" and chose to appear in some of his film roles in order to "curse as much as possible" and "age [himself] publicly" after his Disney roles, specifying that Disney is "great and all" and a "nurturing place" but "dehabilitating for an actor", being "one constant string of same". He has also said that he "enjoyed" being a child actor and "hated" school.

In 2007, LaBeouf starred in Disturbia, a thriller released on April 13. He played a teenager under house arrest who suspects that his neighbor, played by David Morse, is a serial killer. LaBeouf received positive reviews for the role, with the Buffalo News stating that LaBeouf "has grown into an appealing, bright young actor who is able to simultaneously pull off [the character's] anger, remorse and intelligence", Kurt Loder of MTV writing that LaBeouf "gets his star ticket decisively punched",and the San Francisco Chronicle noting that LaBeouf is "fast becoming the best young actor in Hollywood". In comparing the film with Rear Window, The New York Daily News described LaBeouf's appeal as "more John Cusack than Jimmy Stewart". Also in 2007, LaBeouf provided a voice role as Cody Maverick in the animated film Surf's Up and played teenager Sam Witwicky, who becomes involved in the Autobot-Decepticon war on Earth, in Michael Bay's Transformers, released on July 3. LaBeouf has said that he is a fan of The Transformers television series and the 1986 The Transformers: The Movie,<sup class="reference">[30]</sup> and executive producer Steven Spielberg cast him in the role having been impressed by his perfomance in Disturbia. Disturbia was the most important film to LaBeouf of his three 2007 films, because it was a "character-driven" role.

In 2007, LaBeouf presented an award at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on March 31, appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on April 2, and hosted Saturday Night Live on April 14. He was named 2007's "star of tomorrow" by the ShoWest convention of the National Association of Theater Owners. In April 2007, LaBeouf was cast to appear in Indiana Jones IV, which began filming in June 2007 for a May 22, 2008 release date. Spielberg cast him in the film, impressed by his performance in Transformers. LaBeouf has stated that he would subsequently like to appear in a smaller-scale role. His next film will be Eagle Eye, a thriller directed by D. J. Caruso and scheduled to begin filming in the fall of 2007. He has also signed on for two Transformers sequels.