Born in Los Angeles, Shia LaBeouf decided to get involved in show business when he was watching an episode of the CBS-TV series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and saw a friend. "We used to go surfing a lot, and I just saw him one day on TV, and I was like, 'What! I can do that.'" Shia began by doing stand-up comedy in coffee clubs at the age of nine. His parents helped him with his routine, and then his mother took him to get an agent. He continued doing stand-up comedy, but began landing larger gigs such as the L.A. comedy club The Icehouse and an appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno.
When he was 12, Shia landed a leading role in a TV movie, Breakfast with Einstein (1998), as well as a role in the film The Christmas Path (1998) and a guest role on Caroline in the City. The work started to come in regularly as he began to land guest appearances on numerous TV series including Jesse, Suddenly Susan, Touched by an Angel, The X-Files, Freaks and Geeks and ER. In 2000, Shia was cast in a starring role on the Disney Channel sitcom Even Stevens.
He made his feature film debut with a starring role in the Disney movie Holes (2003) opposite Jon Voight and Sigourney Weaver, followed by supporting roles in When Harry Met Floyd: Dumb and Dumberer (2003), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and Constantine (2005).
For his work in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), Shia shared a Special Jury Prize for ensemble performance with Robert Downey Jr., Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest and Channing Tatum. He has also won a Daytime Emmy award for his role in Even Stevens. In 2008 he won BAFTA's Rising Star Award.
Since then, he's appeared in starring roles in blockbuster motion pictures such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011).
In August 2012, Shia announced that he no longer had any interest in doing big blockbuster movies and would only focus on indie films. On that note, he was seen in the 2012 indie films Lawless alongside Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman and The Company You Keep with Robert Redford.
Later, he starred in the films Nymphomaniac: Volumes I and II (2014), Fury (2014), Man Down (2016), and American Honey (2016).
He went on to star in other dramas, including Borg vs. McEnroe (2018) and The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019).
In 2019, Shia wrote the screenplay for Honey Boy, which is based on his own childhood and his relationship with his father. It's a painful account of his dysfunctional upbringing - one that he wrote as an assignment in rehab.
He played a starring role in the Netflix film Pieces of a Woman, alongside Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn, which debuted on the streamer in 2021.
Shia, who lives in Los Angeles, is no stranger to making headlines. In 2007, he was asked by security to leave a local Walgreen's store in Chicago and when he refused, he was arrested for misdemeanor criminal trespassing. The charges were later dropped. In 2008, an arrest warrant was issued for Shia when he failed to make a court appearance for an unlawful smoking charge. Those charges were also eventually dropped and he paid a $500 fine. In 2011, he was involved in a couple of bar fights and in 2012, he shocked fans when he appeared completely naked in a video for Icelandic band Sigur Ros.
In 2020, Shia was charged with sexual and physical assault by his ex-girlfriend, FKA twigs. She also accused him of emotional distress and knowingly giving her a sexually transmitted disease. She filed the suit only after Shia refused to get psychological treatment.
Filmography:
Pieces of a Woman (2021)
Honey Boy (2019)
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Borg vs. McEnroe (2018)
Man Down (2016)
American Honey (2016)
Fury (2014)
Nymphomaniac: Volumes I and II (2014)
Charlie Countryman (2013)
The Company You Keep (2012)
Lawless (2012)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
New York, I Love You (2009)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Eagle Eye (2008)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Disturbia (2007)
Surf's Up (2007)
Transformers (2007)
Bobby (2006)
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
Constantine (2005)
The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)
The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)
Holes (2003)