Shia Saide LaBeouf (/ˈʃaɪ.ələˈbʌf/ⓘSHY-ə lə-BUF; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor and filmmaker.[3][4] He played Louis Stevens in theDisney Channel seriesEven Stevens, a role for which he receivedYoung Artist Award nominations in 2001 and 2002 and won aDaytime Emmy Award in 2003. He made his film debut inThe Christmas Path (1998). In 2004, he made his directorial debut with the short filmLet's Love Hate and later directed a short film titledManiac (2011), starring American rappersCage andKid Cudi.
Since 2014, LaBeouf has pursued a variety of public performance art projects withLaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner.[5]
Early life
LaBeouf was born on June 11, 1986, inLos Angeles, California.[6][7] He is the only child of visual artist, jewelry designer and dancer Shayna Saide[8] and professional clown Jeffrey LaBeouf.[9][10] His mother died of heart failure in August 2022.[11] LaBeouf's mother wasJewish,[12][13] and hisCajun father isChristian.[14][15] He has stated that he was raised around "both sides" — he wasbaptized andBar Mitzvahed.[16][17] One of the camps he attended was Christian.[18] He embraced theCatholic faith in 2022.[19][20]
LaBeouf has described his parents as "hippies", his father as "tough as nails and a different breed of man", and his upbringing as similar to a "hippy lifestyle", stating that his parents were "pretty weird people, but they loved me and I loved them."[21][22] His parents eventually divorced, mainly owing to financial problems, and LaBeouf had what he has described as a "good childhood", growing up poor inEcho Park with his mother, who worked selling fabrics and brooches.[23][24][25] LaBeouf's uncle was going to adopt him at one stage because his parents could not afford to have him anymore and "they had too much pride to go on welfare orfood stamps."[26] As a way of dealing with his parents' divorce, he would perform for his family, mimicking his father.[27]
LaBeouf has stated that during his childhood, his father was "on drugs" and was placed indrug rehabilitation forheroin addiction, while LaBeouf's mother was "trying to hold down the fort."[21] During a period when his father was in rehab for his addictions, when Labeouf was around the age of 10, he overheard his mother being raped by a stranger in their home.[28]
Labeouf then lived with his father from the age of 12 while he was filmingEven Stevens, with his father serving as his on-set guardian.[29] During this time, he accompanied his father to meetings ofAlcoholics Anonymous.[30] LaBeouf has also said he was subjected to abuse by his father, who once pointed a gun at his son during a Vietnam War flashback.[10] LaBeouf remains close to and financially supports his father, as he did for his mother until her death.[30][21][31]
He attended 32nd Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet in Los Angeles (LAUSD)[10] andAlexander Hamilton High School, although he received most of his education from tutors.[25] In an interview, LaBeouf said that, looking back on his childhood, he feels grateful and considers some of those memories as scars.[23]
Career
1996–2006: Career beginnings andEven Stevens
Prior to acting, LaBeouf practicedcomedy around his neighborhood as an "escape" from a hostile environment.[24] At age 10, he began performingstand-up atThe Improv, describing his appeal as having "disgustingly dirty" material and a "50-year-old mouth on the 10-year-old kid."[25][31][32] He subsequently found an agent through theYellow Pages and was taken on after pretending to be his own manager.[33] LaBeouf has said that he initially became an actor because his family was broke, not because he wanted to pursue an acting career,[32][34] having originally gotten the idea from a child actor he met who had things he wanted.[30]
In the early 2000s, LaBeouf became known among young audiences after playing Louis Stevens on theDisney Channel weekly programEven Stevens,[35] a role that later earned him aDaytime Emmy Award.[10] He has said that "[he] grew up on that show" and being cast was the "best thing" that happened to him.[21] In the next several years, he appeared in the filmHoles (2003), which received praise.[36] In 2005, he co-starred inConstantine, playing the role of Chas Kramer, withKeanu Reeves in the starring role. The same year he provided the voice of Asbel in the Disney-produced English dub ofNausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. LaBeouf made his directorial debut with the short filmLet's Love Hate with Lorenzo Eduardo.[37] He has played real-life people, including golferFrancis Ouimet[30][38] and the younger version ofDito Montiel inA Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006).[39]
2007–2011: Breakthrough and big-budget films
LaBeouf with co-starMegan Fox at theTransformers press conference in Paris in June 2009
LaBeouf starred inDisturbia, a thriller released on April 13, 2007, as a teenager underhouse arrest who suspects that his neighbor is a serial killer, which he considered a "character-driven" role.[24] He received positive reviews for the role, withThe Buffalo News writing that he "is able to simultaneously pull off [the character's] anger, remorse and intelligence".[40] He hostedSaturday Night Live on April 14, 2007,[41] and returned the following season to host the episode that aired on May 10, 2008.[42]
His next film wasEagle Eye, released on September 26, 2008. Josh Bell ofLas Vegas Weekly said he "makes a credible bid for action-hero status, although his occasional stabs at emotional depth don't really go anywhere."[47] In February 2009, LaBeouf made hismusic video directorial debut, directing thevideo for "I Never Knew You", a single by American rapperCage, from his third albumDepart from Me (2009). It was shot in Los Angeles and features severalcameo appearances from Cage'sDefinitive Jux label-mates.[48][49] Through Cage, LaBeouf metKid Cudi. All three of them later worked on a short film titledManiac (2011), which was inspired by the song of the same name from Cudi's second albumMan on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010). Aside from directing the short film, LaBeouf directed the music video for Kid Cudi's song "Marijuana", which he filmed at the 2010Cannabis Cup.[48]
LaBeouf reprised the role of Sam Witwicky in the 2009 sequel toTransformers,Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Filming took place in 2008.[52] Due to LaBeouf's injury from his car accident, directorMichael Bay and screenwriterRoberto Orci had to rewrite the script to protect his hand throughout filming.[53] LaBeouf said production was only delayed two days after his accident because Bay made up for it by filming second unit scenes, and LaBeouf recovered a few weeks earlier than expected, allowing him to return to the set.[54] Near the end of filming, LaBeouf injured his eye when he hit a prop; the injury required several stitches. He resumed filming two hours later.[55] While commercially successful,Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen garnered negative reviews from critics,[56][57] with LaBeouf sharing a nomination for the "Worst Screen Couple of 2009"Razzie Award with "eitherMegan Fox or any Transformer."[58] He returned to star inTransformers: Dark of the Moon, the third installment in the film series, released in June 2011. It received poor reviews, became the tenth film to gross over $1 billion, and marked LaBeouf's final time starring in aTransformers film.[57][59]
2012–present: Subsequent career
In June 2012, Icelandic bandSigur Rós released a music video for the song "Fjögur Píanó". It depicts "a man and woman locked in a never-ending cycle of addiction and desire", in which LaBeouf stars and appears nude.[60] In 2012,Rob Cantor ofTally Hall produceda song describing LaBeouf as a murderous cannibal. In 2014, Cantor produced a music video based on this song. Despite the lyrics, the intent was humorous and non-serious, and LaBeouf appeared at the end of the video, applauding.[61]
LaBeouf has created three short graphic novelsStale N Mate,Cyclical, andLet's Fucking Party, and a webcomic series,Cheek Up's through the publishing company, The Campaign Book. In April 2012, he promoted them atChicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.[62][63] In the same year, LaBeouf played a bootlegger inJohn Hillcoat's crime dramaLawless.[64]
LaBeouf at the premiere ofFury in 2014
In February 2013, he pulled out of what would have been his Broadway debut, in Lyle Kessler's playOrphans, citing "creative differences" with co-starAlec Baldwin,[65] althoughThe New York Times and Baldwin himself maintain LaBeouf was fired.[66][67] A month later, a film in which he starred alongsideRobert Redford titledThe Company You Keep was released.[68] He next portrayed Jerôme Morris in theLars von Trier-directed erotic art filmNymphomaniac, which premiered in December 2013.[69] Meanwhile, at the film's screening at theBerlin Film Festival a tuxedoed LaBeouf walked thered carpet with a paper bag over his head with the words "I am not famous anymore" written upon it.[70]
In 2015, LaBeouf starred inSia's music video for "Elastic Heart" along withMaddie Ziegler.[75] He also starred in the war-thriller filmMan Down directed by Dito Montiel alongsideGary Oldman andKate Mara. In 2016, LaBeouf starred inAmerican Honey, directed byAndrea Arnold, playing the male lead role, Jake. InVariety, Guy Lodge wrote that "despite the apparent stunt casting of LaBeouf", he "easily delivers his best performance here, bleeding the eccentricities of his own celebrity persona into the character to fascinating, oddly moving effect".[76] In 2017, he portrayed tennis playerJohn McEnroe in the Swedish sports drama filmBorg vs McEnroe.[77][78]
In 2019, LaBeouf starred in the comedy-drama filmThe Peanut Butter Falcon, which premiered in March, and was released in August.[79] In the same year, he portrayed a character based on his father in the filmHoney Boy, which he also wrote.[80] He penned the screenplay while in rehab and based it upon his life as an actor.[81][82] BothThe Peanut Butter Falcon andHoney Boy garnered acclaim from critics.[83] The following year, LaBeouf starred inThe Tax Collector, directed by David Ayer.[84] In September 2020, he participated in a virtual reading of the comedy-drama filmFast Times at Ridgemont High.[85] LaBeouf starred in theNetflix drama filmPieces of a Woman oppositeVanessa Kirby, directed byKornél Mundruczó.[86]
In 2023, LaBeouf made his stage debut in the premiere production ofDavid Mamet's playHenry Johnson,[87] playing the titular character's prison cellmate.[88] In 2024, he played a lead role inFrancis Ford Coppola's dramaMegalopolis as Clodio Pulcher, the jealous cousin of the film's protagonist.[89] He is set to star in the thrillerAssassination, written by Mamet.[90]
In 2025, LaBeouf appeared as himself in the feature documentarySlauson Rec, the debut film of directorLeo Lewis O’Neil.[91] Shot from 2018 to 2020, the film follows LaBeouf’s free acting-lab in South-Central Los Angeles as it expands into an avant-garde theatre company and then collapses amid his increasingly volatile behaviour.Slauson Rec premiered at the78th Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Classics section on 18 May 2025, with LaBeouf in attendance.[92] LaBeouf told reporters the film depicts “ugly and disgusting” aspects of his process but stating that he “fully support[s] the release of the film.”[91]
On February 9, 2014, the artists caused controversy at theBerlin Film Festival when LaBeouf arrived at the red carpet wearing a brown paper bag over his head with the words "I am not famous anymore" written on it.[96] In a conversation conducted as part of the trio's#Interview piece in November 2014, LaBeouf said that he was "heartbroken" and "genuinely remorseful and full of shame and guilt" at the start of their subsequent#Iamsorry performance, in which he occupied a Los Angeles gallery for six days wearing the paper bag and silently crying in front of visitors, but that "in the end I felt cared for however it came—it was beautiful, it blew me away."[95][97][98] He revealed, however, that one woman had proceeded tosexually assault him during the February performance,[99] while Rönkkö and Turner later clarified that they had prevented the assault by intervening as soon as they were aware of the incident starting to occur.[100][101]
In 2015, LaBeouf appeared in#Introductions, a half-hour video made by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner in collaboration withCentral Saint Martins Fine Art students, comprising a series of short monologues performed by LaBeouf in front of agreen screen.[102] One segment in the form of an exaggerated motivational speech,[103] dubbed "Just Do It" after theNike slogan, became anInternet meme after goingviral within days of being released, spawning numerous remixes and parodies, and becoming the most searched forGIF of 2015 according toGoogle.[104]
Personal life
Relationships
LaBeouf met British actressMia Goth while filmingNymphomaniac in 2012. On October 10, 2016, LaBeouf and Goth appeared to have married in a Las Vegas ceremony officiated by anElvis impersonator.[105] Two days later, a local official said that the pair were not legally married, but instead a commitment ceremony was performed.[106] Later that month, LaBeouf confirmed during an appearance onThe Ellen DeGeneres Show that they had married.[107] In September 2018, it was announced the couple had separated and filed for divorce.[108] In February 2022, it was reported that Goth and LaBeouf had reconciled and she was pregnant with their first child.[109] Their daughter was born in March 2022.[110][111]
LaBeouf dated British musicianFKA Twigs from 2018 to 2019.[112] He began dating American actressMargaret Qualley in 2020 after they co-starred in her sisterRainey Qualley's short film music video "Love Me Like You Hate Me". The relationship reportedly ended in January 2021, and in September, Margaret Qualley toldHarper's Bazaar that she believed FKA Twigs'sabuse allegations against LaBeouf.[113]
LaBeouf contributed an essay to the 2004 bookI Am Jewish byJudea Pearl, in which he stated that he has a "personal relationship with God that happens to work within the confines ofJudaism".[116] LaBeouf had described himself as Jewish,[117] but declared in 2007 that religion had "never made sense" to him.[16] However, LaBeouf said in an interview inInterview magazine in October 2014 that "I found God doing [the film]Fury. I became aChristian man [...]Brad [Pitt] was really instrumental in guiding my head through this."[118]
In an August 2022 interview with BishopRobert Barron, LaBeouf said that he had fallen in love with the Catholic faith while studying for the titular role of the filmPadre Pio and staying in a Capuchin monastery in the process. He stated that theTraditional Latin Mass played a key role in his conversion.[119][120] In May 2023, LaBeouf confirmed that he was undergoing theOrder of Christian Initiation of Adults.[121] On December 31, 2023, LaBeouf wasconfirmed into the Catholic Church by Bishop Barron and it was said that he had expressed a wish to enter into thediaconate.[122][123]
On December 17, 2013, LaBeouf released his short filmHoward Cantour.com to the Internet; shortly thereafter, several bloggers noted its close similarity toJustin M. Damiano, a 2007 comic byGhost World creatorDan Clowes.[124]Wired journalist Graeme McMillan noted at least three similarities in his article, one of which was that the opening monologue for the short and the comic were identical.[125] LaBeouf would later remove the film and claim that he did not intend to copy Clowes but was instead "inspired" by him and "got lost in the creative process."[36] He followed this up with several apologies viaTwitter writing, "In my excitement and naiveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation", and "I deeply regret the manner in which these events have unfolded and want @danielclowes to know that I have a great respect for his work". Clowes responded by saying "The first I ever heard of the film was this morning when someone sent me a link. I've never spoken to or met Mr. LaBeouf ... I actually can't imagine what was going through his mind."[126] LaBeouf was criticized over his apology, with some sites such asThe A.V. Club noting that the apology itself appeared to have been lifted from a 2010 post onYahoo! Answers.[127]
Since the initial discovery of the plagiarism of Clowes' work, LaBeouf's other work has come under scrutiny. News outlets reported that LaBeouf's graphic novels,Let's Fucking Party andStale N Mate, had been plagiarized fromBenoît Duteurtre'sThe Little Girl and the Cigarette andCharles Bukowski'sAssault.[128][129]
In January 2014, LaBeouf spoke about the plagiarism accusations withBleeding Cool writerRich Johnston, stating that he saw copyright laws as too restrictive and that they did not allow for ideas to flow freely.[130] LaBeouf latertweeted a description of his next project,Daniel Boring (a reference toDavid Boring, another comic created by Clowes). The description of the project was also taken word-for-word from a description by Clowes of his comic. Clowes' attorney, Michael Kump, has since sent a cease-and-desist letter to LaBeouf's attorney, which LaBeouf posted on Twitter.[131]
Legal issues
On June 26, 2014, LaBeouf was arrested atNew York City'sStudio 54 theater and subsequently charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, and criminal trespass.[132][133] He was said to have been "acting disorderly, yelling and being loud".[134] Following the incident, LaBeouf voluntarily sought outpatient treatment foralcoholism.[135] He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, while the trespassing and harassment charges were dropped.[136]
On July 8, 2017, LaBeouf was arrested in downtownSavannah, Georgia, at around 4 a.m. for public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and obstruction.[137] Bodycam footage showed LaBeouf making "profanity-laced racial remarks" towards police officers during his arrest.[138] He later attributed the incident to his alcohol addiction.[138] After pleadingno contest to the charge of disorderly conduct in October 2017, LaBeouf was found guilty of obstruction but was found not guilty of public intoxication.[139] He was sentenced to probation for one year, including time served, and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine as well as seek therapy to manage his anger and substance use issues.[139]
In September 2020, LaBeouf was criminally charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft for his involvement in an altercation with a man in June of that year.[140] He pleaded not guilty. A judge ordered LaBeouf into adiversion program in May 2021,[141] which he completed, resulting in the charges being dropped.[142]
Abuse allegations
In December 2020, LaBeouf was sued by his ex-girlfriendFKA Twigs forsexual battery,assault, and infliction ofemotional distress.[112] The lawsuit also detailed allegations that he abused another ex-girlfriend, stylist Karolyn Pho.[143] LaBeouf stated in his response that he had been "abusive" to himself and those around him "for years" and that he was "ashamed" and "sorry to those [he] hurt";[112] he later denied the allegations.[144] The lawsuit was scheduled to proceed to trial scheduled for April 17, 2023,[145] November 6, 2023,[146] October 14, 2024, and September 29, 2025[147] before being settled on undisclosed terms.[148]
Following the lawsuit,Netflix removed him from its awards campaign forPieces of a Woman.[149] He subsequently took a hiatus from acting and began receiving treatment.[143] During an interview withJon Bernthal on hisReal Ones podcast in August 2022, LaBeouf remarked that he had "hurt that woman", adding, "I was a pleasure-seeking, selfish, self-centered, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful human being."[150]
In April 2020, LaBeouf was attached to star in the psychological thriller filmDon't Worry Darling, directed byOlivia Wilde.[151] He was replaced byHarry Styles in September 2020 due to ostensible scheduling conflicts.[152] Wilde later stated that she fired LaBeouf due to his "combative energy", clashing with cast and crew before filming started, includingFlorence Pugh who expressed being uncomfortable with LaBeouf's behavior.[157]
LaBeouf denied he was fired and said that he "quit the film due to lack of rehearsal time" in August 2020. In August 2022,Variety published a story containing email forwards sent to Wilde disputing her firing claims along with photos of text messages and videos from Wilde in August 2020 asking LaBeouf to reconsider quitting the film. Representatives for Wilde and the studio declined to comment on LaBeouf's allegations, although Wilde later stated toVanity Fair that "all I'll say is he was replaced".Vanity Fair reported that LaBeouf gave Wilde an ultimatum to choose between him and Pugh, with Wilde choosing Pugh.[154][156]
^Shia LaBeouf: Hollywood's Last Bad Boy By Aaron GellArchived October 1, 2012, at theWayback Machine October 2011|"What followed was a series of stints in various reformatories, behavioral academies, and religious retreats, including one Christian camp where he was required to wash the feet of his fellow campers after a strenuous hike, just like the apostles"
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