Shia LaBeouf

Shia LaBeouf
LaBeouf at the premiere of Fury in Washington D.C, October 2014
Born	Shia Saide LaBeouf June 11, 1986 (age 29) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1996–present

Shia Saide LaBeouf^[1] (ⁱ/ˈʃaɪ.ə ləˈbʌf/; born June 11, 1986)^[2] is an American actor, performance artist, and director who became known among younger audiences as Louis Stevens in the Disney Channelseries Even Stevens. LaBeouf received a Young Artist Awardnomination in 2001 and won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2003 for his role. He made his film debut in Holes (2003), based on the novel of the same name by Louis Sachar. In 2004, he made his directorial debut with the short film Let's Love Hate and later directed a short film titled Maniac (2011), starring American rappers Cage and Kid Cudi.

In 2007, LaBeouf starred in the commercially successful filmsDisturbia and Surf's Up. The same year he was cast in Michael Bay's science fiction film Transformers as Sam Witwicky, the main protagonist of the series. Despite mixed reviews, Transformers was a box office success and one of the highest grossing films of 2007. LaBeouf later appeared in its sequels Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), both also box office successes. In 2008, he played Henry "Mutt Williams" Jones III in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth film in the Indiana Jones franchise. His other films include Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), Lawless (2012), The Company You Keep (2012), Nymphomaniac (2013) and Fury (2014).

Early life

LaBeouf was born in Los Angeles, California, as the only child of Shayna (née Saide) and Jeffrey Craig LaBeouf.^[3]His mother is a dancer and ballerina turned visual artist and clothing jewelry designer.^[4] His father is a Vietnam War veteran who had numerous jobs.^[5][6][7][8] LaBeouf's mother is Jewish, and his father, who is of Cajun descent, is Christian. LaBeouf has described himself as Jewish,^[9] and has stated that he was raised around "both sides"; he had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and was also baptized in the Angelus church.^{[10][11][12][13]} One of the camps he attended was Christian.^[14] His first name is derived from Hebrew שי יה shai Yah, meaning "gift of God".^[15]