Shia LaBeouf Biography

Name

Shia LaBeouf

Date of Birth

June 11, 1986

Birth Place

Los Angeles, Calif.

Relationships

Carey Mulligan, ex-girlfriend (2009 to 2010) China Brezner, ex-girlfriend (2004 to 2007)

1990s

From Hard Knocks to Acting

A 3-year-old LaBeouf impersonates his father Jeffrey's drunken episodes. "My family loved it, because I was making light of these hard situations," he tells the Boston Globe in 2003. While his Jeffrey deals with his heroin addiction, his mother Shayna sells beads on the streets of L.A.'s gang-ridden Echo Park to pay the rent. At 12, LaBeouf begins performing standup for adults and finds an agent in the Yellow Pages. His first professional gig is an Oreos commercial.

2000

June 17

Disney's New Kid

After making his debut in the TV feature Breakfast with Einstein (1998), LaBeouf nabs his breakout role in the award-winning Disney series Even Stevens (left). After three seasons as the goofball younger brother Louis, LaBeouf earns an Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series. The series ends in June 2003. "I was scared out of my mind because I had been living on this set, creating and being free with the same people for three years," he tells Entertainment Weekly in 2003.

2003

April 18

Digging 'Holes'

LaBeouf, 16, makes his feature debut in Holes, playing a boy sentenced to boot camp. "Everyone just thought I was a big goofball. Holes changed that. When your movie makes almost $ 70 million, it's a different ball game," LaBeouf tells EW. Costar Jon Voight (right), who gave him nightly acting assignments, says of the young star: "He has a God-given gift for truth and authenticity."

June

'Greenlight' Showcases Shia

LaBeouf is featured in the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (left) reality show, Project Greenlight, which documents the making of The Battle of Shaker Heights. In the film, LaBeouf stars as a love-struck outsider who reenacts war games. "Unlike his other stuff, this movie features a kid on his own, a kid with real dramatic moments," Chris Moore, executive producer of the reality show and movie, tells EW. "It's awesome for Shia because he gets to show that side of it."

2003-2005

The Kid Sidekick

LaBeouf's comedic chops prove profitable as he scores a number of sidekick roles in such hit action flicks as Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the sci-fi thriller I, Robot with Will Smith (right), and 2005's Constantine with Keanu Reeves. "The coolest thing was going into Will's trailer. You've got to understand – this man's trailer has three levels," LaBeouf tells PEOPLE. "There's a studio where he makes his music. It's got marble floors. And his kids have a game room...My trailer had a toilet and three cans of Sprite."

2005

September 30

Finding Love On Set

LaBeouf portrays real-life amateur golfer Francis Ouimet, who defeated British champion Harry Vardon at the 1913 U.S. Open, in The Greatest Game Ever Played. While onset, LaBeouf begins a three-year relationship with China Brezner, the daughter of one of the producers. "We were inseparable," LaBeouf tells PEOPLE. "She was my best friend and my love." The pair break up in the spring of 2007. "My focus became so work-related that I couldn't devote any time to a relationship," he adds. "It was unfair to her."

2006

October 13

Shia's Serious Side

LaBeouf plays a young Robert Downey Jr. in the coming-of-age drama A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. The film earns a Sundance Film Festival award for Best Ensemble Cast with Rosario Dawson and Channing Tatum. He also appears in Emilio Estevez's directorial debut, Bobby, a drama centered around the night of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, with Lindsay Lohan, Demi Moore and Elijah Wood.

2007

April 13

The Next Big Thing

LaBeouf stars in the thriller Disturbia, which opens at No. 1. New York Times film critic A.O. Scott calls LaBeouf "one of the most engaging young actors in movies today." He also signs on to star in the fourth installment of Indiana Jones. "It's a huge project and you treat it that way," LaBeouf tells PEOPLE of the film, which costars Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett. When it opens in May 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull makes an estimated $311 worldwide its first weekend.

July 03

LaBeouf Transforms

LaBeouf tries to save the world from impending robocalypse in director Michael Bay's Transformers with Josh Duhamel and Megan Fox. In its first week, the film obliterates the competition, taking in $152.6 million domestically. Weeks later, LaBeouf lands on the cover of Vanity Fair (which dubs him the next Tom Hanks), and he's set to reprise his blockbuster role in a 2009 Transformers sequel.

November 04

LaBeouf's Legal Troubles

LaBeouf, 21, is arrested for trespassing in a Chicago Walgreens after allegedly appearing intoxicated and refusing to leave the store. "I was an a--hole, and it was a mistake I'm still completely embarrassed about," LaBeouf tells Empire magazine. In December, the drugstore decides not to press charges. But in April 2008, the actor is fined $500 for illegally smoking in Burbank, Calif. in February.

2008

July 27

Crash and Burn

During the early morning hours, LaBeouf is arrested at the scene of a car accident in Hollywood and booked for a DUI. Immediately following his release, the actor undergoes extensive hand surgery that delays his filming of Transformers 2. His costar and passenger, Isabel Lucas, returns to work the following day, and in September, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office declines to file any charges against LaBeouf.

August

Shia's Arrested Development

Dubbed "Hollywood's newest bad boy" by Details, LaBeouf appears on the September cover of the men's style magazine. "I never chose to do this because there was meaning in it or I was talented or gave a s--t about acting," LaBeouf says. "I got into this because I was broke." As for his legal woes, he says, "It's when I'm drinking that I don't have the wherewithal to be able to realize the position of my life. There's too much at stake for me to throw it away."

September 26

Shia Scores Fourth #1 Film

Eagle Eye, which reunites LaBeouf with Disturbia director D.J. Caruso, opens and tops the box office with $29.2 million. The conspiracy thriller, which claims that someone is always watching, proves shockingly accurate for LaBeouf. "There was a CIA agent who was working on the movie with us, and [he] told me...[that] one in five phone calls is recorded," LaBeouf tells MTV.com. "[He then] proceeded to play for me a phone call I had made two years prior to signing on to the film. It's pretty terrifying."

2009

June 24

Crushing the Competition

The Transformers sequel, Revenge of the Fallen proves to be an unstoppable machine, taking in $201.2 million in its opening week. "[Director Michael Bay] wanted to punch the audience in the face," LaBeouf told Today. "He wanted to make a very aggressive movie." While promoting the flick, reports link LaBeouf to his onscreen love Megan Fox, but both stars deny a love connection.

Fall

Reel Romance

While shooting Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, LaBeouf makes a real-life love connection with leading lady, British actress Carey Mulligan, whom he calls "the most talented actress I've ever met in my life, by leaps and bounds." Of their relationship – which lasts for more than a year – he tells GQ, "Neither one of us are fame whores. It works out. It's not like we're the premiere couple; we're not the red-carpet king and