Rise, fall and return of Shia LaBeouf: Child star to ridiculed meme, a look at his most controversial moments
Shia LaBeouf has had a strange career filled with some rather unique controversies. He's gone from being a child star to a viral meme and has even gotten arrested at low points in his career. However, it's not like Hollywood hasn't seen stranger personalities, and LaBeouf's recent critically acclaimed films have put his career back on track. We take a look at his career, from his early days as a child comic and how he's bounced back from career lows.
LaBeouf's career started off in strange place, right off the bat, as a 10-year-old stand-up comic. As a comic, his gimmick as a child who performed shockingly dirty bits earned him enough notoriety to keep him on stage. Finding himself an agent through the Yellow Pages after pretending to be his own manager, LaBeouf soon found his first major break, playing Louis Stevens on the Disney Channel's 'Even Stevens.' He went on to win a Daytime Emmy Award for this role.
He performed in several well-praised roles in film and in television as he grew up, but his biggest break came when he starred in the mega-blockbuster hit, 'Transformers' as Sam Witwicky in 2007. LaBeouf was living the dream celebrity life -- dating his co-star and sex symbol Megan Fox, in demand from several blockbuster movies, and even in consideration for the legacy of Indiana Jones himself. LaBeouf played the role of Jones' son, Mutt Williams, 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,' which saw Harrison Ford return to the franchise and may have passed the torch on to LaBeouf had the movie not been so unpopular with the fans.
He starred in 'Eagle Eye' soon after, but his career was already starting to wane. Where once he was Hollywood's latest A-lister, audiences had become to grow bored or annoyed by his onscreen appearances. By the fourth 'Transformers' movie, his character had been abandoned as the franchise lead. It was in the 2010s and onward that LaBeouf's career started to take a turn for the weird. In 2012, Tally Hall produced a bizarre YouTube video telling the story of a murderous, cannibalistic LaBeouf and sees the actor himself making an appearance towards the end, applauding. He released a series of graphic novels, as well as an online webcomic, and appeared nude in an Icelandic band Sigur Rós's music video, 'Fjögur Píanó.'
He began taking part in various high-concept pieces of performance art with Luke Turner and Nastja Säde Rönkkö. In 2014, he appeared at the Berlin Film Festival with a paper bag over his head with the words "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE" displayed on it -- a prelude to a performance piece that happened two days later at the Los Angeles gallery entitled #IAMSORRY. Over the next six days, dressed in a tuxedo and the same paper bag, LaBeouf would silently cry in front of visitors, who each received a one-on-one interaction with the star after waiting in line. The trio continues to perform art to this day.
Most famously, LaBeouf was featured in #INTRODUCTIONS, where he made short monologues in front of a green screen, including a loud and passionate speech in which he yelled Nike's 'Just Do It' slogan. That clip quickly became 2015's most searched for GIF, spawning numerous parodies. In 2013, LaBeouf was accused of plagiarism for his short film, 'Howard Cantour.com,' to which he made a half-hearted apology. Claims of LaBeouf's plagiarism continued when people pointed out that his graphic novels appeared to steal from Benoît Duteurtre's 'The Little Girl and the Cigarette' and Charles Bukowski's 'Assault.' He was arrested for disorderly conduct due to alcoholism in 2014, after which he entered the 12-step program. He was arrested again for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness in 2017.
He continued his career, however, and his more recent works have earned him critical acclaim. His role in 2017's 'Borg vs McEnroe,' in which he portrayed tennis legend John McEnroe, was met with generally positive reviews. In 2019, he starred in the comedy-drama 'The Peanut Butter Falcon,' which earned him high praise from critics and fans alike. His most highly acclaimed work, however, came for his work in 'Honey Boy.' During his time in rehab, LaBeouf penned the screenplay for the film, basing it on his childhood and his relationship with his father. Initially written as a form of rehab, LaBeouf would later star in the film, which was released in 2019. Both the film's writing and LaBeouf's own performance were reviewed positively by critics.
LaBeouf's current Hollywood career appears to be back on track. He's not in as big a spotlight as much as he once was, but the work he puts out has earned him back the respect he lost during most of the 2010s. Though his style of performance, and his idea of art, may not be to everyone's liking, no one can disagree with the fact that he is constantly, passionately dedicated to art itself.