Shia LaBeouf started as a teen star in big action franchises and then deliberately built a career in smaller, more personal dramas. From a teenager caught in a war between alien robots to a semi-autobiographical story about his own childhood: these ten films show that whole evolution.
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The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019): Tyler
As a young man on the run from his own problems who befriends a young man with Down syndrome, LaBeouf delivers one of the best-received roles of his later career. The film combines a road movie structure with a sincere story about friendship.
Honey Boy (2019): James Lort
In this semi-autobiographical drama written by LaBeouf himself, he plays a fictionalized version of his own father, based on his childhood as a child star with a difficult father relationship.
Could easily have taken the top spot for real.
Fury (2014): Boyd Swan
As a tank crew member during the final months of World War II, LaBeouf plays one of the more serious characters in this war drama alongside Brad Pitt. The film emphasizes the claustrophobic, exhausting side of tank warfare.
The film emphasizes the claustrophobic, exhausting side of tank warfare.
American Honey (2016): Jake
As a charismatic but unpredictable salesman on a traveling magazine crew, LaBeouf plays a key role in this sprawling road movie drama, praised for its loose, documentary-like style.
Happy this made the top 3.
Pieces of a Woman (2020): Sean
As the partner of a woman who goes through a traumatic home birth, LaBeouf plays one of his most restrained dramatic roles. The opening scene, a long unbroken birth sequence, drew a lot of attention.
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Lawless (2012): Jack Bondurant
As the youngest of three brothers making and selling moonshine during Prohibition, LaBeouf plays a character who gradually evolves from naive youngest brother to hardened criminal. The film is based on real family history.
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Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010): Jacob Moore
Opposite Michael Douglas' returning Gordon Gekko, LaBeouf plays a young trader caught up in the financial world just before the 2008 crisis, exploring how ambition and morality clash on Wall Street.
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Disturbia (2007): Kale Brecht
As a teenager under house arrest who discovers a killer in his neighborhood, LaBeouf leads this modern nod to Hitchcock's Rear Window. It became one of his first big commercial successes.
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Transformers (2007): Sam Witwicky
As a teenager who accidentally gets caught up in a war between alien robots, LaBeouf leads the action franchise that made him famous worldwide, combining spectacular effects with a light, comic tone.
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Holes (2003): Stanley Yelnats
As a teenager wrongly sent to a detention camp where boys have to dig holes, LaBeouf plays one of his first major film roles. The film weaves the present together with a generations-old family story.
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Salvable (2025)
LaBeouf plays an aging boxer struggling to escape his small town and repair his bond with his teenage daughter.
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The film combines a road movie structure with a sincere story about friendship.
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