"[24][25] His parents eventually divorced, mainly owing to financial problems, and LaBeouf had what he has described as a "good childhood", growing up poor in Echo Park with his mother, who worked selling fabrics and brooches.

[33][24][34] He attended 32nd Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet in Los Angeles (LAUSD)[11] and Alexander Hamilton High School, although he received most of his education from tutors.

[41] He has played real-life people, including golfer Francis Ouimet[33][42] and the younger version of Dito Montiel in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006).

[43] LaBeouf starred in Disturbia, a thriller released on April 13, 2007, as a teenager under house arrest who suspects that his neighbor is a serial killer, which he considered a "character-driven" role.

[27] He received positive reviews for the role, with The Buffalo News writing that he "is able to simultaneously pull off [the character's] anger, remorse and intelligence".

[49] LaBeouf told the Los Angeles Times that he felt he as an actor "dropped the ball" on Jones' legacy, and "there was a reason" the film was not universally accepted.

Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly said he "makes a credible bid for action-hero status, although his occasional stabs at emotional depth don't really go anywhere.

All three of them later worked on a short film titled Maniac (2011), which was inspired by the song of the same name from Cudi's second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010).

[56] Due to LaBeouf's injury from his car accident, director Michael Bay and screenwriter Roberto Orci had to rewrite the script to protect his hand throughout filming.

[65] LaBeouf has created three short graphic novels Stale N Mate, Cyclical, and Let's Fucking Party, and a webcomic series, Cheek Up's through the publishing company, The Campaign Book.

[74] LaBeouf co-starred with Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman in David Ayer's World War II-set film, Fury, which was released in October 2014.

[75] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called LaBeouf's performance "outstanding",[76] whilst New York Daily News's Joe Neumaier commented that he "finally finds a role he can disappear into, without his image getting in the way.

In Variety, 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".

[89] LaBeouf starred in the Netflix drama film Pieces of a Woman opposite Vanessa Kirby, directed by Kornél Mundruczó.

[92] In 2024, he played a lead role in Francis Ford Coppola's drama Megalopolis as Clodio Pulcher, the jealous cousin of the film's protagonist.

[97] Since then, LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner have engaged in numerous high-profile performance art projects, including #IAMSORRY (2014), #Allmymovies (2015), #Touchmysoul (2015), #Takemeanywhere (2016), and Hewillnotdivide.us (2017–2021).

On February 9, 2014, the artists caused controversy at the Berlin 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.

[98] 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.

[104] One segment in the form of an exaggerated motivational speech,[105] dubbed "Just Do It" after the Nike slogan, became an Internet meme after going viral within days of being released, spawning numerous remixes and parodies, and becoming the most searched for GIF of 2015 according to Google.

The relationship reportedly ended in January 2021, and in September, Margaret Qualley told Harper's Bazaar that she believed FKA Twigs's abuse allegations against LaBeouf.

"[116][117] LaBeouf contributed an essay to the 2004 book I Am Jewish by Judea Pearl, in which he stated that he has a "personal relationship with God that happens to work within the confines of Judaism".

"[120] In an August 2022 interview with Bishop Robert Barron, LaBeouf said that he had fallen in love with the Catholic faith while studying for the titular role of the film Padre Pio and staying in a Capuchin monastery in the process.

News outlets reported that LaBeouf's graphic novels, Let's Fucking Party and Stale N Mate, had been plagiarized from Benoît Duteurtre's The Little Girl and the Cigarette and Charles Bukowski's Assault.

[131][132][133] In January 2014, LaBeouf spoke about the plagiarism accusations with Bleeding Cool writer Rich Johnston, stating that he saw copyright laws as too restrictive and that they did not allow for ideas to flow freely.

[135] On June 26, 2014, LaBeouf was arrested at New York City's Studio 54 theater and subsequently charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, and criminal trespass.

[143] 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.

[143] 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.

[145] In December 2020, LaBeouf was sued by his ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs (born Tahliah Debrett Barnett) for sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress.

[146] During an interview with Jon Bernthal on his Real 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.

"[152] In April 2020, LaBeouf was attached to star in the psychological thriller film Don't Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde.