Actor Shia LaBeouf’s net worth is not as high as one might think after the Disney Channel alum has spent decades in the spotlight. In addition to many notable acting and writing credits, the Los Angeles native’s career has also been plagued with scandal, legal trouble and plagiarism accusations.
Shia’s net worth is estimated to be about $25 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. While that’s obviously a large fortune, it is much lower than other stars of his caliber.
The Los Angeles native began doing standup comedy when he was just 10 years old and landed his first agent by calling someone he found in the phone book pretending to be his own manager. Admittedly, Shia began acting because his family was broke and needed money.
From 2000 to 2003, the Fury actor became the breakout star of Disney Channel’s Even Stevens. It even scored the young actor, who was just a teenager at the time, a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance as Louis Stevens.
After his run on Disney Channel ended, Shia began receiving attention for his acting chops after starring in 2007’s Disturbia, but his role in Transformers alongside Megan Fox solidified his place as an A-lister. He was reportedly paid $750,000 for the first film in the DreamWorks franchise, and his paycheck was bumped up to $5 million for the sequel. Shia was then reportedly paid $15 million to appear in the third flick. However, he reportedly was recast in the fourth movie after asking for $18 million, which was denied.
Other high-paying notable roles for the Holes star includes 2006’s historical drama Bobby, for which he reportedly earned $400,000. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was another big film for Shia, paying him a reported $8 million.
The Indiana Jones actor went on to try his hand in writing. He wrote and starred in his film Honey Boy after he began working on the script in court-ordered therapy. The movie, which is based on Shia’s own experiences with his abusive father, is about a young actor’s tumultuous childhood and early adult years as he tries to reconcile with his dad and deal with his own mental health.
However, with Shia’s success also came problems. Since 2007, he has been arrested a handful of times amid his struggles with alcohol. One of his most publicized run-ins with the law came in 2014 when he was arrested during the intermission of Broadway musical Cabaret, where he was reportedly smoking inside the theater and yelling obscenities.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by Page Six, the actor shouted at officers, “This is f–king bullshit! Do you know my life? Do you know who I am?” After the incident, the I, Robot actor completed rehab as part of his plea deal. The judge said the case would be “dismissed and sealed” if Shia was able to stay out of trouble for six months.
Actor Alan Cumming, who was starring in Cabaret at the time, reflected on the incident with Shia in the audience during an interview with Conan O’Brien.
“He was just wasted and he was wasted from the second he walked into the thing. There was an atmosphere when I went to go down on stage and start the show. Everyone was freaking out because there was somebody who seemed to be a crazy person, shouting and stuff,” the U.K. native said. “As I walked past him he like whacked me and was smoking.”
In December 2020, Shia’s ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs filed a lawsuit against the actor for their allegedly abusive relationship. In June, the NY Daily News reported the pair were in “settlement negotiations” and had a follow-up court date scheduled for December 15.
In addition to his legal woes, Shia was first accused of plagiarism in 2013, when people thought his short film Howard Cantour.com was extremely similar to Dan Clowes’ Justin M. Damiano. Shia pulled down his work but insisted it was simply “inspired” by the Ghost World creator. Since then, some of Shia’s other work has come under scrutiny.