Didn't want to keep going on about Shia in the Constantine thread, but I just saw him on the Tony Danza Show.
The guy is hilarious and full of energy.
He explained that his name is French/Jewish and he is the child of hippies, hence the odd name. Tony asked what it meant and Shia explained "LaBeouf is French/Cajun for 'the beef' or just 'beef' and Shia is Hebrew for 'a gift from God'...so I think it means God likes meat."
He told about getting his start in Hollywood. He grew up poor, near the Echo Park area. His parents always encouraged him to do what he wanted, and from a young age Shia was entertaining others. He got a gig as a stand-up comic as a kid. Tony asked him what kind of material he used as a kid and Shia said "Dirty jokes, definitely dirty jokes. The owner would take away everyone's alcoholic drinks for the shows I did, and I figured I better deliver some good dirty material, because the guy who just had his screwdriver taken away isn't gonna want to hear some kiddie jokes."
He talked a bit about Constantine. He said it's more gritty, more real than some moviegoers might expect when they hear that this movie was "based on a comic" and went into it being a little darker because it was based on a graphic novel.
He just turned 18 and got his own place, but he talked about the role reversal of gaining fame at a young age and taking care of his family. He said his parents kind of became his '50-year old children.'
On how he found his first agent: "After doing the stand-up thing for awhile, I decided I wanted to do bigger things but knew I'd need help opening doors...so I found an agent in the Yellow Pages." He tried out for three things and the third one stuck...Disney's Even Stevens. He won an Emmy for his role as Louis Stevens on that show.
I'm thinking he's got a bright career ahead of him. It'll definitely be interesting to see what he does next.
The guy is hilarious and full of energy.
He explained that his name is French/Jewish and he is the child of hippies, hence the odd name. Tony asked what it meant and Shia explained "LaBeouf is French/Cajun for 'the beef' or just 'beef' and Shia is Hebrew for 'a gift from God'...so I think it means God likes meat."
He told about getting his start in Hollywood. He grew up poor, near the Echo Park area. His parents always encouraged him to do what he wanted, and from a young age Shia was entertaining others. He got a gig as a stand-up comic as a kid. Tony asked him what kind of material he used as a kid and Shia said "Dirty jokes, definitely dirty jokes. The owner would take away everyone's alcoholic drinks for the shows I did, and I figured I better deliver some good dirty material, because the guy who just had his screwdriver taken away isn't gonna want to hear some kiddie jokes."
He talked a bit about Constantine. He said it's more gritty, more real than some moviegoers might expect when they hear that this movie was "based on a comic" and went into it being a little darker because it was based on a graphic novel.
He just turned 18 and got his own place, but he talked about the role reversal of gaining fame at a young age and taking care of his family. He said his parents kind of became his '50-year old children.'
On how he found his first agent: "After doing the stand-up thing for awhile, I decided I wanted to do bigger things but knew I'd need help opening doors...so I found an agent in the Yellow Pages." He tried out for three things and the third one stuck...Disney's Even Stevens. He won an Emmy for his role as Louis Stevens on that show.
I'm thinking he's got a bright career ahead of him. It'll definitely be interesting to see what he does next.
