Shia LaBeouf - the Next Big Thing?

With the astounding success of Disturbia, Emmy-winning actor Shia LaBeouf (pronounced Shy-uh La-buff), age 20, is on his way to becoming Hollywood royalty. Seems just like yesterday, millions of adolescences were tuning in to watch the natural-born comedian in his breakout role as Louis Stevens on Disney Channel's Even Stevens.

Still a down-to-earth kid from California, little has changed since then, except for the fact that now he has the number one movie in America. Disturbia has made over $40 million so far in sales (as of April 22^nd), beating out such a-list celebrities as Halle Berry and Bruce Willis within it's first weekend.

Shia is no stranger to leading roles (he has had standard success in Disney movies such as Holes and The Greatest Game Ever Played), but with the leading role in Disturbia added to his résumé, he has finally shed his family friendly face and showed us the darker and more daring side that was briefly glimpsed at when he starred in Constantine as Keanu Reeves' sidekick in 2005.

Just like in every actors career, comparisons to those who came before are a given. To me, Shia's career seems to slightly resemble that of John Cusack. Both started out as child actors, can pull off drama and comedy, have had success in smaller films and at the same time manage to star in blockbusters and they both have that irresistible quirky, intellectual attractiveness about them. Some have even called him the next Tom Hanks while others mention a resemblance to that of Kevin Kline. Either way you put it, the boy definitely has similarities to some of the greats while still standing on his own.

For those who still adore his family friendly appeal and likeability, don't fret, up next, we will be seeing Shia take on giant-sized robots in Transformers (in theatres nationwide July 4^th), lend his voice to the animated movie Surf's Up (in theatres nationwide June 8^th) and he has recently been cast by Spielberg himself to star in the upcoming Indiana Jones 4 (rumored to be cast as Harrison Ford's son, but no details have yet been released).

© Jeff Vespa

Credit: Jeff Vespa

Copyright: Jeff Vespa