Growing up in Echo Park, a deprived area of Los Angeles, Shia LaBeouf began acting at the age of twelve in order to save his family. A dozen years later he is one of the highest paid young actors in Hollywood.
In an interview with The Sun he revealed: “I used to blame money for ripping my family apart, it’s probably the reason I started working so quick – I wanted my family back.”
The actor claims that his father Jeffrey was not around much when he was young because he was out selling drugs to make money, while his mother peddled brochures in the park to keep them from going under.
The 12-year-old was offered the lead role in a Disney show Even Stevens in 1998 – that turned into a three year gig. The catch was that he had to have a parent on the set. By then his parents had split.
Shia said: “I rented my dad back into my life, this business gave me my father, money gave me my father. If I had no money and no way to supplement my father’s income so he could survive, I would have no father.”
LaBeouf co-stars with Michael Douglas in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – in theaters now.
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