10 Best Shia LaBeouf Film Performances

Much like the top portion of this list, this was one of the finer examples of the young actor breaking the mold that had been set for him in his early years. Released in 2006, this crime drama is a tense and heartbreaking look at a youth coming of age in eighties New York.

Shia plays the young Dito (with Robert Downey Jr. playing the older version) and anchors a tense adolescent story of a youth whose friends all fall victim to the criminal underbelly of the city.

Recognizing Your Saints is really when the young actor started showing that he could do more than feel good movies. In fact, it showed that he could play heartbreaking roles to astonishing effect.

This is yet again a prime example of how even at a young age, Shia had tons of depth and ability to accurately portray a wide variety of emotions, and pull the audience in at every turn. In this movie you can see Shia's career begin to pick up steam, and it's hard to take your eyes off of the screen.