• Faith: Christian - Catholic
• Career: Actor
• Birthday:  June 11, 1986

Shia LeBeouf has recently decided to convert to Catholicism and join the Catholic Church. As he was filming the movie, "Padre Pio", he studied the faith. LeBeouf said,"It was seeing other people who have sinned beyond anything I could ever conceptualize also being found in Christ that made me feel like, 'Oh, that gives me hope.' I started hearing experiences of other depraved peopple who had found their way -- in this -- and it made me feel like I had permission."

Shia LeBeouf's past and religious experiences

Shia LeBeouf has had other experiences with Christianity before this recent news of converting to Catholicism. 

During his 20's he struggled greatly with alcohol and drugs, an issue amongst young child actors as they age. This vicious cycle of drugs and alcohol led to numerous DUI, assault, and disorderly conduct cases. Hollywood leaned into his troubles and casted him for some darker roles, including that of a moonshiner in "Lawless" and, to his benefit, a Jewish tank officer in the WWII movie "Fury."

"Fury" changed LeBeouf, at least it started pointing his mind and heart toward Christ. Filming with Brad Pitt, who comes from an evangelical family, Shia said he found Christ and experienced some real religious changes. He said, "I found God doing Fury. I became a Christian man, and not in a f***ing bullshit way—in a very real way. I could have just said the prayers that were on the page. But it was a real thing that really saved me. And you can’t identify unless you’re really going through it. It’s a full-blown exchange of heart, a surrender of control. And while there’s beauty to that, acting is all about control. So that was a wild thing to navigate."

Since that pivotal experience, LeBeouf's encounters with media in a negative way have declined. However, his internal struggles with depression and substances festered. In a recent YouTube video, he explained how he struggled with suicidal ideation and even admitted to having a gun on the table thinking, "im outta here." However, because of his role in the movie Padre Pio, Shia climbed out of that dark hole and found hope in Christ. Despite his public scandals and allegations, this news about Shia LeBeouf is something to be celebrated as we watch him on his new faith journey as a converted Catholic.