Shia LaBeouf starred in a movie in 2007.
Shia LaBeouf . In 2007 , LaBeouf starred in the commercially successful films Disturbia and Surf 's Up . The same year he was cast in Michael Bay 's science fiction film Transformers as Sam Witwicky , the main protagonist of the series . Despite mixed reviews , Transformers was a box office success and one of the highest-grossing films of 2007 . Transformers (film) . The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky , a teenager who gets caught up in a war between the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons , two factions of alien robots who can disguise themselves by transforming into everyday machinery , primarily vehicles .