Shia LaBeouf boasted about landing Even Stevens role during auditions before getting the part

Shia LaBeouf has been known to have have an abundance of confidence as a young, rising star in Hollywood. 

And it turns out his seemingly unbreakable belief in himself was more than apparent when he was up for the role of Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, which helped launch his career back in 2000.

During a reunion on Zoom to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show, it was revealed that LaBeouf actually told people at the audition that had had already landed the part before he had actually gotten it.   

The reunion consisted of 17 members of the cast and crew, including stars Christy Carlson Romano, Nick Spano, AJ Trauth, Lauren Frost, Tom Virtue, Steven Anthony Lawrence, among others, as well as people behind-the-camera, like producers, writers, makeup, wardrobe and casting.

There were a plenty of laughs as they shared a slew of fun stories about their time on set.

While LaBeouf wasn’t able to join the reunion, his former colleagues weren’t at a loss for words over the impact he had on making the show successful during its three season run from 2000-2003.

‘We owe a lot of [the show’s] success to his raw talent,’ Spano, who played Louis’s athletic big brother Donnie Stevens, confessed during the love fest.

It was AJ Trauth, who played Louis’ best friend Alan Twitty, that shared a hilarious story about LaBeouf’s confidence leading into the audition process as a 13-yer-old.    

‘I feel like [Shia] told me this story or maybe Matt [Dearborn, Even Stevens creator and EP] or somebody told me this story, that, it was the auditions for Louis Stevens and Shia comes into the waiting room and starts introducing himself to all the other kid actors auditioning for Louis, saying, ‘Hey, I’m Shia, I’m playing Louis Stevens,’ Trauth recalled.  

Producer David Brookwell confirmed the story and added that some of the production team had to temper his enthusiasm while the auditions were ongoing.

‘Somebody came out of the lobby… saying, ‘Hey, Shia’s saying he’s got the part, and there’s another set of parents that are upset,’ he said.

‘So we had to pull him aside and say, dude, what are you doing? and he’s like, well, you know, I’ve got the part, don’t I?

Makeup artist Karen Toole-Rentrop confessed she knew LaBeouf would be a star right from the start.

‘You knew something was gonna happen with him,’ she gushed. 

‘I met him he was eight… I’m happy for him, because he’s a good person and he’s gone through a lot, but you could see success in him from that age.’   

For his role as Louis Stevens, LaBeouf received a Young Artist Award nomination in 2001 and won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2003. 

The cast and crew also opened up about how fast Christy Carlson Romano scored her role for the show.

‘I’ve never seen an actor get a part faster than Christy Romano,” writer Matt Dearborn shared. 

‘Before she even got into the audition, you go, that’s her. That’s it. And everybody knew it.’

Fans can stream Even Stevens now on Disney+.