Talk about a throwback! Disney Channel’s original series Even Stevens premiered in June 2000, and some of its stars have gone on to achieve big dreams.
The family sitcom aired for three seasons between 2000 and 2003, coming to an end when it reached the network’s 65-episode limit. Each episode followed the eccentric Stevens family, focusing on the total opposite personalities of the two younger children, Ren (Christy Carlson Romano) and Louis (Shia LaBeouf). The cast came together once more for the Even Stevens Movie, which premiered in June 2003 and acted as the series finale.
Though it was short-lived, the Disney series was LaBeouf’s breakout role. In 2003, the California native took home the Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series for his role as the mischievous youngest child of the Stevens family. Years later, the Transformers star reflected on growing up in the spotlight.
“I was an ordinary kid, for real, in an extraordinary situation,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2019. “I became addicted to that kudos. It kind of fueled my way of working for a long time — just pining your own pain, and holding on to it, and not really ever dealing with it or questioning it, but just keeping it in a little bottle that you can pop the top on whenever it’s needed, when the switch needs to be flipped.”
LaBeouf’s life as a child star led him to a few hard times, including a 2017 arrest for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct in Savannah, Georgia. Instead of being sentenced to jail time, the Disturbia star was ordered to attend rehab in Connecticut, where he learned that he was showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I just thought I was an alcoholic, like a true blue drunk and I needed to deal with that,” LeBeouf explained to the Hollywood Reporter. “I knew it was an issue but didn’t know there was this extra whole other thing that was hindering my ability to have any peace in my life and my ability to deal with people.”
His experience in therapy inspired his latest film, Honey Boy, which hit theaters in November 2019 and earned him the Breakthrough Screenwriter Award at the 23rd annual Hollywood Film Awards.
Scroll down to learn more about where the cast of Even Stevens is today!