Presently, Paxton has just completed THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED, a film he directed for Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on Mark Frost’s best selling book and is a true Horatio Alger story of an immigrant son, who at the age of twenty, qualifies to play in the 1913 U.S. Open. It opens nationwide September 30th.

Paxton made his feature directorial debut in 2002 with the critically acclaimed thriller FRAILTY. The film, which starred Paxton and Matthew McConaughey, received the National Board of Review's Special Mention for Excellence in Filmmaking.   

Paxton has appeared in several blockbusters, accumulating  worldwide box office numbers that surpass three billion dollars.  In addition to Jim Cameron’s TITANIC, TRUE LIES and ALIENS, he starred with Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon in Ron Howard's APOLLO 13, and in Jan de Bont's TWISTER.  Paxton appeared as the tough Texas billionaire in the action-thriller VERTICAL LIMIT, and as the captain in Jonathan Mostow’s WWII submarine hit U-571.  

Moving to Hollywood from Fort Worth, Texas, Paxton began his career as a set dresser on Roger Corman's BIG BAD MAMA.  After working in the art department on several features, he decided to move to New York to study acting. He returned to Los Angeles in 1980, where he met Jim Cameron while moonlighting as a set dresser on the low-budget sci-fi movie GALAXY OF TERROR. Subsequently, he started landing acting jobs – first in B-horror movies (MORTUARY, NIGHT WARNING) and later in studio films.

Paxton’s critically lauded performance as the small-town sheriff in Carl Franklin's ONE FALSE MOVE marked his emergence as a leading man. In 1998, critic Roger Ebert cited Paxton as best actor of the year for his turn as Hank Mitchell in Sam Raimi's A SIMPLE PLAN. That same year, Paxton received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Colonel John Paul Vann in HBO's A BRIGHT SHINING LIE. 

Paxton’s diverse filmography also includes the action films STREETS OF FIRE, TRESPASS, NEAR DARK, and TOMBSTONE; the comedies WEIRD SCIENCE, INDIAN SUMMER, BROKEN LIZARD’S CLUB DREAD and this summer’s THUNDERBIRDS; and TRAVELLER – a film he produced, and in which he co-starred with Mark Wahlberg and Julianna Margulies.

In April, Paxton began filming the series BIG LOVE for HBO in which he plays a polygamist living with three wives and assorted children in three houses at the end of a cul-de-sac in the Salt Lake City suburbs. It co-stars Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, Bruce Dern, and Harry Dean Stanton; the Producer is his APOLLO 13 co-star Tom Hanks. The show will begin airing On HBO in January.

Shia was most recently seen in Constantine opposite Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz. Directed by Francis Lawrence, the feature for Warner Bros. is based on an adaptation of the DC-Vertigo comic Hellblazer. LaBeouf stars as Chaz, a sidekick to Reeve’s Constantine.

LaBeouf will next be seen as the lead role in the film The Greatest Game Ever Played, for Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Bill Paxton, the film is based on the best-selling book by Mark Frost, and tells the true story of the legendary 1913 U.S. Open, in which Frances Ouimet, a 20-year old golf amateur from Massachusetts, shocked the golf world by defeating the British champion Harry Vardon, the most famous pro golfer of his time. LaBeouf plays Ouimet.

Shia previously starred in I, Robot, opposite Will Smith for director Alex Proyas. Prior to that, LaBeouf starred in the HBO Project Greenlight production The Battle of Shaker Heights, executive produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and in the hit film Charlie’s Angels II: Full Throttle.

In 2003, LaBeouf made his big screen debut starring opposite Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight in the film Holes. On television, LeBeouf garnered much praise from critics everywhere for his portrayal of Louis Stevens on the Disney Channel’s original series Even Stevens. In 2003, he earned a Daytime Emmy award for “Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series” for his work on the highly rated family show.

LaBeouf attended the Magnet School of Performing Arts at USC and currently resides in California with his family.

Bestselling author and award-winning writer-producer Mark Frost studied directing, and playwriting at Carnegie Mellon University. At the age of 20 he began his television career writing for the sci-fi classic The Six Million Dollar Man, after which he moved to Minneapolis and worked as Literary Associate at the Guthrie Theatre and playwright-in-residence at the Midwestern Playwright’s Lab.

After writing and producing documentaries for PBS, Frost received a Writer’s Guild Award and an Emmy nomination for his work as Executive Story Editor on the celebrated television series Hill Street Blues. His first feature credits came as writer and Associate Producer of The Believers, directed by John Schlesinger and starring Martin Sheen and Jimmy Smits. In 1989, he founded Lynch-Frost Productions with director David Lynch. Together they created and executive produced the legendary ABC series Twin Peaks, receiving four Emmy nominations and a Peabody Award. In 1990 he also created the groundbreaking documentary series American Chronicles. Twentieth Century Fox released Frost’s critically acclaimed directorial feature debut, Storyville, a political thriller starring James Spader and Jason Robards, in 1992.

Frost’s first novel, The List of Seven, became a national bestseller in 1994, and was published around the world in 26 languages. The sequel, The Six Messiahs, was published in 1996, with his third novel, Before I Wake, following in 1998.

In 1999, Frost created and executive produced Buddy Faro, starring Dennis Farina, for CBS. In 2001, he executive produced All Souls for Spelling Television and UPN. His fourth book, a non-fiction account of the 1913 U.S. Open, The Greatest Game Ever Played, became a national bestseller in 2002, and won the USGA’s Book of the Year Award. He is currently writing and producing the feature film of Greatest Game for Walt Disney Studios. His next book, a biography of golfing great Bobby Jones, The Grand Slam, will be published in November, 2004.

A native of New York City, Mark Frost lives in Los Angeles and upstate New York.

Seen as a turning point in the history of the sport in America, the self taught Ouimet, toppled the British powerhouse in a playoff victory forever changing the sport and the dreams of kids from any walk of life who thought they may have what it takes to win one of the most coveted titles in world sport.

The Open was played at The Country Club in 1913. The oldest golf course in the United States provided a picturesque setting for the championship. Vardon and Ray, both British and both considered to be exceptionally talented golfers, were expected to walk over the less experienced field and, while much had been prophesized about Ouimet, his inexperience seemed too great to overcome.

The match was close and the course proved challenging to both Vardon and Ray who each posted final rounds of 79 and who, as a result, seemed destined to be caught by Ouimet…and of course they were. The playoff was considered to be one of the most exciting rounds of golf ever played.

Ouimet played exquisitely in the playoff, the course was soaked and muddy from a weeks worth of bad weather, but he managed a 72 whilst Vardon and ray posted a 77 and 78 respectively. Vardon, one of Ouimets childhood heroes, was unable to hoist the Open cup above his head and claim victory for England. Instead, that honor went to the young amateur who used phone books to practice accuracy and had never before been allowed to walk the halls of golf clubs as an equal, let alone a celebrated hero of Americas sporting elite.

The Book: The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf by Mark Frost: Hardcover, Paperback