You may not have heard of Shia LaBeouf but you will. Few young men have made as big an impression on Hollywood as this 20-year-old.

He has a starring role in Transformers which is shaping up to be the film of the year.

He has a starring role in Indiana Jones 4 which will be one of the biggest films of next year.

And away from blockbusters his thriller Disturbia has been one of the most successful indie films of 2007.

Add to that his face on the current issue of the style bible Vanity Fair and it is not surprising that Shia LaBeouf - it's pronounced Shiya LaBuff' - is hotter than steam.

Sensible people are already describing him as the new Tom Hanks. No-one knows what Tom Hanks thinks but Shiya is taking that with a pinch of salt.

"That is very flattering but it is like someone saying that you are the next Dustin Hoffman," he says. "There is one Dustin Hoffman. But actors are always categorised and I have been put in that box."

It's a box that he is happy to be in, even if it is putting his plans on hold. For example, he still hasn't been able to take time out to go to college and the more successful he becomes the less likely that seems.

"I do not want to be a personality. I want to be an actor and maintain the mystery but I have to sit here and give some of that up," he rationalises.

"I want the balance. I want the Tom Hanks. That is my goal. I am very blessed right now and in my life, things are good. I will have my low points. But I do plan on going to school.

"I do not want to be repetitive and I need life experiences because I will not have anything to draw from and I will just be a boring actor."

To extend the original comparison Transformers is doing for Shia what Splash did for Hanks by giving him a huge commercial hit after years of unheralded good work.

Check out LaBeouf in A Guide to Recognising Your Saints or Holes to see how good he's been.

In Transformers he plays a young man who finds himself caught in the middle when two giant robot races - the Autobots and the Decepticons - bring their turf war to earth.

He gets involved when the car he was bought for a gift turns out to be a robot in disguise.

Born in 1986, Shia was just a little too young to get caught up in the first wave of Transformers fever. However he did get into the toys through the first Transformers movie - the full length cartoon featuring Orson Welles in the voice cast.

And although this is a movie based on a toy, Shia takes the view that what's good enough for Orson Welles is good enough for him.

"Here is the thing," he says directly. "It's not that they made a movie out of the Furbys. This is not just a toy. There is a whole legend and lore behind it.

"Have you ever been into a tattoo shop and see somebody getting an Xbox 360 tattoo?" he challenges. "You do see them get Decepticon tattoos. It is more of a lifestyle than a toy. People are super passionate. "The fact that it (Transformers) is the most downloaded trailer ever in the history of Yahoo is crazy. It is not just a toy," he says firmly.

There is a huge amount riding on the success of Transformers and judging by its record-breaking performance in the States so far it seems to have paid off. The man taking perhaps the biggest risk was director Michael Bay whose status as an action director took a big dent with his last film The Island.

Bay has a reputation as something of a tyrant on set and with the expectations involved in Transformers that could only have added to the pressure.

But, for a film that Shia describes as the toughest thing he has ever done, he wouldn't have had it any other way.

"You need someone who is going to get things done. Bay is that kind of director," says Shia.

"He has this General Patton vibe and you need that. He is the adrenaline junkie who embodies this type of film and you need that guy, he makes you feel safe.

"He knows everything about every explosion and knows how to make a bomb. He is well studied and it is his life.

"We had like a big brother/little brother thing going on and so it was all good.

"You don't want to be on the other side of Michael because then it is not good," he adds.

But at the end of the day, no matter how good Shia and Josh Duhamel and the other human stars are, he is sensible enough to know it's all about the robots.

"There is no movie without Megatron and Optimus Prime. You cannot steal their thunder. They are the stars."

That's as may be, but no-one ever referred to Optimus Prime as the new Tom Hanks.