EXCLUSIVE: How $7.25-an-hour waitress, 19, won Hollywood role and bagged Shia LaBeouf - to the shock of her Texas hometown where no-one expected athletic honor student to become an actress
- Sasha Lane is new girlfriend of Shia LaBoeuf after they met on American Honey, when she was cast in the movie
- Producers searched for new actors for drama and hostess at Frisco, TX, Mexican restaurant applied after she was told: 'You have a face for movies.'
- Lane, 19, is now living with LaBoeuf and the couple were spotted together in Los Angeles last week
- Friends say they are amazed Lane has become an actress as she was aa athletic honor student who was not involved in acting
- Still enrolled at Texas State University but unclear if she will return for studies as Hollywood fame beckons
Her dreadlocks, tattoos and grungy look have landed her a part in the upcoming film American Honey - as well as winning the heart of leading man Shia LaBeouf.
But Daily Mail Online can reveal that Sasha Lane, the Transformers star's new girlfriend, was in fact a squeaky-clean honors student who had no interest in acting until talent scouts told her: 'You have a face for movies.'
The 19-year-old novice worked as a hostess at a Mexican restaurant near Frisco, Texas before she was cast in the Andrea Arnold-directed drama.
And after meeting Shia, 29, on set the pair are said to have fallen in love and set up home together in lightning speed - with Hollywood insiders tipping Sasha to become a 'huge star'.
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Stardom: Sasha Lane, 19, was seen in Los Angeles last week with Shia LaBoeuf, 29, as he filled up at a gas station in Sherman Oaks.
Couple: Shia LaBeouf and Sasha Lane have been spending time together since they met on the set of American Honey
Happy together: Shie LaBouef and Sasha Lane were seen in Los Angeles together holdinghands last month
Old workplace: Sasha Lane was working as a $7.25-an-hour hostess at On The Border, a Mexican chain restaurant in her home town of Frisco, Texas, when she was seen by talent-spotters
Reunion: In July Sasha Lane took her new boyfriend Shia LaBeouf to her old workplace for dinner. Although he was friendly and approachable, he declined sign an autograph
Pride: Sasha Slater, 19, used Instagram to show her delight at being part of American Honey when she was filming earlier this year. She called the acting breakthrough 'the biggest blessing of my life'
Their whirlwind romance has raised eyebrows, however, coming just weeks after Shia was overheard having an explosive argument with previous girlfriend Mia Goth, 22, another fresh-faced young actress.
Footage of the July incident in Tubingen, Germany, showed the brooding film idol telling locals he had to walk away because he 'could have killed' Goth if they had carried on arguing.
The clip ended with him being driven to the airport and telling a group of fans that he was headed to Texas rather than Los Angeles.
The incident was typical of the controversial star, who has earned a reputation as a Hollywood bad boy after a string of fights, arrests and bizarre modern art stunts.
But Daily Mail Online has been told that Sasha's loved-ones have given her new Hollywood life their tentative blessing and the actor-director has paid a visit to her hometown.
The pair even headed to the same chain restaurant, On The Border, where until last year Sasha worked part-time earning $7.25 an hour as a server - although Shia disappointed staff by refusing a request for an autograph.
Family friend Lonnel Clark, 64, said Sasha's family recognized the movie offer was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Selfie fan: Shia LaBeouf's new girlfriend is a frequent user of social media and has used it to tell of her delight at become an actress.
Talent: Family friend Lonnel Clark tells Daily Mail Online: 'She was always into basketball and sports. If anyone had told me she would leave school and get into acting I would have said ''not her''.
Talent: Family friend Lonnel Clark tells Daily Mail Onine that Sasha Lane, 19, that the teenager is full of enthusiasm and hard working and says: 'She will donate all that energy to acting.'
Path to stardom: Sahsa Lane answered an advertisement which said: 'We're looking for people who are wild, physical, fearless and ready for adventure. No acting experience required.'
'She's a pretty, nice young lady and it doesn't surprise me that she has made it this far with her potential and her ability,' he told Daily Mail Online. 'I think the sky is the limit for where she may go.
'She was always into basketball and sports. If anyone had told me she would leave school and get into acting I would have said ''not her''.
'But now that she's there and because of her work ethic and her drive, I think she will donate all that energy to acting.
'I know that out there in the movie business young people are taken advantage of and exploited but I trust that will not be the case with her.
'The way she carries herself I think she has a great chance to succeed, but ultimately it's up to her the make the right choices.
'She has good family support, there's no doubt about that. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for her.'
Clark said ambitious Sasha began applying for film roles after she was noticed by talent spotters.
'I think it was destiny,' he said. 'She was on a trip and somebody from the movies told her she had the look and what it took. That was the beginning.
'She was invited to various things, it's been a work in progress but they said she had a face for movies.'
World traveler: Sasha Lane posted this picture as she landed in Paris.
New role: American Honey follows a runaway teen girl as she gets caught up with a crew of hard-partying, law-bending misfits on a trip across the Midwest. The details of Sasha Lane's part have not been revealed
American Honey follows a runaway teen girl - played by Arielle Holmes - as she gets caught up with a crew of hard-partying, law-bending misfits on a trip across the Midwest.
Production company Parts & Labor deliberately reserved some of the roles for novice performers.
An ad for online auditions read: 'We're looking for people who are wild, physical, fearless and ready for adventure. No acting experience required.'
The Brooklyn-based outfit has not revealed details about Sasha's role although she has told friends it is 'substantial' and described it on Instagram as 'The biggest blessing of my life'.
She been photographed holding hands and having lunch with Shia in California in recent weeks, much to the amazement of her former friends from Frisco Liberty High School.
The teenager was a standout athlete on the school's basketball and track and field teams.
She also attended pep rallies, had a seat on the student counsel and helped raise funds for charity, once throwing a pie in assistant principal Phil Brown's face to raise awareness for breast cancer.
'It was really funny to pie Mr Brown in the face' she later recalled in the school's yearbook.
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Sasha left the smart Frisco neighborhood where she lived with her mom Judith, 49, and 23-year-old brother Sergio, to enroll at Texas State University but it is not clear if she plans to complete her studies.
'I met her in my freshman year, she used to play basketball and I was on the men's team,' said school friend Jesse Anku, 19, who graduated with Sasha in 2014 and was her Senior Prom date.
'She was always getting her work done and getting her grades. I was always cheating off her, she was an honors student all the way.
'There was a little romantic tension between us but really I'm more of a best friend. She asked me to the prom when my date bailed on me at the last minute.
'I honestly never heard her talking about acting. But I could see her transitioning into it because she has the personality and energy.'
Sasha's return visit to On The Border in late July was a complete shock to her former colleagues who flocked for a glimpse of her celebrity companion.
Onlookers say Shia wore a baseball cap throughout the meal and kept a low-profile before the pair were seen getting into a car together.
Artsy: Caitlyn Chivers, who was Sasha Lane's boss at for three years said: 'She started her dreadlocks when she was here but it wasn't an issue as we don't have rules against it.'
Praised: Sahsa Lane's former boss, Caitlyn Chivers, told Daily Mail Online: 'Sasha was kind of artsy and very bohemian - she definitely had her own unique style and I can see why the movie people would like her.'
'Shia kept his hat on, I don't think he wanted to have people asking him things,' manager Ashley Hockenberry told Daily Mail Online. 'When I asked him for an autograph he said ''no, but nice to meet you.''
'They were with a couple of other friends but it wasn't really clear if they were dating at that time. They did leave together though.'
Caitlin Chivers, who was Sasha's boss for three years, remembered her as polite and hard working despite her adopting an edgier, grungy image after she got the job.
'Sasha was a really sweet girl. She was really energetic and nice to everyone' she said. 'She was a hard worker.
Antics: Shia LaBeouf's unusual activities - including this appearance at last year's Berlin Film Festival - have become almost as well known as his film roles, which have included Transformers and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
'She started her dreadlocks when she was here but it wasn't an issue as we don't have rules against it.
'Sasha was kind of artsy and very bohemian - she definitely had her own unique style and I can see why the movie people would like her.'
Neither hard-partying Shia or his actress ex Goth have commented on the footage of their argument in Germany.
The one-time Disney star is perhaps becoming as well known for his weird antics as his movies credits, which include Fury and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
In a bizarre YouTube video released this year he appeared shirtless and sporting a rat tail haircut while performing a freestyle rap referencing everything from potatoes to Galileo.
In a similarly weird attempt at performance art he sat in a Los Angeles art gallery last December for five days wearing a paper bag on his head that said 'I am not famous anymore'.
In September last year Shia was ordered to get alcohol treatment after he pleaded guilty in Manhattan to disorderly conduct, trespass and harassment for interrupting a Broadway performance by smoking and yelling obscenities at the cast.
His numerous other bust-ups include a January 2014 bar brawl in New Cross, London where he allegedly headbutted another patron who made disparaging remarks about Goth's mother.
The same bar was the setting for previous scrap in November 2012 when the actor was accused of scuffling with a customer who stole his hat.
Shia also got into an ugly fight outside a bar in Vancouver, Canada in which he was punched to the ground and struck in the head by a shirtless man before getting up and staggering away in October 2011.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3243391/How-7-25-hour-waitress-Sasha-Lane-19-won-Hollywood-role-American-Honey-bagged-Shia-LaBeouf-shock-Texas-hometown-Frisco-no-one-expected-athletic-honor-student-actress.html#ixzz4KE5U39hG
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