By Megan Riedlinger
5:37am PDT, May 17, 2021
Happy birthday, Megan Fox! To celebrate the stunning star's 35th birthday on May 16, 2021, Wonderwall.com is taking a look back at the highlights from her life and career — good and bad! — caught on camera. Keep reading to take a trip down memory lane…
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Oak Ridge, Tennessee, native Megan Fox fell in love with the world of drama and dance at a young age. She landed her first acting role at 15: Brianna Wallace in "Holiday in the Sun," a straight-to-video family film starring the Olsen twins. She then starred on the short-lived soap "Ocean Ave." before scoring her first major breakthrough starring as Sydney Shanowski (pictured) on the second and third seasons of the ABC sitcom "Hope & Faith," which came to an end in May 2006.
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Date night! Megan Fox and then-boyfriend David Gallagher posed together on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in Los Angeles on Oct. 15, 2003. The actress reportedly romanced the "7th Heaven" star for about a year. They went their separate ways in early 2004.
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Time for the big screen! Megan Fox made her major feature film debut opposite one of the biggest young stars of the era — Lindsay Lohan — in 2004's "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen." She starred as popular mean girl Carla Santini, who bullies LiLo's titular drama queen in the high school comedy.
She was so young! A baby-faced Megan Fox, who was just 17 at the time, wore her hair in tight curls and showed off her natural freckles at the premiere of "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" in New York City on Feb. 17, 2004.
Sparks flew between Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green when he portrayed a version of himself on a 2004 episode of "Hope & Faith." She was just 17 at the time, while the "Beverly Hills, 90210" alum was 30. After she turned 18 in May 2004, they took their relationship to the next level. It wasn't until June 2006 that they made their official Hollywood debut as a couple at a party celebrating the partnership between Triggerstreet.com and Budweiser Select.
In November 2006 — the same month Megan Fox accepted a marriage proposal from Brian Austin Green — they made their official red carpet debut as a couple at a party celebrating the arrival of "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Melrose Place" on DVD.
Megan Fox reached a new level of fame after she starred as Mikaela Banes in 2007's "Transformers." She scored an MTV Movie Award nomination for best breakthrough performance for her work in the blockbuster, which quickly made her a household name.
Megan Fox starred as an actress on the cusp of superstardom (sound familiar?) in the 2008 flop "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People." Then-fiancé Brian Austin Green had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the British comedy, which failed to impress critics.
Megan Fox attended her very first Golden Globe Awards ceremony in January 2009. She served as a presenter that night.
Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green attended the GQ Men of the Year party in Los Angeles on Nov. 18, 2008. It was their final public appearance as a couple before they called off their engagement in early 2009.
Megan Fox returned to the role of Mikaela Banes in 2009's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Although she was set to star in the third installment in the "Transformers" film franchise — 2011's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" — director Michael Bay fired her after she called him "a nightmare to work for" and said that he "wants to be like Hitler on his sets." She later called getting the boot from the film series that made her a star "absolutely the low point of my career."
Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf looked cozy at the U.K. premiere of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" in London on June 15, 2009. For years, there were questions about the nature of their relationship. In 2011, Shia finally confirmed that, yes, he and Megan were more than friendly co-stars. It wasn't until late 2018 that she also confirmed things between them were "romantic" … though it remains unclear if they took their relationship to the next level before or after she and Brian Austin Green called off their engagement.
Megan Fox picked up two surfboard trophies during the 2009 Teen Choice Awards — choice female hottie and choice female summer movie star for her work in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
Way ahead of its time! Megan Fox starred as the titular possessed teen in Diablo Cody's criminally underrated 2009 supernatural horror-comedy "Jennifer's Body." Though the quirky film bombed at the box office and scored mixed reviews upon its release, it's since become a cult classic widely touted as a feminist masterpiece.
Although Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green called off their engagement in early 2009, they continued spending time together. In May 2010, for example, they were snapped during a casually dressed outing in Los Angeles. The following month, their reps confirmed their engagement was back on. On June 24, 2010, they officially became husband and wife.
Megan Fox starred as prostitute Lilah Black in 2010's "Jonah Hex," which bombed at the box office and with critics, marking the actress's second flop in a row.
Megan Fox picked up her third surfboard trophy — choice horror or thriller movie actress for her work in "Jennifer's Body" — during the 2010 Teen Choice Awards.
The streak of box office bombs continued when Megan Fox starred as a woman with wings in "Passion Play." The 2010 drama — in which Mickey Rourke also starred — debuted at the Toronto Film Festival to such dismal reviews, it received only a limited theatrical run. Ultimately, it pulled in less than $4,000 on a budget of $15 million. Yikes.
For years, Megan Fox was known for her many tattoos — especially a large portrait of Marilyn Monroe she had inked on her right forearm as a teen. In February 2012, she appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and opened up about her decision to start having some of her art — starting with Marilyn — removed via laser treatments. She told the comedian that when she was 19, everyone warned her that the day would come when she wouldn't like her tats anymore. "I was stubborn and I thought that I would love it forever, or that it would be like a book of my life, all the things that I loved when I was younger," she shared. "And it's not that at all."
Megan Fox made a hilarious cameo in Sacha Baron Cohen's 2012 comedy "The Dictator" — she plays a version of herself who sleeps with the title character in exchange for expensive jewelry.
Megan Fox managed to keep her first pregnancy almost completely under wraps. She and then-husband Brian Austin Green welcomed their first child together, son Noah Shannon, in September 2012. Two months later, the actress showed off her impressive post-baby body at a photo call for Judd Apatow's "This Is 40" in Los Angeles. She had a small role in the "Knocked Up" sequel.
Baby No. 2! Megan Fox announced her second pregnancy in 2013. That November, she was snapped sporting a baby bump while taking first-born son Noah to a dentist appointment with then-husband Brian Austin Green. Another boy, Bodhi Ransom, joined the family just a few months later in February 2014.
Despite their dramatic history with one another, Megan Fox reunited with filmmaker Michael Bay for 2014's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." She starred as reporter April O'Neil in the big-screen adaptation of the beloved kids franchise — a performance for which she earned her first Golden Raspberry Award for worst supporting actress. Still, the action flick was a huge hit at the box office — even if critics loathed it.
Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green continued attending events together as a couple throughout late 2014. That December, for example, they presented together (and then happily posed for a pic while sitting in the audience) at the Sixth Annual Night of Generosity Gala in Beverly Hills. But less than a year later in August 2015, she filed for divorce. Something stopped them from ending their union at that time, though… More on that later!
In early 2016, Megan Fox joined the cast of "New Girl" in its fifth season as pharmaceutical rep Reagan Lucas, who moves into the loft and dates Nick (Jake Johnson) while Jess (Zooey Deschanel, who took a break from the show while on maternity leave) is sequestered away from her friends on jury duty.
Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green continued spending time together as a family throughout 2015, though there was no indication they'd reconciled romantically until April 11, 2016, when the actress was snapped sporting a baby bump while participating in an event for CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
Megan Fox returned to the role of April O'Neil in 2016's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows." Like its predecessor, the action flick performed well at the box office in spite of dismal reviews from critics.
Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green welcomed their third child together, son Journey, in August 2016 — almost exactly a year after she first filed to legally end their union. Two months later, the actress was snapped carrying her new addition while visiting a pumpkin patch in Malibu with her back-on husband and their two older sons.
We're not used to seeing Megan Fox on the catwalk! The 5-foot-4 actress walked the runway at a Mexico City fashion show in September 2017 for the Liverpool Insurgentes department store's Fashion Fest.
Here's a collaboration we never saw coming: Megan Fox and Forever 21! In April 2018, the actress teamed up with the retail giant to launch a lingerie line. She'd previously worked on a lingerie line with Frederick's of Hollywood in 2016 and ultimately became a co-owner of the brand.
In September 2019, Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green stepped out for dinner in Calabasas, California, with their three children. The actress has dismissed criticism aimed at her parenting style for allowing her sons to sport long hair and occasionally wear dresses. "I let my kids wear what they want!" she told "Today" in 2018. "They will tell me what they are. It's not my job to teach them that."
In December 2019 — for the first time in five years — Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green made a public appearance as a couple at PUBG Mobile's #FIGHT4THEAMAZON event. Sadly, it would also mark their final public appearance as a couple. A few months later, reports surfaced that the off-and-on duo were living apart amid the coronavirus pandemic, indicating they'd separated again. In May 2020, the "Beverly Hills, 90210" alum confirmed the rumors were true: He and Megan grew apart when she left the country to shoot a movie in late 2019 … and she subsequently got close to another man…
Megan Fox was snapped during a night out with Machine Gun Kelly in Los Angeles in September 2020. The duo grew close while shooting the thriller "Midnight in the Switchgrass" in late 2019 and took their relationship to the next level in early 2020. After they were first seen together in May 2020, they quickly became fixtures at each other's sides, and it soon became clear that things between them were very serious.
In January 2021, Megan Fox sparked rumors that she and Machine Gun Kelly had quietly gotten engaged when she stepped out in New York City wearing what appeared to be a massive sparkler on her ring finger. As the buzz around their relationship status started growing online, the mother of three took to Instagram to indirectly (and crudely!) shut down the engagement talk.
In April 2021, Lionsgate dropped several first-look photos for Megan Fox's most buzzed-about film project in years: "Midnight in the Switchgrass," which marks the directorial debut of producer and "Vanderpump Rules" personality Randall Emmett. Along with Bruce Willis, Megan stars as an FBI agent on the hunt for a potential serial killer in the crime-thriller, which is due in July 2021. The project garnered tons of early buzz in 2020 when the actress started dating co-star Machine Gun Kelly, who's credited by his real name, Colson Baker, in the credits. In the years since her stint on "New Girl" came to an end in 2017, Megan has predominantly appeared in smaller films ("Above the Shadows," James Franco's "Zeroville," South Korean war drama "The Battle of Jangsari," straight-to-VOD family comedy "Think Like a Dog" and survival flick "Rogue") that failed to gain much mainstream recognition. Fingers crossed she has better luck with one of the five projects in which she's set to star between mid-2021 and late 2022.
