Elf child star completely unrecognisable in new career after quitting Hollywood

Ready to feel old? It’s been more than 20 years, two whole decades since Elf hit cinema screens for the very first time, going on to become the iconic Christmas favourite it remains today.

In the two decades since the film first hit our screens, Elf’s main star Will Ferrell has become one of the biggest faces in Hollywood, starring in blockbusters including Step Brothers, Anchorman and Barbie. Meanwhile, female lead Zoey Deschanel has also established a successful acting career, with roles in the romance 500 Days of Summer as well as the hit sitcom New Girl.

But while many of the Elf cast have continued to land huge acting gigs, you might be wondering what happened to the boy who played Buddy the Elf’s half-brother Michael? Unlike his co-stars, Daniel Tay, who was just 12 years old at the time of filming, ended up quitting acting and now leads a very different life.

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Elf, which was made on a $33million budget and made a whopping $225million at the box office, marked Daniel’s breakout role in Hollywood. His next role came in 2006 when he voiced the main character in Doogal, a US version of the kids animated film The Magic Roundabout.

Daniel went on to work on a handful of other projects, including appearances in Beer League and Brooklyn Rules but his last acting credit was in 2009 when he voiced a character in Grand Theft Auto IV. After that, Daniel seemingly went off the radar as he vanished from Hollywood in favour of a life outside of the glitz and glamour of showbiz.

The now 31-year-old went to Yale University and graduated in 2014 with a bachelor of arts degree in Economics. Following his studies, he swapped out acting for a career in teaching as he became an SAT tutor at Veritas Prep, a consulting firm that helps students prepare for tests for graduate schools.

According to the company’s website: “While at Yale, Daniel served as a Teaching Assistant and Peer Tutor in the Department of Computer Science. He was also a recipient of the Richard U. Light Fellowship for his studies in Mandarin Chinese language.

“He believes that teaching and learning are expressions of the basic human need for mutual understanding. With this in mind, he works with students to cultivate relationships based in clarity, humour, structure and respect.”

After spending a few years as an SAT tutor, Daniel went on to become a research fellow at Columbia University. But the former actor seems to have had another career change as he is now in his second year of studying medicine at Cornell University.

Earlier this year the Weill Cornell Medicine Clinical & Translational Science Centre (CTSC) announced Daniel was among their 2023 Summer Fellowship for Medical Student recipients. “Daniel Tay, BA, will work with Dr Conor Liston primary mentor and Dr Amanda Buch as secondary mentor on Applying machine learning brain-behaviour biomarkers of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to quantify brain-gene-behaviour relationships using existing datasets,” the CTSC website stated.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk