Yousef Abu-Taleb is an American actor. He was born in Arlington and raised in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He is known for co-starring in the role of Daniel (Danielbeast), the longest-running character in the ''

lonelygirl15 ''Lonelygirl15'' is an American science fiction thriller web series created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda Goodfried. It was independently released on YouTube from June 16, 2006 to August 1, 2008, and was also brief ...

'' web drama, alongside

Jessica Lee Rose Jessica Lee Rose (born April 26, 1987) is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of ''lonelygirl15'', a fictional teenage homeschooled character named Bree who appeared in YouTube video blogs, beginni ...

. Since the show's finale, he has ventured into writing, producing and most notably stand up comedy.

Early career

Of Arab, English and American descent, Abu-Taleb was taking classes at the Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia in early 2005, when he decided to head to Los Angeles with $2,500 in his pocket to pursue his dream of becoming a movie star, despite the fact that he had no formal acting training at the time. Abu-Taleb became a member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

in 2006 and later landed roles on Lionsgate's "Bite Me" and Showtime's "Ray Donovan."

Lonelygirl15 fame

While looking for acting jobs in 2006, Abu-Taleb found a

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark ...

posting for an independent film codenamed ''Children of Anchor Cove'', which later turned out to be the ''lonelygirl15'' project. Although he was older than the character of Daniel, who was written to be 15-16, he won the role and the character was rewritten to be 18. During the filming, before his identity was revealed, Yousef kept a low profile, keeping to his house and wearing sunglasses when he went out. After the creators and crew came forward, he was openly interviewed by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

. He also appeared with

on ''

Tom Green Live ''Tom Green's House Tonight'' (formerly known as ''Tom Green Live!'') is a talk show hosted by Tom Green. In addition to its primary Internet television, Internet broadcast on ''TomGreen.com'', the show has been television syndication, syndicated ...

''. ''

'' won in the "biggest download" category at the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

''Big in '06'' Awards. He also did some work alongside

Carmen Electra Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), known professionally as Carmen Electra, is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis, where she met Prince, who produced h ...

in-character as Daniel for the promotional videos of ''

Epic Movie ''Epic Movie'' is a 2007 American parody film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Paul Schiff. It stars Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jayma Mays, Jennifer Coolidge, Faune A. Chambers, Crispin Glover, Tony Cox ...

'', a film that parodies a number of other epic films such as ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Langdon ...

'', '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', and ''

Snakes on a Plane ''Snakes on a Plane'' is a 2006 American action film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson. It was released by New Line Cinema on August 18, 2006, in North America. The film was written by David Dalessandro, John Heffernan ...

''. As of the ''lonelygirl15'' finale in August 2008, Yousef appeared in over 300 episodes, making him the longest-running character on the show. Yousef also collaborated with ''lonelygirl15'' writer-director

Glenn Rubenstein Glenn Rubenstein (born March 2, 1976) is a writer, director, and journalist based in Northern California. Journalism Rubenstein has been a columnist for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', ''Sports Illustrated'' for Kids, CNET's (now defunct) GameCente ...

to co-write the episode "Miss Me?" and Creator

Miles Beckett EQAL was a media and technology company founded in 2008 by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, two of the creators of ''lonelygirl15''. EQAL built influencer networks around celebrities, consumer brands, and intellectual properties. Prior to buildi ...

to film the episode "Following The Helper". He also made a surprise appearance in the final episode of the lonelygirl15 sequel series, LG15: The Resistance, "12 Videos 12 Hours." in 2017, Abu-taleb helped write, direct and executive produce as well as star in special episodes for the fans to see where the characters ended up over the years.

Post-YouTube career

Since leaving the show, Abu-Taleb has ventured into writing and producing. His most recent film, ''West of Hell'', is slated for release in 2018 and his first one hour comedy special "Washed Up Youtube Star" is set for release in 2019 and depicts his life during and after his YouTube fame. He is currently working on the upcoming Neil LaBute film ''Out of the Blue''.

References

External links

* *
Yousef Abu-Taleb on LGPedia

Inside Lonelygirl15: Yousef Abu-Taleb (redux)
- Interview with Lonelygirl15 fans Perky and Rosie (

Revver Revver (formerly ChangeTv) was an American video sharing website that hosted user-generated content. Until its shutdown in 2011,

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Taleb, Yousef Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male film actors American male web series actors 21st-century American male actors American Muslims People from Arlington County, Virginia American people of Jordanian descent American people of English descent