Yousef Abu-Taleb

Yousef Abu-Taleb

Screen capture of Yousef Abu-Taleb as Danielbeast in lonelygirl15
Born Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
Occupation Actor/Producer
Years active 2006–present

Yousef (Ang: Joseph) Abu-Taleb (Arabic: يوسف أبو طالب‎‎) is an American actor and producer of Arab, English, and American heritage.[1] He was born in Arlington and raised in Virginia before moving to Los Angeles, California.[2]

He is perhaps best known for co-starring in the role of Daniel (Danielbeast), the longest-running character[3] in the lonelygirl15 web drama, alongside Jessica Lee Rose. Since the show's finale, he has ventured into producing, working on both feature films and other internet shows, most notably Poor Paul. He is currently in pre-production on his latest feature film "Look at me" which is a romantic drama.

Early career

Yousef 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.[2]

Abu-Taleb became a member of the Screen Actors Guild and signed with Alliance Entertainment.[2] He landed an extra role in the film Dorm Daze 2, but was eventually cut from the film.[2] He also landed an unpaid role in the independent film Stray, in which his character was beaten to death.[1]

Lonelygirl15 fame

A screen capture from an episode of lonelygirl15 showing Jackson Davis as Jonas (left) and Yousef Abu-Taleb as Daniel.

While looking for acting jobs in 2006, Abu-Taleb found a Craigslist posting for an independent film codenamed Children of Anchor Cove, which later turned out to be the lonelygirl15 project.[2] 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.[4]

During the filming, before his identity was revealed, Yousef kept a low profile, keeping to his house and wearing sunglasses when he went out.[4] After the creators and crew came forward, he was openly interviewed by MTV[4] and CNN.[2] He also appeared with Jessica Lee Rose on Tom Green Live.[5]

lonelygirl15 won in the "biggest download" category at the VH1 Big in '06 Awards.[6] He also did some work alongside Carmen Electra in-character as Daniel for the promotional videos of Epic Movie, a film that parodies a number of other epic films such as The Da Vinci Code, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Snakes on a Plane.[7]

As of the lonelygirl15 finale in August 2008,[8] Yousef appeared in over 300 episodes, making him the longest-running character on the show.[9] Yousef also collaborated with lonelygirl15 writer-director Glenn Rubenstein to co-write the episode "Miss Me?"[10] and Creator Miles Beckett to film the episode "Following The Helper".[11] He also made a surprise appearance in the final episode of the lonelygirl15 sequel series, LG15: The Resistance, "12 Videos 12 Hours." [12]

Post-YouTube career

Whilst still appearing on lonelygirl15, Abu-Taleb starred in the 2007 horror film, On Bloody Sunday, alongside fellow web celebrity Annemarie Pazmino of Sorority Forever fame.[13]

Since leaving the show, Abu-Taleb has ventured into producing. He currently produces web series Poor Paul, in which former lonelygir15 co-star Jessica Lee Rose has a recurring role.[14] He says that the comedic aspects and the way the show broke down the fourth wall are what attracted him to it.[15] Currently in the works, Abu-Taleb is executive producing the movie Growth, which is slated for release in 2010 as well as the film Family of Four, also slated for release in 2010.[16] He is currently in pre-production on the feature film The Disconnect.[15] He is also set to produce two new original web series, Blood Letters, a live-action comedy featuring Richard Riehle from Office Space and Endangered, a post apocalyptic series with writer John Shepherd from Nurse Jackie.[3] Recently he can be seen in machinima.com's live action comedy web series, Bite Me - The Gamer's Zombie Apocalypse Series.[17][18]

References

  1. 1 2 Abu-Taleb, Yousef. "Yousef A". MySpace. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jones, Jenny (September 26, 2006). "Former Harrisonburg Resident Keeps 'Lonelygirl' Company". DNRonline.com. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  3. 1 2 Abu-Taleb, Yousef (July 11, 2009). Interview with Yousef Abu-Taleb of "LonelyGirl15" (Video). Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  4. 1 2 3 Abu-Taleb, Yousef (September 14, 2006). Where Did They Find Bree's Best Friend? (Video). MTV. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  5. ↑ Abu-Taleb, Yousef (appearance) (October 2, 2006). LonelyGirl15 (Jessica Rose) on Tom Green w/ Reel Big Fish (YouTube video). Tom Green Live!. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  6. ↑ VH1 (December 4, 2006). "At the Movies With the Flav". VH1. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  7. ↑ Sieberg, Daniel (March 24, 2007). "The Unlikely Stars Of The Internet". CBS News. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  8. ↑ Hustvedt, Marc (July 11, 2008). "'lonelygirl15' To Wrap Final Season August 1st". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  9. ↑ "Category:Yousef Abu-Taleb filmography". LGPedia. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  10. ↑ "Category:Vidplays written by Glenn Rubenstein and Yousef Abu-Taleb". LGPedia. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  11. ↑ "Category:Videos filmed by Miles Beckett and Yousef Abu-Taleb". LGPedia. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  12. ↑ ""LG15: The Resistance" 12 Videos 12 Hours (2008)". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  13. ↑ "On Bloody Sunday:Overview". MSN Movies. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  14. ↑ Hustvedt, Marc (September 1, 2009). "Jessica Rose Joins 'Poor Paul' Cast". Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  15. 1 2 Abu-Taleb, Yousef (July 11, 2009). Interview with Yousef Abu-Taleb -- Producer of "Poor Paul" (Video). Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  16. ↑ Abu-Taleb, Yousef (August 7, 2009). Interview with Yousef Abu-Taleb (Video). Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  17. ↑ Bite Me - The Gamer's Zombie Apocalypse Series (video). Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  18. ↑ McNaughton, Mathieas (December 13, 2010). "'Bite Me' Pits Gamers vs. The Undead". Retrieved 2010-12-29.

External links

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