'Elf' Star Daniel Tay Looks Totally Different 20 Years After Filming Will Ferrell Movie
The movie Elf has become a part of a lot of people's holiday traditions and might just be considered required Christmas viewing at this point. Starring Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, the movie is both funny and heartwarming, and it's hard to believe that it's celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It's been easy to keep up with Will and costar Zooey Deschanel in the years since the movie came out, but what about the child actor who played Buddy's little brother? Today, he looks a lot different than he did back then because he's all grown up!
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Michael was played by an actor named Daniel Tay.
While on a mission in the movie to meet his biological family, Buddy the Elf meets his brother, Michael, and eventually, they become friends, even getting into some holiday mischief together.
When the movie was filmed, Daniel Tay was still a kid, but 20 years later, things have changed.
Daniel is now 32 years old.
After Elf, he went on to work on a few more projects in the entertainment industry. In 2006, he voiced the title character for the animated movie Doogal, and a few years later, he even voiced a character for a Grand Theft Auto video game.
But after that, Daniel walked away from the entertainment industry for good.
Today, Daniel is a private person.
He doesn't seem to have much of an online presence at all — including any public social media accounts. But as Metro reported, he actually changed career paths entirely. Rather than acting, Daniel thrived in the world of education. He graduated from Yale and went on to tutor others, and now he's reportedly studying medicine at Cornell University.
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The 'Elf' cast reunited three years ago.
In December 2020, certain members of the cast (not including Daniel, unfortunately), got together for a virtual table read of the movie. Will and Zooey even sang Baby It's Cold Outside together, making this a holiday dream come true for Elf fans everywhere.
It's hard to believe it's been 20 years since the movie hit theaters.
Now it's hard to imagine celebrating the holiday season without watching Elf at least once — or five times. Who's counting?
Fingers crossed that the cast will plan another reunion soon. Maybe even in person this time?
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