Yousef Abu-Taleb

Yousef Abu-Taleb is an American actor. He was born in Arlington and raised in Virginia before moving to Los Angeles, California.

He is known for co-starring in the role of Daniel (Danielbeast), the longest-running character in the lonelygirl15 web drama, alongside Jessica Lee Rose. Since the show's finale, he has ventured into writing, producing, and 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.

During filming, before his identity was revealed, Yousef kept a low profile, keeping to his house and wearing sunglasses when he went out.

lonelygirl15 won in the "biggest download" category at the VH1 Big in '06 Awards. 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.

Post-YouTube career

Since leaving the show, Abu-Taleb has ventured into writing and producing. His most recent film, West of Hell, was slated for release in 2018 and his first one-hour comedy special "Washed Up Youtube Star" was 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.