Elf is a beloved Christmas classic, with Buddy's endearing character and the heartwarming message of festive belief making it as popular today as it was 21 years ago.
Since its release in 2003, it's fascinating to see how much the characters have grown - including little Michael, Buddy the elf's younger half-brother, portrayed by Daniel Tay.
Now aged 32, the former actor may be best known for his role as Michael Hobbs in the Christmas film, but life has changed significantly since Elf graced our screens. In the movie, Michael watches his father Walter (played by the late James Caan) navigate life as a cynical children's book publishing executive, while also discovering he is the younger half-brother of Buddy, a man who insists he's an elf.
This was Tay's first significant film role, and he also appeared in American Splendor as Young Harvey Pekar that same year. Despite having only a few roles, it's Elf that makes the former star a viral sensation every Christmas season. Although Tay is fondly remembered for his role in Elf, his acting career was brief. He soon left acting behind and graduated from Yale University with a degree in economics.
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Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)These days, Tay is almost unrecognisable from his acting days and is reported to be working as an SAT instructor, reports the Daily Record. According to the company's website, Tay spent time as a Teaching Assistant and Peer Tutor in the Department of Computer Science while at Yale. 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," it read. "With this in mind, he works with students to cultivate relationships based in clarity, humour, structure and respect.
"Following his stint as an SAT tutor, the former actor became a research fellow at Columbia University and is now reported to be in his second year of studying medicine at Cornell University."
When it was first released in the US, Elf became quickly popular, grossing $220m (£164m) worldwide. But, prior to his sad passing in 2022, Caan claimed there were reasons a sequel never happened, explaining Will Ferrell and director Jon Favreau never really got along.
According to Metro.co.uk, he said: "We were gonna do [a sequel] and I thought, 'Oh my God, I finally got a franchise movie, I could make some money, let my kids do what the hell they want to do'."
"The director and Will didn't get along very well... so, Will wanted to do it, he didn't want the director, and he had it in his contract, it was one of those things."
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English (US) ·