Yousef (Ang:Joseph) Abu-Taleb (Arabic: يوسف أبو طالب) (born circa 1980) is an American actor of half-Arab, one-quarter English, and one-quarter white American heritage, who is perhaps best known for co-starring in the role of Daniel (Danielbeast) in the lonelygirl15 drama, alongside Jessica Lee Rose.
Yousef was born in Arlington, Virginia. His father is from Jordan, where Yousef lived until age eight. Much of his upbringing was in Virginia and North Carolina. He attended Lake Braddock Secondary School and George Mason High School and, in 2003, graduated from Blue Ridge Community College. In 2006 he moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting. His divorced parents both live in Virginia—his father, an Arab American, in Herndon and his mother, a British American, in Harrisonburg. He has two brothers and four sisters.
Yousef is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Prior to lonelygirl15, he had a small role in Dorm Daze 2, in a deleted scene, and was in an independent film, Stray.
While looking for acting jobs, Yousef found a Craigslist posting for an independent film codenamed Children of Anchor Cove, which later turned out to be the lonelygirl15 project. Although he was almost ten years older than the character of Daniel, he won the role. Daniel, who was originally supposed to be 15-16, was rewritten as an 18-year-old.
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 and CNN. He also appeared with Jessica Lee Rose on Tom Green Live.
On November 8, 2006, rising rumors that Yousef had been fired were subsequently dispelled by the creators. Yousef's character remains on the series today.
Yousef appeared with Jessica Lee Rose on the red carpet at the VH1 Big in '06 Awards, where lonelygirl15 won in the "biggest download" category. He also did some work alongside Carmen Electra for the promotional videos of Epic Movie, a film that parodies a number of other epic films such as The DaVinci Code, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Snakes on a Plane.