Child actor from Elf's very different career away from acting after quitting Hollywood
Fans of the festive film favourite Elf will no doubt remember Michael Hobbs, the adorable little brother who helped Buddy the Elf bring a little Christmas magic into his family's life.
But while Will Ferrell's character went on to become one of the most recognisable festive faces in Hollywood, the actor who played Michael chose a rather different path.
Daniel Tay was just 11 years old when he appeared alongside Ferrell in the 2003 Christmas comedy, but more than two decades later, he's swapped movie sets for something very different, and it's quite the career change.
Rather than chasing fame and landing more big-screen roles, Tay decided to leave the spotlight behind and pursue an academic career, which has since taken him all the way into the world of medicine.
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And no, we're not talking about a role on Grey's Anatomy.
For anyone needing a festive refresher, Elf follows Buddy, a human whose been raised by Santa's elves at the North Pole before travelling to New York to find his biological father, Walter Hobbs, played by James Caan.
After arriving in the Big Apple, Buddy meets his much younger half-brother Michael, played by Tay, and the pair quickly form a bond.
From their memorable snowball fight to helping their dad rediscover the magic of Christmas, Michael became a key part of the film's heartwarming story.
But while the movie went on to become a Christmas classic, Tay's time in the entertainment industry was relatively short-lived.
Following his appearance in Elf, he continued acting in a handful of projects, including Brooklyn Rules, and also explored voice acting. He even lent his voice to the animated film Doogal and video game projects, including Rockstar Games' Bully and Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony.
However, his final acting credit came in 2009 - six years after Elf's release - when he decided to step away from the industry and concentrate on his education.
And it's fair to say he didn't exactly take the easy route.
Tay went on to attend the prestigious Yale University, where he graduated with a degree in economics.
During his time there, he also studied Mandarin Chinese after receiving the Richard U. Light Fellowship and worked as a teaching assistant and peer tutor in the university's computer science department.
His interest in education didn't stop after graduation either, as he went on to work as an SAT instructor at Veritas Prep, helping students prepare for their college entrance exams.
Hold onto your hats, though, folks, because perhaps the biggest career twist in Tay's career was still to come.
Rather than returning to acting, the child star moved further into the world of science and research, working with teams at Columbia University before beginning his medical studies at Weill Cornell Medicine.
His academic journey was highlighted in May 2023, when Weill Cornell's Clinical and Translational Science Center announced him as one of its Summer Fellowship recipients for medical students.
According to the university, Tay was set to work with researchers on a project exploring how machine-learning brain-behaviour biomarkers could help investigate autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
His story was also highlighted by The List, which reported on his move from child acting to higher education and medicine.
So, while he might not be heading back to the North Pole any time soon, it seems the former child star has found a calling that's worlds away from Hollywood.
Topics: Christmas, TV And Film, Entertainment, US News
Rhianna Benson
