Yousef Abu-Taleb | |
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 Yousef Abu-Taleb in 2017 | |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
Yousef Abu-Taleb is an American actor. He was born in Arlington and raised in Virginia before moving to Los Angeles, California. [1]
He is known for co-starring in the role of Daniel (Danielbeast), the longest-running character [2] in the lonelygirl15 web drama, alongside Jessica Lee Rose. Since the show's finale, he has ventured into writing, producing and most notably stand-up comedy.
Of Arab, English and American descent, [3] 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. [1]
Abu-Taleb became a member of the Screen Actors Guild in 2006 and later landed roles on Lionsgate's "Bite Me" and Showtime's "Ray Donovan."
While looking for acting jobs in 2006, Abu-Taleb found a Craigslist posting for an independent film codenamed Children of Anchor Cove, which later turned out to be the lonelygirl15 project. [1] Although he was older than the character of Daniel, who was written to be 15–16, he won the role and the character was rewritten to be 18. [4]
During the filming, before his identity was revealed, Yousef kept a low profile, keeping to his house and wearing sunglasses when he went out. [4] After the creators and crew came forward, he was openly interviewed by MTV [4] and CNN. [1] He also appeared with Jessica Lee Rose on Tom Green Live . [5]
lonelygirl15 won in the "biggest download" category at the VH1 Big in '06 Awards. [6] 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 . [7]
As of the lonelygirl15 finale in August 2008, [8] Yousef appeared in over 300 episodes, making him the longest-running character on the show. [9] Yousef also collaborated with lonelygirl15 writer-director Glenn Rubenstein to co-write the episode "Miss Me?" [10] and Creator Miles Beckett to film the episode "Following The Helper". [11] He also made a surprise appearance in the final episode of the lonelygirl15 sequel series, LG15: The Resistance, "12 Videos 12 Hours." [12] in 2017, Abu-taleb helped write, direct and executive produce as well as star in special episodes for the fans to see where the characters ended up over the years.
Since leaving the show, Abu-Taleb has ventured into writing and producing. His most recent film, West of Hell, is slated for release in 2018 and his first one-hour comedy special "Washed Up Youtube Star" is 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 [13] Out of the Blue.
Murder, She Wrote is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series focuses on the life of Jessica Fletcher, a mystery writer and amateur detective, who becomes involved in solving murders that take place in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine, across the United States, and abroad. The program ran for 12 seasons from September 30, 1984, to May 19, 1996, for a total of 264 episodes and included amongst its recurring cast Tom Bosley, William Windom and Ron Masak, as well as a vast array of guest cast members including Mickey Rooney, Michael Horton, Keith Michell, George Segal, Kevin McCarthy, Gene Barry, Martin Milner, Earl Holliman, Pat Morita, Tom Wopat, John Astin, Loretta Swit, John Saxon, Ruth Roman, Kathryn Grayson, Ken Howard, Bradford Dillman, Jean Peters, Neil Patrick Harris, Harvey Fierstein, and Julie Adams.
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Glenn Rubenstein is a writer, director, and journalist based in Northern California.
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lonelygirl15 is an American science fiction thriller web series created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda Goodfried. It was independently released on YouTube from June 16, 2006, to August 1, 2008, and was also briefly released on Revver and Myspace. The series revolves around the initially mundane life of homeschooled 16-year-old Bree Avery, who uses the username Lonelygirl15 online. She goes on the run with her friend Daniel after her parents' mysterious religion is revealed to be The Order, a blood-harvesting operation that wants her "trait positive" blood. The series is presented through video blogs, or vlogs, originally recorded solely from Bree's bedroom.
Jessica Lee Rose is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of lonelygirl15, a fictional teenage homeschooled character named Bree who appeared in YouTube video blogs, beginning in June 2006. In September 2006, the Los Angeles Times outed the character, destroying any mystery surrounding the possible fictionality of lonelygirl15, which thrust Rose into the mainstream spotlight while also increasing the viewership of the series. In 2007, Rose won a Webby for this role.
Jackson Davis is an American actor. He is best known for portraying the character "Jonas" from the lonelygirl15 videos series, its spinoff KateModern, and its sequel series, LG15: The Resistance. He was born in Gloversville, New York, but was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he attended Ephrata High School. He starred in the 2009 film You, Only Better..., a movie about life coaches.
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A web series is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single instance of a web series program can be called an episode or a webisode. The scale of a web series is small and a typical episode can be anywhere from three to fifteen minutes in length. Web series are distributed online on video sharing websites and apps, such as YouTube and Vimeo, and can be watched on devices such as desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Internet-connected television sets. They can also be released on social media platforms. Because of the nature of the Internet, a web series may be interactive. Web series are classified as new media.
KateModern was the sister series of lonelygirl15. The series, which was announced on 16 July 2007, began filming on 9 July and the first video, Fight and Flight, was released on 16 July. The show is produced by EQAL in partnership with Bebo. It ended on 28 June 2008, slightly less than a year following its original release.
Alexandra "Ra" or "Lexie" Dreyfus is an American actress, director, and writer. She is best known for directing music videos and commercials, photographing celebrities, and portraying Sarah Genatiempo in the Internet series lonelygirl15 and its spinoff LG15: The Resistance.
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LG15: The Resistance is a web television series produced by EQAL that took place within the LG15 Universe. The series was first announced on July 4, 2008, via the official behind-the-scenes LG15 blog, Inside. It premiered on September 16, 2008, at the New York Television Festival, and was first uploaded for public viewing on September 20, 2008. Daily content was provided in the form of video blogs, images, text blogs, and other information posted daily from the characters at LG15.com. On the following Saturday, all of the content from the previous week was compiled into one 6- to 10-minute episode to end that week's "chapter". Each week of the show featured music from a different artist.
N1ckola is a Polish webseries based on the lonelygirl15 Universe. It was produced by EQAL, Agora SA, and A2 Multimedia and began in 2009. According to Greg Goodfried and Miles Beckett of EQAL, the show "blends reality, documentary, and fiction. It was always our hope to expand the LG15 Universe into new countries through full-format licensing deals like this one with Agora. N1ckola is the perfect example of a business model we'd like to replicate in the future in even more countries."
LG15: The Last is a social show produced by Australian lonelygirl15 fans in 2009, and presented by EQAL on LG15.com. Due to the downturn in the economy, EQAL's show LG15: The Resistance was put on hiatus, and instead, the producers decided to open a contest for the fans. LG15: The Last was the result of this contest, entitled "LG15: The Show Is Yours," which allowed fans to submit pilot episodes and trailers of spin-off shows based on the Lonelygirl15 mythology, where the selected pilot would become an official LG15 Franchise show. Allowing a crowdsourced project to take over production responsibilities was seen as "unprecedented." LG15: The Last did not win the contest at first, but when the original winner backed out, they became the featured show.
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LG15: Outbreak is a social show produced by lonelygirl15 fans in 2010, under the name of Tempest Pictures, and presented by EQAL on LG15.com. Due to the downturn in the economy, EQAL's show LG15: The Resistance was put on hiatus, and instead, the producers decided to open a contest for the fans. The contest allowed fans to submit pilot episodes and trailers of spin-off shows based on the Lonelygirl15 mythology, where the selected pilot would become an official LG15 Franchise show. The winner of the first season of "LG15: The Show Is Yours" was LG15: The Last, and LG15: Outbreak was declared the winner of the second season. At the time of the first contest, allowing a crowd-sourced project to take over production responsibilities was seen as "unprecedented".
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