Elf child star who portrayed Buddy's younger brother Michael is unrecognisable after stepping away from acting

Fans are in shock after realising one of the main stars of Elf star looks completely unrecognisable, 21 years after the beloved movie was released in cinemas.

The festive classic is arguably one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time and with the festive season in full swing, many will be putting the 2003 film back on their screens this week.

The blockbuster, which stars Hollywood actor Will Ferrell, 57, as Buddy Hobbs, follows his crazy life as a human who was brought up by elves in the North Pole.

His alter-ego decides to head to New York City in a mission to try and feel 'normal', so packs his bags and heads to the city - while dressed in his elf outfit - to find his biological dad.

When he does find his biological father Walter Hobbs (James Caan) he finds that he has a young son called Michael, portrayed by Daniel Tay.

After Elf flung him into stardom, Michael went on to voice the title role in Doogal (2005) and also starred in Beer League (2006) and Brooklyn Rules (2007).

His last credit was a voiceover role in Grand Theft Auto IV (2009) before he left Hollywood behind and quit acting.

After a successful run as a child star, Daniel stepped away from the profession to study premed at Columbia University. 

The now 31-year-old went to Yale and got a BA in Economics. During this time he worked as a tutor at Versitas Prep.

He then continued his education and was premed at Columbia University where he also worked as a research assistant and a tutor at Bespoke.

Now, he's currently pursuing his doctorate at Cornell University.

According to The Express, after university Daniel became a SAT tutor at Veritas Prep, a company that helps students prepare for graduate exams. 

They reported that the company's website reads: 'While at Yale, Daniel served as a Teaching Assistant and Peer Tutor in the Department of Computer Science.

'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. With this in mind, he works with students to cultivate relationships based in clarity, humour, structure and respect.'

Elf premiered way back in 2003 and it has since been made into a Broadway musical - Elf: The Musical, as well as Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas.

So the fact that there hasn't been an Elf 2 is quite surprising, considering how popular it was in the early 2000s.

In a chat with The Guardian, Will told them: 'I killed the idea of a sequel.

'$29m does seem a lot of money for a guy to wear tights, but it's what the marketplace will bear.'

Then James Caan, who plays Buddy's dad Walter Hobbs, gave another reason why.

The actor alleged that Will and director Jon Favreau 'didn't get along'.

James told Cleveland's 92.3 The Fan's Bull & Fox back in 2020: 'We were gonna do it 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.'