Young Actor Daniel Ranieri Holds His Own With George Clooney in 'The Tender Bar'

The young new star of The Tender Bar began his career in the entertainment industry in a very 2020 fashion: by ranting about the pandemic in a now-viral video. After Daniel Ranieri was invited to make his expletive-laden presentation on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, his charisma, charm, and maturity caught the attention of George Clooney, whose team immediately called Daniel's parents to cast him in the film.

Since his explosive entrance to the Hollywood scene, many fans have been wondering about Daniel's age. The young actor is certainly decades younger than his co-stars, which begs the question: How old is Daniel? Read on for everything we know about this soon-to-be superstar.

Per The New York Times, Daniel was only 8 years old when he released his viral video about the pandemic. The video first caught media attention when actor Joel McHale retweeted it on Twitter in March 2020. In the expletive-laden video, which features Daniel using many a four-letter word, the young actor implores people to skip "parties and the casino" and to "stay inside."

Shortly after Joel's tweet, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the boy on his show alongside Daniel's mom, Daniella. Jimmy's interview quickly caught the attention of actor George Clooney and his team, who rushed to call Daniel and offer him the chance to audition in George's film The Tender Bar.

Daniel describes the elation he felt getting the role, saying, "When my mom told me I got the part, I kept saying: ‘What? I can’t believe it. Oh my God, Ma, I can’t believe it." He added, "I loved spending time with the cast. Everyone was really nice. George Clooney shot hoops with me. He’s a really good player. My mom got a part. She plays one of my aunts. She didn’t have to audition."

In The Tender Bar, Daniel plays the child version of the main character, portrayed by George Clooney. The film is based on the memoir of the same name by J.R. Moehringer, an American novelist and journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2000. The title of the film refers to a bar called Publicans, where Moehringer would spend time as a child when his home life became too chaotic.

Currently, Daniel is only 10 years old. Already, actors in The Tender Bar have been nominated for awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Ben Affleck. With any luck, this could be Daniel's first-ever award nomination before he even turns 12!

When asked to describe his daily routine, Daniel tells The New York Times how he balances work as an actor with school and being a normal kid. "I’m in the fifth grade. I do homework on Sundays; usually it’s reading or math ... In science we’re learning about stars and constellations, which is interesting. Schoolwork is very different from learning lines. For the movie, each day we would shoot a different scene. They only gave me my lines for that day. Then I would memorize them."

He also adds that his co-stars have been very kind to him, and that he talks to them sometimes after a long day. "I might text Ben and Tye [Sheridan] and sometimes George. They’re like my family. I ask them how they’re doing or I tell them I miss them. And they get back to me. Tye sent me a puzzle and some PlayStation games. He’s like a brother."

The Tender Bar is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.