Pajiba

I was standing in line at customs at the Cancun airport and i heard a VERY familiar voice behind me. Trying to appear casual, i whipped around to find John Cleese directly behind me with a few friends. I was to awestruck to say anything. To this day i wish i'd done something profound...like a silly walk.

I'm an American living in Paris. Eight years ago or so, I was crossing the Boulevard St Germain with my husband, and who was coming toward us, crossing the other way? Quentin Tarantino. Four o'clock in the afternoon, visibly having just woken up, bleary-eyed, bed-head, wearing drawstring flannel pajama bottoms, a big black sweatshirt and gigantic red-and-black basketball sneakers. A lot of people were whipping around to look at him, but no one spoke to him.

My Uncle Jack appeared in the Shawshank Redemption as one of the "new fish" (he's the third naked man from the front of the line right after the de-lousing sequence), and he also contributed significant props- such as the infamous rock hammer, which belonged to my great grandfather, and currently sits in my uncle's apartment. Does an inanimate object count as a celebrity run-in?

I also stood ten feet away from Annette Bening getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hmm, I have a pretty great celeb run-in story:
My 18th birthday I spent in Toronto with a friend, and we walked around downtown taking pictures of ourselves at "famous" places (to us, who were from smaller Ontario towns). We went into the hard-rock radio station, and saw some guys standing around talking... a few of them looked pretty edgy, so we decided to ask them to be in the picture with us, for our "cool kids at the cool radio station" picture. After we'd been talking for about ten minutes, the DJ made a comment on the radio about the All American Rejects still being in the studio with her, and all the guys looked over and shouted "HEY!" so that the radio world could hear that they were, indeed, in the station. We'd been talking to the band for ten minutes and had no idea they were famous.

I once went to see The Crucible when Laura Linney and Liam Neeson were doing it on Broadway and my acting class and I were able to sneak into a question and answer period with the cast. Since Laura Linney stayed and answered some questions (where she said the basic theme of The Crucible was to "never fuck the nanny") we were able to meet her at the stage door. She comes out (so tiny!) and my brain turns into mush. "I love everything that you do!" She looks me straight in the eye and says with a beautiful smile, "Thank you. Thank you so much." I don't know what else to say and just smile at her while she moves on to my friend. I turn and out from the stage door comes Susan Sarandon and (the ginormous!) Tim Robbins. I'm so shocked I just shove my Playbill at a very bemused Robbins and a very gracious Sarandon. My friend was calm enough to have a conversation with Ms. Sarandon about the merits of the show. Laura Linney says one more thank you and smiles at us all and hops into a Lincoln town car off to her fabulousness.

Met and talked to comedian Demetri Martin at Guitar Center in L.A. a few months back.

Met Zach Galifianakis and shook his hand in L.A.

Met John K. Samson from the Weakerthans.

I also bumped into Jude Law at comic con a few years back, as well as Elijah Wood.

This was one that happened to my friend:
As he was casually driving around the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan one fall day, he stopped at a red light. As he was waiting for it to turn, he heard what he desribed as "the most disgusting cough i've ever heard". When he turned to see who the culprit was, it was none other than Michael Moore, in town for a showing of Sicko.

I met the Dalai Lama once. He had a bunch of meet and greets with different groups and I went with some kids as part of Students for a Free Tibet. He was kinda funny actually.

Also, in the mid-90s I saw David Spade in the Au Bon Pain at Rockefeller Center. Er, yeah.

Last year I was on a small plane with Tommy Lee that went from Burbank to San Fransisco. He was very polite and was sitting with a model type.

Oh, and when I was a baby I threw up on Richard Simmons.

I was walking through a publishing shindig in New York City, and nearly ran over a tiny little blonde man. I looked (way) down, and discovered it was Michael York, of Austin Powers fame. He's an itty bitty Brit.

I was on a plane with Andre 3000 from OutKast on his way from ATL to New York the weekend he performed "Hey Ya" on SNL. I woke up from a nap before we landed and thought I was still dreaming when I saw him walk from the bathroom to his seat in first class. I got his autograph at baggage claim amongst the 4 Stankonia-World-Tour-Jacket-clad bodyguards. It's still on my bulletin board.

Also, Fred Schneider (B-52s) went to see my roommate's band play in Athens, GA. I chatted with him at the bar. Also, you can't live in Athens for 4 years without sighting/talking to/knowing at least one member of R.E.M.

My only movie star sighting was Paul Rudd (in his Clueless days) on the streets of New York.

Demetri Martin is AWESOME.

Also, sorry about that double post.

Aw. I got nothing too great. I once sat a few tables from Patrick Stewart at a local diner while he was in town performing with the royal Shakespeare company, but the S.O. and I were too polite to harass him while he was eating breakfast. And I have Jim Rose's autograph from a show I saw in Scotland years ago, but I don't think he really counts as famous.

Drop something off at my cousin's apartment in the Union Square area of Manhattan. Walking to the train, I walked past Steven Van Zandt, dressed in full Litle Steven ragalia, coming out of a deli/bodega/cigar shop. Wanted to say something, but the Silvio/Underground Garage (I'm a huge fan of his radio show, which had played the night before) options were overwhelming, so I just contiued walking to the train.

Walked passed Jason Bigss in the Upper West Side, but we were both on dates, so I left him alone.

Harry Dean Stanton, owner of the most soulful eyes ever, kissed my cheek after I complimented his performance at a bar in Louisville, Kentucky (the ORIGINAL Uncle Pleasants--hey y'all to Mark, Dave, and JoAnn where ever you are).

I'll leave out the famous parents of kids I went to school with growing up..we didn't really know who they were except for one dad who was "Gordon" from Sesame Street.

I once ended up at a going away party at Cities in Adams Morgan, (DC) instead of going home. As we stood leaning against the bar my friend says "Well aren't you going to say hi to Kevin?" Mid-response to "Who the hell is Kevin?" I turn around to find Kevin Spacey standing over my right shoulder. This was in the middle of his Usual Suspects-American Beauty fame so it was a big weird deal that he was at a bar drinking in DC for some Clinton staffer leaving town. He was wearing a wonderfully soft leather jacket that I secretly stroked a couple times. He stayed until almost closing chilling and mingling. (Pre-2nd Oscar head swell). We tried to see whether he'd take home a boy or beard but no luck...got in a cab too quickly.

I saw Steven Spielberg in Rhode Island once. I was untying my dog from outside a sandwich shop, much to the chagrin of local kids petting her and saw a bearded guy looking on with amusement. Turns out he was back in RI scouting sights because he liked filming for Amistad there.

I was backstage at a few of the early Lollapaloozas (in Los Angeles) back in the '90s, thanks to a sister who works in the music business. I met quite a few of the performers; the most memorable occasion was definately when Ice Cube bumped into me on the way back to his trailer and called me a "stupid white bitch". For some reason, that made me laugh, instead of making me want to rip his balls off and stuff them down his throat.

I also once swam in a hotel pool with Anthony Kiedis, and he bought me a sandwich. Nice guy, although now that I think of it, he may have been on the junk at the time.

My first ever celebrity encounter--and still my favorite--was backstage at a New Order concert (I'm old!), where Peter Hook offered me a beer (I was 14 at the time). Hee.

I met Jimmy Carter on an airplane when I was going to South Africa. He is really nice.

Fred Schneider is AWESOME.

Ok, I think that will the end of my posts here.

I'll get mine in early as they're fairly unimpressive.

A few years ago I met Jonathan Richman outside a record store (yes, technically, I was part of an audience) but I talked to him after the in-store performance. I was the last person to chat with him and we talked for about 10 minutes or so, mostly about Amsterdam, especially the Vincent Van Gogh museum (he's a big fan). He asked me where I lived in Toronto, and I replied that I was actually from Niagara Falls. He said he really should go there to have a look, and I told him it was well worth it blah blah blah. So a few hours later he finished up his evening gig at the Luna Lounge and my friend and I were standing outside. Jonathan comes out and starts talking to us. I mention the in-store and he asks me if I was there. So I say, "Yeah, I talked to you for about 10 minutes, don't you remember?"
He looks surprised. "Really?"
I say, "Yeah, right before you left. We talked about Van Gogh."
A light goes on. "Oh yeah! I remember!"
We talk for another minute or so. Then, after a pause: "So where do you live in Toronto?"

***

Another minor one: Earlier this year I boarded a flight from Auckland to LA, and as I'm getting in my seat I bump the passenger in the aisle. I hear this husky voice that's mildly familiar. I catch a glimpse of a profile and realize it's Emily Deschanel. So I do my best to not tell her I recognize her until the conversation comes around to films (gently steered by me, of course). Then she nonchalantly says, "I'm an actress" and I say, yeah I thought I recognized you. So, no big deal but our conversation covered the gamut from the New Zealand countryside to holidays to the flicks on offer on Air New Zealand to the Virginia Tech shootings that week to "American Psycho" (am I a charmer or what?).

Anyhow, the two big things I've taken away from this are: 1) it's weird to see someone on TV when you've seen them sleeping; and 2) I'm really impressed with my ability to refrain from asking her how I can meet her sister Zooey.

Not that I'm sure anything beats actual physical contact with Christian Bale (which Ms. The Odd will be dining out on for years to come), but just in case I offer up these items:

Don't know if this counts but I interviewed U2 for a school-based newspaper when they were but a local Dublin band.

In case that doesn't count, several years ago I checked in very late to a hotel in Minneapolis and was therefore given a room on the high-priced level because they had given away my booked room. In the elevator (where you have to insert your key in a slot before pressing the floor number to prove you belong on that floor), there were 3 male passengers. Two of them were very chatty and one of them informed me they were "playing here tomorrow night", to which I replied "what band are you with?". The third guy stared at me in disbelief and said "that's Cal Ripken you idiot".

When I was younger my family lived in LA. One day my mom and my aunt were walking us kids around in strollers. When they were crossing the street this guy in a car starts honking at them. They rush across, in which my mom yells out, "Who the hell does he think he is?"

My aunt responds, "That was Jimmy Stewart!"

ha aha haaaa.

I worked in a record store in the 80's, and had Alice Cooper and his band do an in-store visit and autograph session my first week at work. It was straight out of Wayne's World, with the guys all done up in the make-up, and manners straight out of charm school. Super nice guys. The fan's looked pretty scary, but were also extremely well-behaved- pretty much the only day we had no shop-lifting.

Well, all my family and friends know and laugh at me for this story, so why not the world of Pajiba too? I used to live in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and every summer of my adolescence was devoted to working full-time in the hellish tourist trap near the falls. One summer 2000 day, while working at the *delightful* Hershey chocolate store, there weren't many customers around and I was sort of languishing over my cash register, staring absentmindedly out the storefront windows, dreaming of a better and more noble life. A guy walked by, who looked really familiar to me... he was dressed and styled in a manner almost identical to the loser 20-somethings working at the Hard Rock Café next door, so I figured that was how I knew him. So I gave a half-hearted wave and a smile, to which he waved back, smiled broadly, and kept walking. Two seconds later, a similarly-styled loser walked by, armed with an enormous guy wearing a "security" jacket. And thaaat's when I realized I only recognized them because they were (1) Joey Fatone and (2) Lance Bass, from NSync. (Apparently I needed to be more "in sync" with the pop world at the time.) Shortly thereafter the other teen girls working with me ran screaming out the door in search of love and autographs. I'm the only one who got a wave and a smile though, *swoon*. (Barf.)

I was visiting a movie set that my stunt-man-uncle-in-law was working on and the deaf chick from Children of a Lesser God was there. She was giving me the bitchface. I smiled and gave her a head nod and she rolled her eyes and walked away.

I met D.B. Sweeney there as well and he could not have been cooler.

went to school with justin chatwin (was tom cruise's son in war of the worlds. yeah, i didn't see it either). nice enough kid, really. rather short.

accidently had thanksgiving dinner with james lunney, mp back when the conservatives were the alliance. awkward....

hugged stockwell day, back when he was leader of the alliance, while wearing a communist tshirt. the lysol just won't get the dirty feeling off. the strangest thing was that he one-handed hugged the two fellows i was with (we were crashing a meeting of the grey-hairs) by keeping one hand in his pocket. i got the two-handed hug. all kinds of theories developed as to why he had his hand in his pocket while hugging the guys.

wandered past brett butt and the girl who plays wanda (both from corner gas) last year in saskatoon, beer bottles clinking in my backpack (all kinds of class here, folks). both of them are tiny (height-wise).

my boyfriend stood in a line at the airport with penelope cruz. apparently, she is very short and rather... snappish.

my conclusion is that famous people must be short, by definition, thereby unofficially excluding me from any chance of famousness due to my amazon-like height. le sigh.

I volunteered for a university sponsored concert promoter my senior year of college so I ran into a few "rock stars" that year, but nothing really that note worthy. The most exciting to me was when I was the only backstage security for David Sedaris. As a side note, I'm 5'1" and back then only weighed maybe 115 pounds. He said that he felt very safe with me back there. And he gave me a Kit Kat bar.

Remebered this one after I posted - not sure if it counts but what the hell.

They filmed The Pallbearer in a house across the street from where I went to High School. At various times during lunch/recess I saw them filming scenes outside and at times we were stoped from crossing the street when they were shooting. Once we watched from the window as David Schwimmer repeatedly fimed a scene where he closed the back of a moving van. Stood there for about an hour pulling the door down. Gwyneth Paltrow was in this movie while dating Brad Pitt. He showed up on set one day and screaming kids from my school and the public junior high around the corner were running all over the neighborhood everytime someone thought they saw him.

Never saw the movie though - heard it is no good.

I saw Allen Ginsberg read at Radford University. I waited in line to get his autograph after and he initiated a conversation about my (admittedly very cool) granny shoes and cloche hat ( I was seventeen and had a hilariously high opinion of my sense of style).
Alec Baldwin gave an anti-Ollie North speech at the gallery I was interning at in college and it was just me and a few other interns and him and his people for a half hour before the event. It was an old building and we forgot to tell him that when he went to the toilet he needed to be careful with the lock on the door or it would stick. He was kind of panicky getting out of there, we were huddled on the other síde of the door saying "Just jiggle it!" over and over, I thought he must have imagined we were trying to kidnap him or something. He had his thick hair slicked back and one piece kept falling down (awkwardly, not hiply) in his face, and his people had to go out for hairspray because none of us hippy chick interns had any for him to borrow. His assistent shared with us that Mr. Baldwin got his back waxed regulary.
I went to see the movie Jackie Brown with director Michael Almereyda and then we had drinks at the mall bar (Spinnakers or similar) afterward.
Best celebrity encounter: when I was a little kid I met Tootie from the Facts of Life. No, really.

Two words: Andy. Dick.

I was at a bar in LA, outside smoking. He came flying through a crowd, drunk as a lord, with someone chasing him. He kept looking back and yelling, and ran into me. He hugged me, spun me around to put me in between him and the other guy, and said "SEE! SEE! I've got THIS guy!" Then he hugged me again, and ran off.

I also shook Nelson Mandela's hand once. But my sister has that beat because she had dinner at his house.

I went to high school and summer camp with the Farley brothers (Chris, Tom, and Kevin), and canoed across parts of Ontario with Chris in 1979 (Also at that high school Francis Ford Coppola once stopped by to visit his nephew). I once had a long chat with Ray Bradbury when we were both stuck in a elevator in New York for about two hours, my number is in Troma Film's Lloyd Kaufman's rolodex (Don't ask. I was young and needed the money), and I know all the creators of Halo on a first name basis.

Iman had a meeting at my old work and I saw her in the bathroom. She is super tall and gorgeous. I used to do a (very bad) impression of her "I'm Bored" from that Michael Jackson video "Remember the Time." Hee.

My dear friend from High School was in the He-Man Movie! He won a contest and was "Pig Boy!" He totally has a spot on IMDB and we used to go through his photo album all the time of pictures of him with Courtney Cox and Dolph Lundgren and everything. That was awesome. He has every character and they let him keep the costume.

Not my experience but my uncle's, worth relating though...

His first trip to New York on business about 25 yrs ago, I suppose. Not used to the big city, tired and completely out of his element trying to get a cab at one of the airports. The bearded man next to him manages to flag down a cab and perceiving my uncle's ill-ease offers it up for him. My uncle climbs in and another guy jumps in beside him. His fellow passenger turns to my uncle and asks, "Do you know who that was?!?" My uncle still not settled replies with only a blank stare. The man then shakes my uncle and says, "that was Jerry fucking Garcia!!"

So this is minor and probably doesn't count, but [the] Engima--that guy that's covered in tattoos of blue puzzle pieces, who (I think?) used to tour with the Jim Rose Circus and had a bit part on an X-files episode--came through town with some sort of Jim Rose-knock-off-musical-act-show thingy that played the bar where my boyfriend used to work door. Wasn't there for the show, but I was hanging out with the boyfriend while he was working, and after the show dude came up and started chatting with us. For a guy who's covered from head to toe (face and all) with blue puzzle pieces, he was super nice.

Also, Lewis Black is now a semi-regular at the breakfast diner where I work on weekends. What a delightful curmudgeon!

I'm not sure if this is exciting enough, but it is my only real celebrity encounter.

I sold a dart board and a jock strap to Massachusetts senator/former presidential hopeful John Kerry. On television, no less.

Back when he was running for president I was working in a sporting goods store in Downtown Crossing in Boston (For those of you who are not familiar, this is NOT a very ritzy part of Boston, which is what makes this all so strange.) One day, we're all hanging around during the afternoon slow period when a bunch of SUVs pull up outside. Then a bunch of guys wearing earpieces come in and start walking all around the store (which freaked our security guy out). Then here comes Kerry, one of his daughters, a cameraman and a guy with a boom mike. Apparently, this was his "Look at me! I'm a regular guy who shops where the regular people shop!" segment. He was very nice when I bagged his stuff up and shook my hand and was quite charming. I am told that this bit was mocked on the Daily Show, but I didn't have cable then and I missed it.

Dan Cheadle set at the table next to me at Shintaro at the Bellagio. He was muching on sushi. The next day I saw an HBO comedian, whos name escapes me at the moment, getting cartoon sketches with his kids, also in Vegas (he's the one who did the rant thing). God, I can't believe I can't remember his name!

First story: At an outdoor Sonic Youth concert, I was standing with a few friends at the fringes of the audience near the roped off backstage area. One of my friends had been gone a wee too long on a trek to the port-a-johns, and I was growing concerned. Wheeling around to scan the crowd for her, I smashed right into this small man wearing an orange knit cap.

Me: Aw geez. Shit. Dude. Sorry.

Small Man in Orange Cap: It's okay.

SMiOC pats me on the shoulder and continues on his way. This all happened in a matter of seconds. My friends realized what had happened before I did, and they excitedly pointed out as SMiOC and his bandmates crossed into the backstage area that I had slammed my breast into Michael Stipe's shoulder.

Second story: In high school I sometimes worked as an extra. One summer I worked on some 1960's era Michelle Pfeiffer film. The wardrobe was scratchy sweaters and tights, and I was sweating my butt off in the VA heat. That morning I happened to be standing somewhere as Michelle passed by.

MP: Is it always hot like this?

Me: Only in the summer.

She smiled at me and walked on. I was struck by how tiny and fragile she looked with skin so pale it was almost translucent. Lovely, nonetheless.

Third story: Leaving a rehearsal in college, I saw Bruce Hornsby chatting outside our theater. This was Williamsburg and such sightings were not unusual. My mom was pissed at me for not getting his autograph.

Met pre-famous Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from the Office). He was in several plays with my brother in Minneapolis.

Had drinks and lively conversation with Josh Hartnett (and a large group of friends). He's went to my high school.

As for myself nothing too significant:

Paul Martin when he was prime minister of Canada.

Jean Michelle Cousteau in Fiji.

Elvis Stojko during my friend's stag party- took us about 15 mins and a lot of arguing to figure out who it was. Helped that he walked past us twice.

As for myself nothing too significant:

Paul Martin when he was prime minister of Canada.

Jean Michelle Cousteau in Fiji.

Elvis Stojko during my friend's stag party- took us about 15 mins and a lot of arguing to figure out who it was. Helped that he walked past us twice.

when my best friend was a baby her parents stayed at a posh hotel in france. cary grant stopped them in the reception and cooed over the baby, kissed her on the forehead and called her beautiful. my friend has been kissed by CARY GRANT. i hate her sometimes.

as for me-i once licked jonathan rhys meyers cheek.and jude law caught me dancing and singing along out of tune to bruce springsteen, late one night in my office. (i used to work at an agents office).

Once I met Kelsey Grammar. Which would have been cooler...if Kelsey Grammar wasn't lame.
I also saw Yoko Ono walking across Central Park.
And I went to the same high school as Paul Rudd and Dr. Phil. I was 3 lockers away from Mr. Rudd's sophomore year locker.

Well.. there's a lot. I've lived in NYC and LA-went to NYU, and worked at MTV, so I'll keep the anecdotes to a minimum.

Alec Baldwin taught an acting class of mine. He was awesome to us. Really hairy and the most amazing blue eyes ever. Sad to think of now-but this was years ago and he just was gushing about how much he loved his wife and daughter (who was a toddler back then).

Camryn Manheim taught an improv class of mine. She's a super cool lady.

Saw Uma Thurman on the street and it was pretty frightful. She is REALLY tall and super skinny. She should thank GOD the camera adds 10 pounds.

Met Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam at a party- he was lovely, down-to-earth and funny. The most amazing celeb I've ever met. Period. (He even laughed at my dumb jokes.) :)

Jay-Z was the only hip-hop artist that seemed to take his job seriously. He showed up to the studios EARLY with ideas and a plan on how to make his show great. Very impressed with him. Not so much with DMX.

Busta Rymes was very friendly and pretty tall.

Method Man and Redman treated me very nicely even though I was just an intern. Redman called me an angel just for getting him a soda, and Method Man told me, "Girl- you got like the best eyes."

Korn were actually great guests. Jonathan Davis is surprisingly soft-spoken. Sat on the couch twirling his hair while the director fired questions at him.

That's all I can remember for now.

Got it: it was Dennis Miller.

I was 16, waiting in the lobby of the Nederlander Theater before seeing Rent (the original cast) with my mother, when a young, gorgeous black man bumped into my side. As he TOUCHED MY SHOULDER and apologized, I realized that it was Taye "Melts Panties with His Smile" Diggs. Then he swept through the lobby and into the stage door and out of my life. I also met Anthony Rapp after he performed at a local college.

I saw David Boreanaz walking down Market St. in Philly (his father, Dave Roberts, is one of our local weathermen so I'm assuming he was in town visiting family).

I watched Andre Braugher and David Morse film a scene in front of my building (for Hack, their cancelled cop show set in Philly).

And I bumped into David Sedaris, but it was pre-book signing so it doesn't really count. When I did meet him later he was insanely sweet and laughed when I complimented his "fuck it bucket."

That's about it for me, although my parents have some good ones...most notably my Dad played golf with Samuel L. Jackson (he quoted to him, of all movies, his line "Hold on to your butts" from Jurassic Park) and my mother was asked out by that soccer player Pele (back in the 70's).

I interned at Disney World in college in a restaurant at MGM Studios called Sci-Fi Drive-In Theater. Lots of people came through: Oliver Stone, Wayne Gretzky, Billy Joel and Christy Brinkley, Gary Trudeau and Jane Pauley, Nicolas Cage, Kelly Martin (from Life Goes On), Joe Dante, Ed McMahon, all kinds of random people. I was a host so I had patter I had to say while I was seating them. Disney rules prohibit you from acknowledging who they are but it was still pretty cool. Surprisingly, Oliver Stone was the most courteous.

AdaHaze, I am insanely jealous. I ADORED Papa Ginzy and was heartbroken when he died. I have met Adrienne Rich, and that was pretty cool.

I also saw Ron Jeremy at my husband's grandmother's 90th birthday brunch. I lacked the guts to say hi, but evidently he eats brunch at that restaurant all the time because my MIL had talked with him before and thought he was a very nice man. She had no clue what he did for a living.

This is secondhand, but such an awesome story... My grandparents were on the same train as the Exploited, and the band, decked out in punk gear and shit, helped out my grandparents with their luggage. From how my aunt (also there) described it, the band was more freaked out by my grandparents talking to them than my grandparents were by the band. I love my grandparents.

Besides some of the usual suspects of the convention circuit (including seeing a girl hiding from Anthony "C-3PO" Daniels because he chastised her for littering, which she did not do), the closest thing I can come up with is meeting Kim Porter and baaaarely missing out on meeting Sean "Diddy" Combs. My mother's neighbor has a daughter who is a pretty well-known Atlanta radio personality who knows quite a few folks, and she apparently was a close friend of Kim's. She happened to be visiting, and I went over to meet her. She was very nice, and I can't say I saw anything really negative about her. I left after a while, but I heard later on that Diddy did show up, and later, my niece and nephew were invited to his son's birthday party.

Mario Lopez lived down my street when I was super young, pre-Saved By the Bell.

I sat next to Bale on a 2-hour flight, right before American Psycho came out. I didn't realize who he was until half-way through because I was so hung-over. I didn't try and talk to him.

Had a lovely conversation with Rosario Dawson and Traci Thoms (pre-Grindhouse)at a movie theater here in Austin. I gushed a bit, but they were both really sweet about it. Quentin Tarantino was also with them, but I didn't say anything to him because he had already been cursing at people to leave him alone.

I knew there was more-

Went to see Buried Child on Broadway and Bruce and Demi were sitting directly behind me. Demi Moore in person is quite simply the most beautiful person I have ever seen. She's tiny and just breathtakingly gorgeous. No diva attitude either, she waited in line for the restroom at intermission like everyone else and Bruce and me were at the bar complaining about the lack of service. I was trying to be cool but terrified I would have to order first, I wasn't 21 yet and was only there for mints. No surprise they served Bruce first, I shouldn't have worried. He was pretty impressive too, I believe he was filming The Fifth Element at the time and was all jacked up with the bleached blonde hair.

About 4 years ago I was on the Upper West Side in Manhattan when Keanu Reeves and I wound up at the same stoplight. He looked at me like he was trying to place me, and I really wanted to say, "It's okay, you don't know me." But I didn't.

Years ago, I made out with Busy from Ready or Not at a rave (I have a photo as proof if anyone needs it =P )

And just last week I ran into Rick Mercer and his very busty entourage leaving my gym. (He wasn't going to my gym, just going into the building my gym is at.)

My mom used to work at the public library many years ago at my home town and once served a Road to Avonlea Sarah Polley.

Gave props to Public Enemy without knowing who they were at a party. A friend informed me after the fact.

My wife and I walked past Camryn Manheim at McCabe's in Santa Monica (she was headed into the next show after the one we'd left). We also spotted Michael McKean putting groceries into his car in Westwood--I *really* wanted to go get his autograph, but I'm always way too shy about stuff like that.

I ran into the members of Rockapella on a flight to Philly to visit my dad in college. They were very nice, offered autographs, and pointed out the a capella conference they were in town for (which we visited later in the trip).

My wife has a *way* better story, though. She taught a music class in L.A. for parents and their wee ones; her Tuesday class included Jeannie Gaffigan (and occasionally her husband Jim Gaffigan), Courtney Cox and her daughter Coco, and Henry Thomas (Elliott from "E.T.") and his wife. She said they were all very much down-to-earth, and had a great time singing and dancing in class with their little ones.

I'm hoping Jim G. will work that class into his act at some point. :)

i was in boston over march break many years back and had the great pleasure of having dinner at a table behind the one where mr. richard dreyfuss was enjoying his saturday night dinner with a slew of directors that i no longer remember. upon exiting the restaurant i looked in his direction, caught his eye and he gave me that "yup, it's me" kind of look. magical.

Three events to speak of, from least to most favorite:

1)In an elevator once with a likely drunk Ted Kennedy. I've never seen a man so red in the face.

2) Stood in line for a roller coaster at Magic Mountain behind Jeff Conaway (Kenickie in Grease, Bobby from Taxi). He was with a very buxom blonde, and was getting aggravated by all the people asking for an autograph (I was not one of them. Live and let screw I say).

3) I got snot on Mother Teresa. She was the speaker at my high school graduation. I was having a terrible allergy day. With no kleenex in sight and a rental tux on (I wasn't going to sleeve it), I was constantly wiping my nose with my hand. When I went up to accept my diploma, I shook her hand and she wiped her hand on her clothes right after. I feel so proud. I got a look of disgust from a woman who cared for lepers for most of her adult life.

I haven't read all the comments. Damn, reading this site via RSS means I'm always late to the party.

Just about 10 years ago, I was a sales clerk at Powell's City of Books in my hometown (Portland, OR) and had the pleasure of flirting and selling a bunch of books and tchotkes to an amazing green-eyed blonde woman wearing a Motley Crue baseball cap, a white t-shirt, and bicycle shorts. Even though it was summer, she'd said she was buying Christmas presents.

It was only after she'd left, that my co-worker brought to my attention that I'd been lucky enough to flirt with Heather Locklear. I didn't believe her until we pulled the credit card receipt out and I verified that I'd been blinded by her presence enough to completely miss the actual name on the actual credit card, despite having "verified" her signature against the card.

Heather had been in town filming some awful USA-network movie with Timothy Bottoms. I never actually watched it. To this day, I'm certain that I was as smooth as I was because I did NOT know that I was talking to Heather Locklear. I'll never ever be that glib again no matter how long I live.

It was a long time ago. Don't ask me what she bought.

I shared a revolving door with Ashley Judd (so tiny and with much bronzer), and watched my friend talk to Naomi Judd (magenta hair and chartreuse chiongsam), who asked if he was one of the waiters.

I got a glass of water for Mr. Bill Kurtis when he emcee'd a fundraiser at the org I volunteered for.

I passed Jerry Springer on Rush Street.

I watched David Boreanaz eat steak dinner at Gibson's--tall.

Russell Crowe and his motorcycle pals were outside a McDonald's in Ensenada, Mexico when he was filming Master and Commander. He was kinda chunked out for the movie and we weren't sure it was him until we heard him speak. We wanted to say hi but were too scared he might yell or throw something at us.

So these are all pretty lame but that's what happens when you grow up in suburban middle-America:
1. Worked stage crew for a play starring Ian Smith of Simon Birch fame at our local community children's theater. His mom was also my orchestra teacher for a year.
Also I now go to Ohio State so
2. Bumped into Packer's linebacker AJ Hawk on the street a about a year and a half ago.
3. Had class in the same building as NBA first overall draft pick Greg Oden which means I walked past him every Tuesday and Thursday last fall. Tallest man I have ever seen.

I have only a couple boring ones.

- On a college photography "field trip" to Chicago my friends and I saw Billy Corgan and the guitarist from Cheap Trick outside Harry Caray's. We took pictures from a distance, the Chicago press was everywhere. My friend grabbed Billy and got a picture. I wish I was more of an asshole and gotten one myself.

- At Lollapalooza this year my sisters and I were headed across Grant Park and barely dodged this out of control golf cart. Who was in it? Perry Farrell driving like a madman over to the kid's tent.

I was walking down the street in lower Manhattan with a woman I was then dating. A group came out of the building we had just passed. I looked back and said, "That woman is dressed like a stripper." She looked and replied, "That woman is Mariah Carey." And so it was.

I was at a lunch celebrating a co-worker's birthday at Bubbi's when one of my friends nudged me and, indicating the next table, said "Look, that's one of the Olsens." She was eating with a very pretty young woman and we noticed that not a whole lot of food was actually making it to her mouth. We spent the rest of our meal wondering whether this was the anorexic Olsen or the other one. As our dessert was arriving, the anorexic Olsen showed up, settling the debate. They both put on ridiculously large sunglasses and headed out.

The coolest encounter I had was with someone who's not quite so famous. I went to see Robbie Schaefer, the lead guitarist and one of the song writers for the fabulous folk-rock quartet, Eddie from Ohio. The show was very badly publicized, so while EFO shows regularly sell out when they come to NYC, this was...not. Counting me, there were 8 people in the audience.

He could have just said, fuck it and left but instead, he sat down among us, pulled out his acoustic guitar, and said, "what do you want to hear?" He played our requests for 1.5 hours and, when it was time for the next act, we all went to the adjoining bar and hung out for 2 more hours. I felt like I had won some kind of contest.

Finally, when I was working as a volunteer at a Nader rally at MSG in 2000, I met the man himself a few minutes before his speech. He's quite tall. I shook his hand and wished him good luck. He thanked me and went on his way.

I was walking down the street in lower Manhattan with a woman I was then dating. A group came out of the building we had just passed. I looked back and said, "That woman is dressed like a stripper." She looked and replied, "That woman is Mariah Carey." And so it was.

I was at a lunch celebrating a co-worker's birthday at Bubbi's when one of my friends nudged me and, indicating the next table, said "Look, that's one of the Olsens." She was eating with a very pretty young woman and we noticed that not a whole lot of food was actually making it to her mouth. We spent the rest of our meal wondering whether this was the anorexic Olsen or the other one. As our dessert was arriving, the anorexic Olsen showed up, settling the debate. They both put on ridiculously large sunglasses and headed out.

The coolest encounter I had was with someone who's not quite so famous. I went to see Robbie Schaefer, the lead guitarist and one of the song writers for the fabulous folk-rock quartet, Eddie from Ohio. The show was very badly publicized, so while EFO shows regularly sell out when they come to NYC, this was...not. Counting me, there were 8 people in the audience.

He could have just said, fuck it and left but instead, he sat down among us, pulled out his acoustic guitar, and said, "what do you want to hear?" He played our requests for 1.5 hours and, when it was time for the next act, we all went to the adjoining bar and hung out for 2 more hours. I felt like I had won some kind of contest.

Finally, when I was working as a volunteer at a Nader rally at MSG in 2000, I met the man himself a few minutes before his speech. He's quite tall. I shook his hand and wished him good luck. He thanked me and went on his way.

I had lunch a with Hillary Clinton a couple of times back when she still called herself Rodham. She lived down the street from me, and my sister worked at the same law firm she did. She was pleasant, but I still will not vote for her.

I was walking down the street in lower Manhattan with a woman I was then dating. A group came out of the building we had just passed. I looked back and said, "That woman is dressed like a stripper." She looked and replied, "That woman is Mariah Carey." And so it was.

I was at a lunch celebrating a co-worker's birthday at Bubbi's when one of my friends nudged me and, indicating the next table, said "Look, that's one of the Olsens." She was eating with a very pretty young woman and we noticed that not a whole lot of food was actually making it to her mouth. We spent the rest of our meal wondering whether this was the anorexic Olsen or the other one. As our dessert was arriving, the anorexic Olsen showed up, settling the debate. They both put on ridiculously large sunglasses and headed out.

The coolest encounter I had was with someone who's not quite so famous. I went to see Robbie Schaefer, the lead guitarist and one of the song writers for the fabulous folk-rock quartet, Eddie from Ohio. The show was very badly publicized, so while EFO shows regularly sell out when they come to NYC, this was...not. Counting me, there were 8 people in the audience.

He could have just said, fuck it and left but instead, he sat down among us, pulled out his acoustic guitar, and said, "what do you want to hear?" He played our requests for 1.5 hours and, when it was time for the next act, we all went to the adjoining bar and hung out for 2 more hours. I felt like I had won some kind of contest.

Finally, when I was working as a volunteer at a Nader rally at MSG in 2000, I met the man himself a few minutes before his speech. He's quite tall. I shook his hand and wished him good luck. He thanked me and went on his way.

I had lunch a with Hillary Clinton a couple of times back when she still called herself Rodham. She lived down the street from me, and my sister worked at the same law firm she did. She was pleasant, but I still will not vote for her.

One more that comes to mind. My office used to be in Downtown Manhattan where they film all the time (got "rained" on once when they were filming Dark Water). Walking to the subway one Friday this past winter, I walked past a film crew staning around on Water Street. In front of them was a meatl cart with a huge pile of cash (doubt it was real). As I passed them, I realized the short black guy in the silly, lined cap with ear flaps was Spike Lee. Was not cold enough to warrant such a cap, but who am I to judge.

When I was in high school I saw John Cusack at a Calgary Flames game -- he was unshaven because he was doing a Western, and very very tall. My dad nodded at him, as if to say "I know who you are, but I am not going to bother you for an autograph right now." It seemed SO cool at the time.

I lived in Toronto for years, so I would sometimes see people in the street who were in town shooting or whatever. Most exciting: Willem Dafoe. Weirdest: Ted Danson. Least exciting: David Arquette (sadly sans Courtney). Most frequent: Mark McKinney, who must have lived in the west part of downtown because I saw him all the time. I actually met him one time when I interviewed him for a campus paper and he was super-nice, and we'd both lived in Calgary so we chatted about that a little. (He lived in Calgary before he got famous, he and Bruce McCulloch met doing improv there.) I think he kind of recognized me when I would see him, but he would always be on his phone or whatever and I wouldn't want to interrupt.

Now I live in Vancouver, where tons of stuff shoots, but I never see anyone famous. My boyfriend saw Aaron Douglas from Battlestar Galactica downtown one day, talking on a cellphone. Which makes me stupid jealous, because the Chief is my favourite.

Oh yeah! I forgot my favorite. Met Josh Ritter after a show, and while my boyfriend and I were talking with him, two girls came up to flirt with him and gave him a Guinness, half of which he poured into my cup to fill me back up. He's the smilingest person I've ever met.

1. At the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, I saw and stood within feet of the Coen brothers, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Bridget Fonda, Jean Reno, Vincent Cassel, Michèle Laroque, and a few other (mostly French) movie stars. However, the only one who spoke to me and sat just in front of me during the world permiere of O Brother Where Art Though was Kristin Scott Thomas. She was on the Jury that year, and at least 7 months pregnant and absolutely breath-taking.
2. I played checkers by a hotel pool when I was about 10 with Yannick Noah, who was vacationing with his parents.
3. I saw Sammy Naceri at the airport once. He was furious about something, and his 3 personal assistants looked like they were thinking of ways to kill themselves, but when he saw that I was crying (I didn't want to move back stateside), he let me go ahead of him in line.
4. I saw Philippe Noiret in a restaurant once, eating about 30 lbs of the fanciest food in town.
5. I saw John Malkovitch at a US Consulate once, getting his passport renewed. He looks completely homeless in real life.
6. I've been to a reception with Al Gore, who I guess counts as a movie star now. I've also met other elected officials, but that's not unusual for people in DC.
Sorry most of my celebrities are French or politicians. I've met a bunch of musicians too, but so has everyone, right?
For what it's worth, Clooney's a shrimp. Or was in May of 2000.

1. Donnie Wahlberg- signing autographs outside Key Arena...don't laugh, I was 12 and at a NKOTB concert. Just FYI he was the only 1 of the 5 to meet and greet, post-concert in the parking lot, during a chilly and rainy Seattle night.

2. Paul Newman - waiting for a cab/limo post-opera in Seattle. He was standing right next to me as my friend went to get our car. Very handsome in person but I clammed up and didn't talk to him.

3. Lou Diamond Phillips- stumbled across some godawful movie shoot he was doing in Venice Beach. Took photos with him, he was very handsome and polite. Turns out he beats his girlfriends...who knew??!!

I live in Honolulu right now and have sighted Naveen Andrews (aka Sayid from Lost) as well as Dog the Bounty Hunter. The former was when I was walking down the street - pretty much through a shoot I think. The later was at the Hawaii State Capitol when Dog was getting some type of pat on the back for capturing bad guys.
Pretty low key sightings, but sightings nonetheless...

I've seen a lot of celebrities on the street in NY: Dustin Hoffman, Halle Berry, Michael Stipe, others. I met Steven Tyler (and stood next to Chris Rock and Liv Tyler) backstage at an Aerosmith concert (long story). I've met lots of comedians and writers through work and social circles. But my favorite run-in was meeting Owen Wilson at a Borders bookstore (Dallas) that I worked in after college and telling him that I loved him in Bottle Rocket. (In that same job, I special-ordered a bunch of books for Don Henley, who wasn't a bad guy, but I'm not a big fan of his, so...)

The Robot Chicken office was across from my husband's in Santa Monica so they'd go to lunch and see Seth Green & Co all the time. He also ran into Owen Wilson at the gas station.

All I can say for myself is that I saw John Lithgow at a Smithsonian exibit that was visiting LA and that I got to chat with Ray Bradbury. That guy rocks.

I think getting snot on Mother Tereasa is the most amazing so far though.

Lots and lots of these stories, after living in New York for years. But here are the best ones:

- Saw Nathan Lane jogging in the park in a black sweatsuit and a pink sweatband. He was adorable.

- I was in the area where they filmed the abysmal Maverick with James Garner, Mel Gibson, and Jodie Foster. I worked as a clerk in a hotel gift shop. Saw a kid leaving the shop with a huge jacket and a baseball cap pulled low -- thought it was a shoplifter. The kid turned around and looked at me -- and it was Jodie Foster.

- A friend of mine was in line at the Greenwich Village post office when she smelled a horrible body odor stench. She turned around to see who it was, and it was Ethan Hawke. Ordinarily I'd say it was pretty rude to repeat that story, but I've heard several other similar stories from other friends. And c'mon, it's fricking Ethan Hawke. I'm sure his ego can take it.

Last year I could swear I passed Salman Rushdie outside Harrods in London, but I only had my kids with me so there was no one else around to verify.

I used to go to church with Sally Phillips (she was Shazza in Bridget Jones's Diary). She was very sweet and very wholesome--never used the F-word like she did so much in the movie.

And one more experience from London, I saw the very unattractive John Prescott (when he was Tony Blair's deputy prime minister) outside Earl's Court Exhibition Centre. He and his entourage were in the way of my stroller. That's probably not an international celeb sighting, though.

Oh, and as a kid growing up near Dallas, I saw two Cowboys at the DFW airport--Tony Dorsett and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. Too Tall helped me get a bag out of an overhead compartment (since he was of course, tall).

I live in LA and work for a stylist so I've had probably more than my fair share. To this date I'd still say the most unbelievable would be Michael Pitt. Around the time The Dreamers was released he showed up around 1 or 2 in the morning at a party I was at looking mildly homeless with a few other mildly homeless looking scraggly guys (who it turns out were his crummy band). The whole party itself was pretty ridiculous, probably the most typically Entourage-esque thing I've ever been to, but he managed to trump all the other excessive douche-baggery that was afoot. I'm about 99.9% sure he and his whole lot were high on crystal meth, and he and his friends proceeded to also get falling down, slopping around on each other drunk as well. That said he was fairly nice and approachable, he came up to my friends and I and tried to tell us something about a song that was playing (at least I think that's what it was he was mumbling), and he fetched me a beer at one point when he went to grab himself another. At the end of the night on the patio he and his friends were scrounging together their money and asking around to see if anyone knew of any cheap motels they could afford. It was pathetic and made me sort of sad, but was sort of really disgusting too.

Also, Rosanna Arquette is a complete and total bitch, Meredith Baxter is a mega bitch, and Carrie Anne Moss and Eliza Dushku are two of the most down to earth polite famous people out there.

Ran into Vince Vaughn when he was filming "The Break Up" in Chicago. He was really nice but damn, is he tall!
Saw Anna Chlumsky (from My Girl) in high school. Kinda snobby, very short and pale. She looked like an alien b/c she had these enormous rollers in her hair; they looked like soda cans.
Attended high school w/ Mason Gamble (the boy from Dennis the Menace). Really nice guy, and very down to earth.

Ironically, my mother (who doesn't give a rat's ass about celebrities) has met at least 4: Kevin Bacon, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Linda Ellerbee (from Nickelodeon News) and a few baseball players. All of whom she said were very nice, and that Kevin Bacon was incredibly skinny (this was 20 years ago, however.)

Oh, almost forgot this one. Mary Lou Retton, darling of the '84 Olympics--went to church with her in Houston a few years ago. We had babies dedicated on the same day. My baby was cuter but Mary Lou was cuter than I.

I have three good ones.

1) Joe Namath is a good family friend since my father played with him in the Super Bowl. We were with him the evening he told Suzy Kolber of ABC/ESPN he wanted to kiss her. I won't go into details because people will yell at me. So that one doesn't count; here are my other favorites...

2) I rode an elevator with Kevin Bacon. The elevator was located in Lenox Hill Hospital in NYC. Kevin Bacon had his hand and wrist all bandaged up. I worked as an intern in the sports medicine research unit, so after riding the elevator with Kevin Bacon, I made my coworkers call all around to find out what had happened to Kevin Bacon. Apparently he had injured his fingers on a movie set. I love Kevin Bacon, but he is tiny.

3) I sat in a booth next to Nicole Kidman at Matsuri in NYC. She was super polite and nice and sweet and transparent. Yes, she was transparent like Casper the Friendly Ghost. Now every time I see her in a movie, on an advertisement, wherever, I enjoy calling her Nicole the Friendly Ghost.

Was at Le Cox in the Marais (Paris) for happy hour, when Jean-Paul Gautier, decked out in leather, showed up with his entourage. I think he brushed up against me at one point....

A sad little brush with greatness.

Add one Michael Stipe to the list. I was one block away from him in the streets of Rio de Janeiro in 2001. And I was there just to see R.E.M.

I also went to school with Cristiano da Matta (F1 racer or something like that). Dunno if that counts.

It was the summer of 1997 and I was 15 years old. I was with my family for summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard and while in one of the 2 movie theaters I had the honor to meet, the one, the ONLY, DENNIS HOPPER.

The kicker? I met him in the theater for the South Park movie. He sat right in front of me and he appeared to love it.

Gave Bill Maher a cigarette once. He was kind of a dick about it.

O.k, I have got the celebrity run-ins to top all y'all.

1. Went to see "Mass Appeal" starring Eric Roberts and sat in the first row. He was so beautiful that I got an enormous erection that he noticed and winked at me (from on-stage). I went backstage afterwards but gave up trying to talk to him until, as I was leaving, he called out "You can't leave until I get a chance to talk to you." I froze, he ran up, and we spent the rest of the evening together. . . .

2. After a performance of "The Crucible" with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, I rode the subway home to the Upper WestSide talking to Laura Linney who sat beside me and asked to borrow a pen so she could jot a note. She was incredibly warm, funny, and beautiful. She even laughed when I remarked that she could make me bat for the other team and joked that I "shouldn't change teams if I was having a successful season".

3. A glorious Spring day in Central Park in Manhattan with a new boyfriend when a shirtless John F. Kennedy, Jr. knocked him down trying to catch a football. He apologized profusely and joined us for Rum Raisin ice cream cones. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous and charming. What a tragic loss. His cokehead wife was absolutely insane to cheat on him. What a beautiful (inside and out) man.

4. I relutctantly went to a leather bar near the notorious decrepit Westside Docks but would not be admitted until the bouncer ripped the crocodile off my brand new Izod polo shirt. I was devastated because it was the first clothing purchase I had made in some time. I was shaking (probably from lack of food as much as anger) when, out of nowhere, Rock Hudson asked if he could buy me a drink. RH was notorious in NY for prefering the "Creeple People" so I was doubly shocked when he spoke to a skinny ballet dancer. We "talked" for several hours until the early morning.

5. And finally: I was crossing 76th (77th?) Street at Columbus Avenue when a red Corvette careened around the corner and screeched to a stop inches from me. I was ready to let go with a barrage of New Yorkese when Christopher Reeve (yes, Superman himself) jumped out of the car and literally swept me off my feet. He carried me to the sidewalk and held me as there was no place to put me down except the curb. We both ended up laughing uncontrollably when we noticed people gawking and staring. Building on the inherent drama he had created, he gently stood me up, gave me a hug and a kiss on the mouth before saying in a stage whisper, "Thanks for last night" and bounding back into the 'Vette. Much to the envy of every woman and man on the street corner. He was truly a super man.

I have 3 as well

B Real of Cypress hill fame at the ritzy mall in Denver. My brother was so jealous.

Hillary Clinton shook (crushed) my hand when she came to visit a hospital for the homeless that we set up for the National Guard.

I met Ron White (Blue Collar Comedy Tour) at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. He was so trashed and could barely understand what I was saying to him. I think he might have said to me, "you're tall." Yeah, it was fucking great.

As a teen, I won some award thingie, and had a meeting with my Senator (with a group of other award winners). We'd been double booked in rooms with Ted Kennedy who showed up to the delight of teens and parents. He graciously shook hands and took pictures before leaving to find another room for his event.

As a child at an amusement park with my parents, we noticed one family was getting to go to the front of every line. It was Evander Holyfield, world heavyweight champion (at that time). My boxing enthusiast father was beside himself with joy and only barely stopped himself from embarrasing him. My father eventually decided that as a fellow father, he could respect his desire to have a nice day at an amusement park with his kids without crazy middle aged fans invading it.

Since moving to LA I've walked past, sat near or watched a slew of celebrities, including The Bald One's paparazzi-hounded black SUV. I ate fish tacos near Jessica Biel's table in a Malibu fish shack. She is breathtaking in person. Looked like she'd just been to the beach, no make-up, no attitude, not bony.

But my favorite celebrity story happened in Chicago. I used to manage a record store on Michigan Avenue. It was near several of the big hotels and stars used to come into the mall. (We once had PJ Harvey in looking for a Sparklehorse cassette(!) - she's very short. Brian Setzer also came in; he wanted the new Lucinda Williams CD.) My assistant and I were hanging out one day, when this really tall, really bald man comes in and starts going through the singles. He keeps looking at us, with this weird half smile, half questioning expression on his face. I walk over to see if he needs any help or if he's looking for anything in particular. He says he's fine, so I walk away. I notice the earrings he's wearing - huge, ostentatious diamond solitaires. The kind of huge that better be real, because you obviously want everyone to notice them. (Not that huge, ostentatious diamonds aren't tacky on their own, but to fake it is even more so.) He keeps staring at us, and now he seems annoyed and demanding. Two girls run screaming into the store, swarm over him, get autographs and run out. Now he's looking at us smugly, as if to say, "see, I'm someone!" My assistant rolls his eyes. So now we have to figure out who this guy is. Baldy is walking around shopping and smiling, and my assistant decides it is R. Kelly. I go over to the R&B section and pull out a disk - of course none of them at the time have a clear picture of him. More teenaged girls run in screaming, and this time we hear one of them babbling to him - it *is* R. Kelly. He ends up bringing $300 dollars worth of singles and gospel videos to the counter. While my assistant is ringing him up, I go into the back and get the header to the cardboard display for his CD that was coming out in a few weeks and ask him to sign it. He signed his name, drew a little picture - was as nice as could be after we recognized him. Then I hear my assistant giving him some spiel about something being wrong with our machine and he can't get the card to go through, does Mr. Kelly have another form of payment? He pulls out a wad, pays in cash and goes about his day. When he is safely away from our store, my assistant breaks into song: "I believe you're declined" to the tune of "I Believe I Can Fly."

i met michael stipe after an r.e.m. concert (does that count?). my sister and i decided to wait for the traffic to clear from the parking lot, so we hung around with a bunch of people behind the hampton coliseum in virginia. there were a couple of buses parked back there and we did not even think that the band would be on them at that point...well they were. michael popped his head out of a window and offered everyone jolly ranchers. he looked at me and said: i remember you! you were in front of peter (we were in the second row...in front of peter)! i was so shocked, all i could say was "yeah!"

Does anybody read this far down? If so:

I was at SXSW in Austin about 3 years ago when Green Street Hooligans and some other crappy movie with Dominique Monaghan and the kid from Roswell were premiering. A friend of mine was the director of our school's film festival, and as such got special passes on the school's bill and invitations to some of the premiere parties. We went to one of the parties one night, were looking around for a table, and the only one we saw with open seats was also home at the time to two little hobbitses -- Dominique Monaghan and Elijah Wood. We shared a dinner of Turkish Lights and white Russians and talked about a few of the crappier entries in the festival that we'd seen. Dominique was significantly more friendly than Elijah -- I kept wanting to say something along the lines of "God, I LOVED you in North, have you been up to much since then?" And I also desperately wanted to take a picture but also desperately wanted to NOT look like That Girl.

My ex almost ran Woody Allen over with his bike once.

I lived in NYC for ten years so there is quite a long list of sightings but I'll try to keep this to actual encounters:

I was a singing waitress at a hokey little Midtown diner for about a year and subsequently served quite a few famous people: Lou Diamond Phillips, Paul Rudd (melt), and Ru Paul (as a man) to name a few.

One night, we were doing a set of songs during the pre-theatre rush and I was singing something from "Jekyll and Hyde". When I was done, Ernie Sabella (voice of Pumbaa in "The Lion King", seen in numerous Broadway productions, the Naked Man on the subway in "Seinfeld", etc.), motioned me over. He asked me if I was just singing the song and I answered affirmatively. He said he and his friends thought it was the soundtrack playing until he had seen me with the microphone. He then told me I had a great voice and I'm sure I turned fifty shades of red. Anyway, as he was leaving I was singing another song and he stood and watched me until I finished. I think I'm still living off of that ego boost.

I was a temp at Ralph Lauren Footwear for about a month and got to meet and shake hands with Ralph himself.

I worked at Nickelodeon/MTV Networks in Times Square for eight years which provided all sorts of opportunities to run into people. One day I literally almost ran face-to-chest first into Will Smith (damn is he tall!) coming out of the elevator into the lobby.

At my first Kids' Choice Awards, N'Sync was at the after party (this was before they got huge) and one of the guys (no idea who) ran into me trying to get away from a horde of 11 year olds. Later at the same party, Jessica Biel was coming on strong to my friend, Mike. And I believe I brushed shoulders with Jennifer Garner (back when she was married to Scott Foley).

And probably the most exciting for me was about three years ago. I was meeting someone for lunch at the Brooklyn Diner on 57th Street and decided to wait outside for her to arrive. I was looking around when all of a sudden I saw Tony Bennett walking up the stairs to the restaurant. We made eye contact and he gave a little nod of recognition before making his way inside. I about peed my pants I was so excited as I simply adore him.

I met John Wayne waaaay back in the very early 70's. I was on a Girl Scout trip, of all things, on Catalina Island. He was just meandering down the street and saw a bunch of us gathered in front of a store. "Howdy, gals" he boomed, stopped and spoke to us for a moment, wished us a nice day and continued on. His enormously fabulous yacht was moored near the Casino, dwarfing every single boat in the harbor. What a guy!

i met john waters at a party he threw on cape cod, i went up with my friend to introduce ourselves, and he was talking about masturbating retards and some truck driver. his mustache is just as amazing in real life as it is in the pictures

At the airport:
Jackson Browne
Coolio
Jesse Jackson in a Chicago White Sox baseball jacket. Tall, looking frail, slight limp.

OK, I knew I forgot something. Again, from my Nickelodeon days. I think it was around 2000-2001, I was at my desk and Amanda Bynes was on our floor for a photoshoot. She and her dad came over to get a look downtown from my window seat/desj. We chatted for a good 15 minutes and I was amazed at how normal she and her Dad both were. It was refreshing to meet someone so down-to-earth.

BTW--megbon, not at all surprised about Bill Maher. He always seemed like at prick to me.

1. My dad taught Patrick Swayze to fly a plane he'd just bought, while he was filming "To Wong Foo" in Loma, Nebraska. My sis and I were in high school at the time, and the visit we took to the set was quite an experience at that age. He was very nice, and had the folks around the set take good care of us. He had a cool dog. Ridgeback, name of "Jazz."

2. When a tyke of 7, my dad got me Mike Singleterry's autograph. I left it in my pants and put them in the wash.

3. Was at the Starbucks by Emory in a daze, as I was preparing to take my qualifying exams. I glanced up to see the guy who'd been sitting next to me get up and cross the street. None other than Salman Rushdie.

4. Had a brief and sweet romance with Bam Margera in the pre-Jackass days when he was still sweet and not weird and icky.

Oh god. If John Cleese was behind me at the airport, I probably would've gibbered like an idiot and fainted at his feet.

I was working at a Hallmark in Fort McMurray (Alberta) and Bif Naked wandered in and shopped. She's friggin' awesome, and to this day, I love her, but I was too shy to ask her to sign something for me.

And do conventions count? I met two of the girls from Firefly (Inara and Saffron) and they were both really nice and mocked my roommate's Final Fantasy-themed shirt. That, and I think Lou Ferringo was flirting with me. That was odd.

Man... there's really not much for me in this department. Neil Patrick Harris and Freddie Prinze Jr went to my highschool (ten years before I did...). And I'm pretty sure I saw Doogie in the mall once.

I also got to get an autograph from Sandra Day O'connor while interning at the Arizona Senate.

Okay...I've got a few...Most of them are first hand from my living in Toronto. You'd think that having worked in the industry most would be from that-but I met more celebs working in a Starbucks than I did with my minor crew work. Though I remember waiting three hours for J-Lo to get on set as an extra for Angel Eyes.

1. My mom was a 70's party girl who drank with the best of them including Alice Cooper. I still can't get all the stories from her though she swears she wasn't a groupie.

2. William Shatner/Milla Kunis - They did American Psycho 2 at my school and I helped with some location scouting. She was ok I suppose but Shatner had three people just to take care of his 'hair'.

3. A good friend of mine dated Bill Welychka last year...dude's got a dirty mouth and likes to ski in Bolivia like the celebutards.

4. Dylan McDermott - While i was working at a Starbucks he was staying in the neighbourhood to film some bad movie of the week. The first week he was very stuck up and 'LA' refusing to smile or take off his sunglasses. Eventually he warmed up though and was a pretty decent guy.

5. Pauly Shore - Same Starbucks (We had a lot of celebs it was in a ritzy area of TO)I recognized him and said nothing but the girl I was working with went over and asked if he was Pauly Shore. He was so genuinely happy when she admitted to being a fan that it was cute. He gave us free tix to Pauly Shore Is Dead.

6. Tim Meddows/Blowhan - While filming 'Mean Girls' I had no clue who she was and after Tim said they were filming down the street I was really hoping he'd bring in Tina Fey. He was a really sweet guy though and Hohan wasn't yet a brat.

7. Jacob Hoggard - Signed his record deal for Headley in the same 'Bux.

8. Russel Crowe - Managed to piss me off and if I could have spit in his latte I would have. I was working the morning rush with only two new staffers who couldn't handle the esspresso bar volume. In the middle of a big line he pulled out the 'Do you know who I am?" and got answered 'The guy who will get his latte after the seven people in front of him."

9. Tom Green - I was a teenager and a friend of mine was on his crew in Ottawa...he grabbed by chest...and I really wish I'd kicked him in the nuts. It would have been a premptive strike for "Freddy Got Fingered".

10. Robert Gant - A lovely man he used to come into my Bux on his way home from shooting Queer as Folk. He was a sweet heart and we'd talk a little bit because he came in so early and the place was still quiet. After a while I would drop everything to make sure that his venti, soy, half sweetner latte was made right. Hell...that after three years of having a real job I remember what he drinks scares me.

That's it for now.

Having grown up in LA, I'm a wee bit jaded as far as "Celebrity" sightings, but these two are my personal favorites, even if they may not be the biggest stars on earth.

1. Summer 1997 (or so) my friend and I were walking around 3rd Street in Santa Monica (outdoor shopping-y place a few blocks from the beach... whatever). A few steps ahead of us was a relatively nondescript guy who to me a least, looked a lot like Steve Gutenberg. I said this to my friend rather loudly at which point the man looked back at us, revealing that he was in fact STEVE GUTENBERG. Apparently sensing my eerie fixation on Zeus & Roxanne, he started walking faster. We of course took this as a provocation and started walking faster too. I'm not going to say this culminated in a full out RUN at any point, but we trailed Speedy Gutenberg for at least two blocks only to finally give up upon realizing that chasing a D grade celebrity is a lot more fun than catching one.

2. Another good friend of mine had a sister who married Larry Gelbart's grandson. I got to attend the wedding and yes, I met Mr. Gelbart who was gracious, etc. etc., but the real catch was at the buffet. While filling my plate with snazzy "Hollywood" hors d'oeuvres, who should be standing next to me but the ancient (and apprently 8-foot-tall) Carl Reiner. Wanting to be cool, but not so much as to seem rude I nodded at him and said, oh so cleverly I might add, "Hi." In reply he went off on a 3 minute jag about hummus and pita. "What is this? They've got hummus and no pita? This is nuts! I could understand pita and no hummus, but this is terrible. Terrible!" He took "hummus" and "pita", two admitted silly sounding words (especially to an old school comic one would imagine) and just started doing crazy shtick for a couple of minutes. After all that, he just looked at me and wandered back to his table. Surreal and brilliant.

In 2001 when Minority Report was shooting in Gloucester VA I was visiting my grandparents for the summer. Tom Cruise and Samantha Morton both came into my great grandfather's general store.

And this is rather obscure, but two days ago I had brunch with one of the Von Trapp children from the original 1959 broadway production of Sound of Music. She's a friend of my grandparents.

I've only had 3 run ins:

3) Stephen Lewis (former Canadian Ambassador/ UN special enovy/Canada's greatest orator/Bono's best friend) 3 seperate times.

2)Gabriel Byrne outside a stage door in New York. He was extremely nice.

1) Patrick Stewart also outside a stage door, surprisingly short fellow. Refused to sign Star Trek merchandise but was happy to sign play bills.

I haven't had anything nearly as exciting as many of you. From most to least impressive:
1. I was at a restaurant in Atlanta and Andre 3000 from Outkast was there with his kids. He was dressed to the nines (bright green Izod polo and green plaid pants)and no one bothered him.
2. Back when I lived in Michigan, I saw Dennis Rodman at an all-night restaurant with two girls. I left him alone.
3. My aunt used to work at CBS in New York and she once brought me to watch the filming of The Young and the Restless. A few of the actors said hi to me (but I don't know who any of them were). Then, she brought me to the 60 minutes offices and introduced me to Andy Rooney. He was pretty crabby.

I got "flipped off" by Steve Martin as a 12yr old!

This was in 1980 right in the middle of the Wild and Crazy Guy days and the success of the The Jerk. You know, King Tut and the arrow through the head gag, etc. My parents and I had driven out to So Cal and were actually driving around the stars' neighborhoods with one of those ridiculous maps. We were at a stopsign, and for some reason I looked out of the back window of our Cadillac Seville at the car behind us--it was a green Mercedes convertible. Of course, being the very recognizable guy he was (and is) I freaked out, waving my hands at him screaming "oh my god--Steve Martin is right behind us!!" Well, we obviously were holding him up at the stop, so he gave me a sideways smile and flipped me the bird! Weird, huh?

~I ran into Danny Glover in the middle of a crosswalk. I'm short, it was like walking into a building. I bounced back, excused myself, and we both went our seperate ways. He was very nice.
~ in a store at Beverly Center,my roommate backed into a very pregnant Phoebe Cates, who was with her alarmed husband.

I was, and still am, very clumsy.

Oh! I almost forgot my favorite story, although it's not my own.

My friend Kim moved to L.A. in January, and about a month after she moved there she went to a club with friends and spotted Elijah Wood. She was pretty drunk and had to pee, and to get to the bathroom she had to squeeze past Elijah and his entourage. He was nice enough to make everyone move out of the way for her, and as a thank you? She grabbed his balls. Classic. AND classy.

I have one word to say and that word is AWESOME. I'm not gonna share my story y'all as I feel it has been adequately described above.

This summer I was working in New Haven CT when they were filming scenes for the 4th Indiana Jones movie. I was standing around watching filming because how cool is that? Seriously! Anyway, I saw Steven Spielberg from a distance. But the best part was when Shia LaBeouf walked by and smiled and waved at me when I sort of squealed a little and started waving like a maniac. Too cool. The next day he walked right by me when I was watching filming again, but there was no touching or eye contact unfortunately :(

Hamptons..a couple of Christmases ago.

My boyfriend and I were trying to find a parking space on the street when we spied an adorable couple with their small child getting into their car. We pulled up behind them and as the gentleman was slowly putting his son in the car, bags in the trunk, my boyfriend got more irritated at him taking so long...so he went to beep the horn when I realized the guy looked a lot like Matt Lauer. It was Matt Lauer. I suppose he heard me shrieking "Don't you beep at Matt Lauer!!", turned, waved and eventually drove away.

We also saw Jennfier Tilly chowing down on some Mexican food right next to us at some random little place also in the Hamptons.

my birthday last month, my favorite vegan restaurant here in Philly. My husband and I are late for our reservation. Having adopted the Philly motto of "the City that Shoves you Back" we blow past the inocuous bald guy who is dithering in the doorway. Upon reaching the hostess first, we turn and realized we totally just sideswiped Moby.

He went to the bar, was completely low-key and undemanding. So, chastened, I muttered,'Hi Moby" as we walked past him to our table. "hi?" he replies.

He was seated behind us. And he ordered the same entree as my husband. I stil have no idea what he was doing in Philly. But he has a cross tattoo on the back of his neck and is very very petite. That I can tell you.

lewis black had a seminar/took questions at my university last year, and i asked him if he had ever managed to get into sarah silverman's pants. he said no, but that when on tour with her, he often cooled his heels near her dressing room.

I walked by Jeanane Garofalo in the East Village, NYC crying. Her head wasn't very visible but she was all hunched over her body shaking with sobs. Yeah pretty sad, huh? I walked by some guy who was on the Real World, I think New Orleans, that guy who was really blonde and was fairly religious and wouldn't have sex till marriage. Also in NYC in the East Village near St. Marks Place. I don't think he's terribly famous anymore though. Anyway, I have had precious few brushes with celebrity. I did meet Chayanne (Latino singer) when I was 12 at a Puerto Rican comedy show, and he gave me a signed picture of him. That's the closest I've come so far aside from the above and I don't even know if those count...

I don't think most of these count but here goes:

1) When I was eight or so I went to a Gary Paulsen signing at Barnes & Noble, and brought him a slice of marble cake from the café.

2) Met Jhonen Vasquez at a signing at Chicago Comics; I have also had a few cryptic, sparse conversations with him on AIM through his fan-accessible sn.

3) Quite close to Al Franken at a Kerry benefit prior to the 2004 election.

4) I couldn't tell if the whole being at a live show doesn't count thing meant simply being in the audience doesn't count, or even snogging etc. doesn't count if you were in the audience; if it was the former, then--I, along with a hell of a lot of other people, kissed Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence at a show during July 2006. I think he made me sick. I had a sore throat/cough/cold for two weeks after.

5) I know Jeremy Piven's mom! Yeah.

6) I went to school with Harold Ramis' son for a few years. Once, in seventh grade, I was waiting for my mom to pick me up when a car pulled up, the window rolled out, and Harold Ramis asked me if I knew where Julian was. "I...I saw him a while...ago...but he left...hi Mr. Ramis I love your movies! Does the usage of a time loop in Groundhog Day have any thematic connections with Waiting for Godot--I recall reading some deep philosophical thing you said about the premise of the movie but I freakin' forget what it was?" Okay fine that last is a question I have since developed.

Okay now this isn't me but I have to tell about it anyway: I know someone who, during a SINGLE trip to London, met Tom Stoppard (

So many...where to begin?

I used to work at a high end gym here in NYC so I had run ins with a fair few celebs.

Eric Stoltz - I used to refer to him as my gym boyfriend because he always worked out on the weight machines near my desk, and we exchanged all kinds of grins, but I never spoke to him until one day when we caught the elevator at the same time and he said
"Your hair is really beautiful, it's so refreshing to see a really pretty redhead" to which I replied
"As opposed to all the fuglies out there?"
I have no idea what made me say it. He kind of stammered in confusion and then I tried to save the situation by laughing and saying
"I know what you mean, there are so few of us."
End of akward exchange. End of Eric-Stoltz-my-gym-boyfriend.

Philip Seymore Hoffman - Usually just nodded hello, then one day the magic elevator intervened again, and we had a totally easy conversation about the weather, living in New York and all that jazz. A really lovely person.

Nicole Kidman - Didn't say a word. Let her assistant pay for her training session and just stood by, glassy eyed in a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. Really as thin as you think she is.

Ethan Hawke - Shared my newspaper on the day the Staten Island Ferry crashed, seemed appropriately horrified. Needed a shave.

Kate Winslet - Came upstairs to pay for a training session, without a doubt, the most beautiful person I've ever seen. This is the only time I've ever been struck completely dumb, I couldn't say a word, I just tried not to look like a complete fucking idiot. She freaking GLOWS.

Mandy Patinkin - asked me for directions, was totally rude.

Billy Crudup - Saw him in The Elephant Man, then saw him on the street after the show, I was on the phone with my boyfriend at the time, who was the assistant to Billy's commercial agent, and he told me to say hi, so I yelled "Hey Billy" at which Mr. Crudup turned around and I told him that my boyfriend who was the assistant at ----- Agency said to tell him hello. He said "Cool" then sneaked away from the crazy lady.

I would relate the story abut the time Paul Sorvino hit on me, or when I saw Sara Jessica Parker asnd Matthew Broderick on the subway with their kid, but I'm tired, and I'm sure you are too. Thanks if you hung in there with this post.

I was once in a bar, sitting a few tables away from Kiefer Sutherland, who was in town filming a made-for-TV movie. I don't remember what it was called, or even if it was released...this was shortly before 24, and a while after any of his other major roles.

Couple of the guys at our table got up the nerve to ask him for a light, but none of us ladies had the nerve to disturb him. However, on my way to the little girls' room, I passed him in a hallway and said "hi." He said "hi" back. Nice! Good looking guy. Really quite short, though!

Now, any time I see him on TV, I tell people "That's my buddy Kiefer." I bet he feels the same about me. Surely, yes?

the second half of my post:

uh for real this time:

maybe it will go through this time? please forgive me for this.

Gee, this is pretty meager. I once shared a plane ride with Johnny Olson, who was the first "come-on-down" guy on "The Price Is Right."

In Nashville you pretty much just boring, run of the mill country singer sightings. Three notable exceptions: 1) My mom smarted off to Tim McGraw because he wouldn't get off his cell phone while she was waiting on him at GapKids. (Tim and Faith came in a lot actually, and were very warm and polite otherwise)
2) My best friend in pre school was Crystal Gayle's daughter, therefore her birthday parties included the likes of Loretta Lynn.
3) As a child, Emmy Lou Harris's house backed up to mine.

Oh and when I was 7 or 8 my family ran into Robin Williams outside a Peets in San Francisco. Say what you will about his manic brand of comedy, but he was so humble and kind to my sister and me, I can't help but like him ever since. (It was right after Mrs. Doubtfire and as he was about to shoot Jumanji he had a major beard)

Hmm. Met a decidedly UN-sober Kiefer Sutherland and got to step foot into his trailer on the set of "The Vanishing" which was filming in my hometown. Also got a great photo with Jeff Bridges that same night. He was super accomodating. And during the same shoot, met a pre-fame Sandra Bullock and her then-boyfriend (I'm thinking it was Rob Lowe, but I was only about 12 and I'm not 100% sure).

Oh! Met Harry Anderson of "Night Court" fame and my favorite weatherman ever *cough* Steve Pool from KOMO. ;)

-Drew Barrymore, George Clooney and Sam Rockwell in Montreal on my 18th birthday... Drew sang to me 'Happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo'. They were celebrating someone else's birthday in this tiny restaurant so the song was directed at both of us.

-Ben Affleck in Montreal at Gogo's before I was legally allowed to be in the bar. He was enormous like the size of a door and I asked if I could buy him a drink but he said no thanks. When he left the bar he got into an escalade limo lined with models/strippers. He went directly to rehab after that stint in mtl.

-James Woods... I met him while I was working in Montreal on Crescent street, in a crappy shop. He asked me out and gave me his cell number and hotel coordinates. I was probably about 19 and laughed at his asking me out and said maybe it would be more appropriate for him to come over for dinner and meet my parents since they're closer in age. He said to me 'if I'm going to meet your parents then we should get married first to make it worthwhile'. something like that. my mom thought that story was beyond hilarious and emailed all her friends about it.

Lots more but those are the real good ones. Oh yeah: 2 Baldwin brothers and the red headed guy from True Romance, the friend in LA filming a movie outside the CEGEP I was going to. We asked one of the Baldwin's for a light, to light our joint which we were smoking between classes as was the thing to do at the time.

love!), Madonna and Simon Cowell, and sighted Sister Wendy in a restaurant tippling a bit on wine. She was able to really talk to Madonna and Cowell as her mother is their manager; I forget how she ran into Tom Stoppard, but she told him how much joy his work had given her and he thanked her in the wondrous deeply moving sort of way that the Laura Linney poster above me was talking about.

-Drew Barrymore, George Clooney and Sam Rockwell in Montreal on my 18th birthday... Drew sang to me 'Happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo'. They were celebrating someone else's birthday in this tiny restaurant so the song was directed at both of us.

-Ben Affleck in Montreal at Gogo's before I was legally allowed to be in the bar. He was enormous like the size of a door and I asked if I could buy him a drink but he said no thanks. When he left the bar he got into an escalade limo lined with models/strippers. He went directly to rehab after that stint in mtl.

-James Woods... I met him while I was working in Montreal on Crescent street, in a crappy shop. He asked me out and gave me his cell number and hotel coordinates. I was probably about 19 and laughed at his asking me out and said maybe it would be more appropriate for him to come over for dinner and meet my parents since they're closer in age. He said to me 'if I'm going to meet your parents then we should get married first to make it worthwhile'. something like that. my mom thought that story was beyond hilarious and emailed all her friends about it.

Lots more but those are the real good ones. Oh yeah: 2 Baldwin brothers and the red headed guy from True Romance, the friend in LA filming a movie outside the CEGEP I was going to. We asked one of the Baldwin's for a light, to light our joint which we were smoking between classes as was the thing to do at the time. We also got their autographs on our school books which I thought was hilarious... and I was wearing a neckwarmer on my head cause it was freezing. charming!

We used to go to NYC every summer to visit our aunt. One time when I was very young, I was walking with my mom and we had somewhere to get to and did not know which way to go. So, we ask this man leaning against the wall for directions. He seems a little startled, but gives them to us and we start walking. A few blocks down, my mom yells "That was Kevin Bacon!" We assume he was waiting for Kyra, I feel good about giving him a bit of normalcy :)

Corey Feldman hit on my friend and I at a taping of his long-forgotten TV Show, "Geeks" (we were there for a fundraiser). We were all, "Umm...we're only 15" to which he replied, "Yeah? And?"

C.C. from Poison hit on me and 2 of my co-workers in a pizza shop on Fairfax. This was pre-Surreal life, and he was LOADED. He kept saying "And what about a pretty girl like YOU" and then rolling his head in the general direction of whichever of us he thought was the most receptive.

The singer from Maroon 5 burst into this karaoke bar I was at and sang some Michael Jackson songs. I was really drunk and kept asking this guy, "Who is that again? He's the singer of what?" My friend recorded it with her cell phone camera, though, so I know it wasn't a whiskey hallucination.

I met Winona Ryder while working for a non-profit group, and had a very nice conversation with her that, nonetheless, allowed me to correctly predict she most likely had a pill problem. Less than a month later she was arrested for shoplifting. But you guys, she is freaking beautiful.

The only other tales I have involve folks in rehab and other such US Weekly type stuff, so I'll stop here.

Well, I suggested it, (thanks for the props rr) and here I am 118 people later. Damn those kids that have to go to the dr for ear infections!

Anyway..here are my celebrity encounters

1) Gave fucking Chuck Norris a tour of the homeless shelter I was working at in 90's.

2) Had a conversation with Ellen Degeneres about her lost luggage at Ohare Airport. (My friend said she was hitting on me and that was way before anyone knew she was gay.)

3)Talked on the phone with Robert Redford when I was in college.

ooh.. and my husband saw Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban at dinner last year here in Nashville.

Oh yeah... drew also commented on my curly hair, she said it was wicked! and then I said oh it's a mess cause I was snowboarding all day and I didn't have time to shower and she said 'oh you snowboard? Guys think it is so hot when girls snowboard!'

And we saw her making out with Sam Rockwell, and she apparently made out with someone's way younger brother at Sona later that night.

sorry for the double post!

Mine isn't really an actual run-in, more like an almost hit.
Back in April, George Clooney was in my town (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) filming Leatherheads. I was driving downtown to pick a friend up for lunch, when I saw George Clooney. Then I almost hit a telephone pole. The same thing happened about 2 summers ago, but with Benjamin Mckenzie, who was filming Junebug at the time.

Ooh, had to second the people who have met David Sedaris and adored him. I work in publishing and have to do a lot of author stuff and he is by far my favorite author I have met! So friendly, so quirky. Just as nice as he could be!

Does a cousin in movies count? Cause my cousin Jack is in two movies, so he's hob-nobbed with many famous people, including Alec Baldwin, Annette Benning, Gweneth Paltrow, and in his movie coming this spring, he will be playing, as far as my sibs and I can tell, a young Kevin Bacon.

So I am officially 2 degrees from Kevin Bacon. What now?:)

P.S. The movies he is in are Running with Scissors, and Rails and Ties, or something like that.

i was shopping at my local whole foods, rummaging through the sushi, when a nondescript fellow walks up next to me and grabs a couple of rolls (which come with not only your roll of choice, but also ginger, wasabi and soy sauce, which becomes an important point of fact). he looks up at the sushi chef, who is still rolling out the rolls, and he asks for more soy sauce. the sushi chef obliges by handing him (who i now realize is jason biggs) several more sauce packets. and jason biggs retorts in a most impatient voice, "dude, i'm going to need a lot more than that." and i was left to ponder how a guy who's clearly made a lot of money doing mediocre films couldn't afford to walk on over to aisle 10 and buy himself a gallon of soy sauce for $4.99...

I have 3, lucky me:

1. Back in high school I grew up very near to Ken Kesey. For a theater production we went out to his farm and shot some video segments on his famous bus (well, his new bus, as the actual famous bus is supposed to be sitting at the bottom of a lake).

2. While in college I participated for a number of years in Milwaukee's AIDSWalk fundraiser. Every year they had a new celebrity come to the event to encourage people. My second year the celebrity was Danny Glover. He made a big pre-walk speech about how the celebrity usually doesn't walk, they just stand on a bridge/overpass and wave at you as you walk under, and by-god he was gonna walk. But then when we got to said overpass, he was just standing there and waving. My friend and I got annoyed at his lazy hypocrite ass and started chanting "Walk, Danny, Walk!" By the time we had passed the area, a good 150 people or so were chanting along with us, and the dumbass actually thought we were cheering for him - he was chanting with us. Dumbass.

3. Just a few years back, Roger Ebert came to the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison to give a talk and do a book signing. I tried to go to the book signing in the UW bookstore, but could not find it (it turned out to be on the third floor, with absolutely no signs to advertise this fact). After about 15 minutes of looking, I was about to give up and leave when lo and behold, standing in line for coffee with his assistant was the man himself (running late). He saw me standing there with his book in my hand and asked if I wanted him to sign it. I actually ended up talking to him for about 10 minutes or so about silent films before his assistant pulled him away to go upstairs for the signing.

I was interning on a film in Manhattan in the summer of 1997. (The film was bad; don't ask). Anyway, anyone who's ever interned on an independent film knows that the hours are 9am until whenever they unshackle you and let you limp home. So, by the time I collapsed onto the subway seat, it was around 2am. The car was completely empty, except for...wait for it...Andrew F'ing McCarthy. He was sitting across from me, wearing purple sneakers and that half-crazed, sweaty expression he always used to convey drama. Scared the hell out of me.

Oh, and Drew Barrymore gave me an extra ticket she had on the sold-out opening day of "The Royal Tenenbaums." The only reason I got it is because everyone else had a date, and I went to see it alone. Ha. Losers.

A few years back I was on a horribly long flight from London to St. Louis. There was talk that Tiger Woods was on the flight. I hadn't showered that morning, the flight was several hours in, and I had to use the (by now) smelly bathrooms. I stood in line for the restroom and sure enough Tiger comes walking right passed me. Our eyes met, he smiled, and kept on walking. I think romance novels start out this way. Actually, scratch that. I think I saw a Meredith Baxter Birney movie start out that way.

when i was a young 'un and on holiday with my parents, i met another girl and we used to play on the beach and hang out and stuff. one day she invited me out to dinner with her parents....turned out her dad was bob hoskins. i was so scared that when mr hoskins encouraged me to order a beef roti off the menu i agreed even though it was rank. i ate roti for smee. damn.

When I was a baby, George Takei came up to my dad and cooed over me, held me and kissed my forehead. I was cute, but I think he was hitting on my dad.

As a freshman in college, me and my suitemates met the band Eve 6 in a diner. They sat with us and the redhead shared my waffle.

Elie Wiesel taught one of my winter term classes at college. Also shook hands with Paul Rusesabagina after he lectured there.

I saw Corey Feldman at Disney World in April of this year with his family. Almost bumped into him on the way out of Epcot. His wife looked trashy.

I was once squashed up against Conor Oberst for a full five minutes at a very crowded new years eve party at a music venue in Seattle. We were packed like sardines so there was practically full body contact the whole time, but he was facing away from me. This was several years ago now.

Also Brad Pitt walked down the street where I worked and right past my shop as apparently he was there visiting Jennifer Aniston while she filmed Rock Star. Same with Angelina Jolie during filming of that godawful movie Life or Something Like It.

Maggie Gyllenhaal stopped under an espresso stand awning to get out of the rain while I was standing there waiting for my espresso. It was just the two of us, she turned and smiled at me, made a face at the rain and then scampered off. She has the biggest, brightest blue eyes. This was just after Secretary and before anything else she had done, and I was one of the only people I knew who had any idea who she was. I just smiled back and didn't say anything. As a rule I always assume celebrities prefer not to get the "OMMIGOD YOURE SO-and-SO!!!!!!!!" treatment. I know that'd get on my nerves after a while.

Okay, so this actually happened to my friend's brother, but it's still excellent.

My friend was studying abroad in Ireland and a bunch of us had put together a care package for her brother to take over to her whilst he was visiting her on Spring Break. Well, my friend Katie thought it would be funny to throw in some furry handcuffs, as our friend in Ireland was very sexuall repressed. Anyway, John had no idea that there were handcuffs in the package, and had been stopped at customs in London for carrying a supposedly harmful items. As he was wandering around London, absolutely exhausted and completely fried, he ran into Senator John Kerry, flanked faithfully by his wife, Theresa Heinz-Kerry. He said his hellos, explained his situation, but because he was in such a state, he completely blanked on TH-K's name, so he resolved this by completely ignoring the fact that she existed.

I love that story.

I was in Silverlake at a bar for my birthday a couple of years ago when I noticed this guy with a molester stache. My friend was really drunk talking these guys and stache came up to my boyfriend and me asking about her. He was "concerned" because those guys were sketchy looking (dude, you have a 70s porn stache). Well the guy was Jason Lee with his "My Name is Earl" mustache. We ended up hanging out with him the rest of the night. Being the jackass that I am I asked, "So what do you do?" To which he replies, "Porn." So we talked about porn for a while. Later he tried to get my oh so very inebriated friend to go home with him by asking her if she wanted to come "listen to music." She did not, but the next week I saw a picture of him and his fiancee' walking with their baby. Jason Lee out at the Red Lion trollin' for booty. For shame.

My old roommate flashed her tits to Ron Jeremy at a premiere party for a movie my friend directed. He told her they were nice. I mean if you're gonna flash them might as well be to Ron.

The guy who played a young Tom Hanks in "Big" told me the cupcakes I made were, "so awesome" and "like crack" at a BBQ my friend had. He was cute and sweet. And liked my baking!

The big fame brushes have all been covered...so I'll go with the most absurd:

1) TK - I was inches from running over Andy Dick with my car. Who darts across Highland in nothing but silver shorts at dusk? Andy Dick, that's who.

2) Sanja - Dustin Diamond lived in my neighborhood when I was growing up. At about 8 years old, trick-or-treating his house was something of a rush.

3) Not my best moment for street cred, but while working a temp job a year ago I mispronounced rapper "chamillionaire"'s name so many times his whole entourage burst out laughing. I finally got it right when he helpfully turned around and pointed to the spelling of his name--which was of course painted across the back of his jacket in huge shiny letters.

4) I am unintentionally stalking all of the minor, minor cast members of Veronica Mars (RIP). Saw Tessa "Jackie" Thompson in front of the UCB theatre, sat down the bar from Theo "I had Kristin Bell throw ninja stars in my garage" Rossi, and talked about the shows impending death for a good half hour at a bar with Kevin "I stole the poker money and I'm the butler's son" Sheridan. In that last instance, it is worth noting that I don't approach even the most minor of actors when I recognize them (its just so awkward). My friends on the other hand scoff at such conventions and flagged the poor boy (who was totally drinking alone) down with a shout of "Hey Veronica Mars day player!" He was absurdly nice and even shielded me from a bar fight at one point. I have no doubt it was the first time anyone had recognized him for anything...ever.

I had just gotten off a 6 or 7 hour flight from New York to Rome, and was waithing to get my shit from the luggage carousal, when all of a sudden I look to my right, and Spike Lee and his wife and children are waiting to pick up there luggage first. I was surprised to see him there, I would have thought he could have gotten some one else to go and fetch his bags. He also was pissed the hell off, as we all were becasue the baggage claim of Leonardo Di Vinci airport at that time was 110 degrees and we had to wait a good 1 and a half to get our bags, celebrity or not.

I recently worked with Mark Wahlberg on the set of a new Shyamalan movie. Though I saw Zooey Deschanel's back as well as John Leguizamo, I only spoke with Wahlberg.
A while back in New York, I saw a woman crossing the streets I'm positive was Nicole Kidman, and I saw a woman who looked a bit like Meg Ryan in Cannes over the summer.
Also, I ran into Willie Garson(Sex and the City) at a wedding. he was the best man and he and I talked.

How big a nerd am I? The post that got me the most excited was the kid who went to a Gary Paulsen signing at B&N when he was eight. I love his books.

As for me, I once saw Billy Boyd (Pippin from LOTR) at LAX. He was getting his tickets and, for some reason, the terminal was pretty much deserted. I yelled, "Oy, Billy!!" and he waved me over. I went over to him and chatted with him for a bit about why he was in town -- he'd been at ComicCon and so had I -- and then we got his friend to take our picture. I then commented to his friend, "I'm sorry; it must get tiresome, people always asking you to take pix of them with this guy." They laughed and I left.

I went to junior high and high school with Danny Regan from Reel Big Fish (I think he went by "Daniel" once he got big, but I always knew him as "Danny").

I knew Tavis Werts (formerly of RBF) in HS, too; he went to winter formal with one of my best friends, who had a huge crush on him, but then he told her that he only thought of her as a friend and she was just heartbroken.

He was a funny guy. When we were seniors, we had cal