Ever had any celebrity encounters?

The closest thing to actually meeting and talking to a celebrity that I've had was meeting a woman who was an understudy for the main role in the Broadway Hairspray show. She used to work for the same company as my father until she got a rather sizable role on All My Children (though what that role was I couldn't tell you, seeing as nobody in my family watched that show—we were more partial to Days Of Our Lives), which I believe she played in until the show's very end.

How about you? Ever met and talked to a celebrity (however minor), had a brief encounter with one, or even just happened to see one in a place you wouldn't expect?

edited 9th Jun '12 5:37:45 PM by 0dd1

I met Telly Leung, Corbon Bleu, Anna Maria Perez De Tagle, and Lindsay Mendez when I saw Godspell on Broadway. Telly hugged me!

And I do mean it was a mutual hug, I wasn't creeping or anything :P It was great.

Corbin Bleu is in Godspell? Huh. Well, no stranger than Raven-Symone in Sister Act I s'pose.

Famous people I've met...

• Matt Chamberlain, who played drums for Pearl Jam for a while. The company I work for built timbers for his apartment in Seattle. I got to meet him and shake his hand when I was 13, quite a heady experience at the time.
• Bill Gates (briefly). Again, work-related.
• Loreena Mckennitt, after one of her shows. She is quite charismatic in person, and also very attractive despite being in her 60s. I hit on her while getting her autograph, she blushed and giggled like a schoolgirl. It was awesome.
• All the members of Black Tide, who I met at Mayhem Fest in Seattle. I gave them pointers on how to drink Southern Comfort (apparently they all love the stuff) and got very excited when I compared them to Iron Maiden (I've seen both acts live, and truly, those kids have the stuff. They aren't there yet but they've got it).
• Candice Groening, lead singer for Walls Of Jericho. She was quite mellow, which is weird considering how aggro she gets onstage.

edited 9th Jun '12 6:57:20 PM by drunkscriblerian

So far I've gotten to meet David Sedaris, Margaret Cho, Henry Rollins, Leonard Nimoy and Allison Bechdel. Last one isn't a huge celebrity, but a respected cartoonist whom I happen to be a huge fan of.

Oh, and Cookie Monster◊

edited 9th Jun '12 7:18:48 PM by Landstander

My freshman year in college, I met Schuyler Fisk when she performed at my school. A few years ago, I saw Nigella Lawson speak at my local Barnes and Noble.

Awesome.

For me, Barack Obama (when he was still just a senator), Don Hertzfeldt, Victor Wooten, and Alex Webster are the most memorable ones.

Also, I'm semi-friends with Bob Marley's guitarist.

Edit: There are a bunch of minor ones: Vic Mignogna, Janet Reno, the guy who runs SNAFU Comics, Terrance Zdunich, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Trombone Shorty are the ones I remember.

edited 11th Jun '12 5:45:57 AM by Wheezy

Jason Avant, wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles, is a regular at my pizzeria. I actually took his order, but since I don't pay any attention to football, everyone at my work was practically starstruck and I treated him as every other customer, heh.

And Dan Laqua(sp?) who played for the Flyers was my neighbor for a little while.

I don't really remember it, but when I was very young, I quite literally ran into Peter Cushing.

I have met Bill Oddie before, He was actually with the BBC on Vancouver Island... watching bears like we were.

Uh... Jack Black, Feist, Delta Goodrem, Guy Sebastian.

Also Robin Padilia but who even cares about him.

Some moderately well-known Australian children's authors in my younger years.

Oh I completely forgot about Don Hertzfeldt! He came to this little indie theater to talk and screen his films, and he was so adorably ADD.

Also, I didn't get to meet him personally but I was mere feet away from James Franco when he came to this film festival.

How could I forget? Bear Grylls!

Do authors count? If so, I had briefly talked to Eoin Colfer and Rick Riordan and had them sign my books. For a more minor author, I've encountered Heather Brewer several times, to the point of her recognizing me.

(I've also talked to various other authors on Twitter. And I got Kerli to respond to me once.)

I also had the last governor of my state serve me vanilla ice cream (the kind with the bean specks) at an event.

Fixed. Not again...

edited 11th Jun '12 11:08:52 AM by chihuahua0

^ I think you have your Colfers crossed.

Surprisingly, he was a really, really good Jesus. At first I was dissapointed that I missed Hunter Parrish, but now I'm actually glad.

Met John Petrucci (guitar player for Dream Theater) a few years back at a Guitar Center event, and Senator Chuck Schumer spoke at my college graduation... think that's it.

I met a spaceman just a couple of weeks ago. Can't say which one due to one reason or another, but they weren't one of the humbler ones. Not that it was strictly a bad thing, of course.

I encountered a celebrity once, but it won initiative and I got killed in the first round.

I once noticed Henry Winkler commuting to a Broadway theater where he was performing in some show at the time. He took a bus. I saw him step off the bus.

edited 11th Jun '12 7:23:44 AM by SeanMurrayI

I was three years old and I had a conversation with Boris Yeltsin at the G8 Summit in Birmingham back in the 90s. My aunt (who was taking me out to the park on that day) doesn't remember what I said, but Mr Yeltsin seemed pleased.

FUCK YES

I HELPED RUSSIA

Traitor to the Commonwealth!

A couple months ago (for my college's writer's festival) I went to a poetry reading by Joy Harjo. There was a reception afterwards, where (after half an hour of waiting; that's what I get for getting in the food line before the autograph line) she signed my copy of How We Became Human. (She's amazing, by the way. Just putting that out there.)

She's the only one I've really met face-to-face. I walked past Christopher Walken and some guy from New Kids on the Block (not at the same time) when I was in NYC a few years ago, and I talked to Greg Proops over the phone during a webchat once.

I've met Judy Bloom several times and Tilda Swinton once ate at a restaurant I was working at.

@ Talby. Bah! You make terrible trade partners!

I met Dennis Kucinich in the Boston airport once. Met the San Francisco 49'ers a long time ago when they came to my high school and played a charity game of, oddly, basketball. I could've met Obama if I bothered to go to his campaign rally at University of Oregon in 2008, but frankly I was too pissed at both candidates to care.

The Dallas Brass came to my school once and took their respective sections aside for coaching, and as trombones we got tips from Dennis Levine himself. It was one of the key things that got me to start really throwing myself into band (it was also the first time I'd seen the whole "stuff a jacket into your bell to force you to play louder" trick), and their autographed concert program is one of the few pieces of memorabilia I've ever bothered to keep.

edited 12th Jun '12 1:15:22 AM by Pykrete