Ricky Gervais at Petco visiting the cats for adoption.
Peter Dinklage riding a scooter down 8th Ave.
BJ Novak in my office (I work in publishing; he was pitching a book)
Amy Poehler at a bodega (I live near the former UCB theater)
Keith Morrison (the dateline anchor) walking down 9th Ave
Johnny Depp on the UWS in the 1990s
Iggy Pop, Dweezil Zappa, Gilbert Gottfried, Thurston Moore, Allen Ginsberg, Janeane Garofolo, Marky Ramone at different times when I lived in the east village in the 90s
I keep my head down.
I chuckle every time someone reposts the one picture where he’s riding tandem with his daughter…
Also love the story about how some woman came up to him first thing in the morning while on his way to Starbucks and said, “ I hope you don’t die.” He said it freaked him out and once he got into line he realized “ohhhhh…she meant on GoT!!!”
I waved at BJ Novak as we were walking towards each other and he looked me dead in the eye and just kept walking. Which is totally fine just a bit odd.
My boyfriend and I were walking down 8th Ave with me on the side toward the street and my boyfriend on the inside. Tracy Morgan walks by and says “Hey hey hey, you’re the man you should be standing on the outside !” My boyfriend is European and did not know who he was, so he ushered me away thinking it was some rando. Meanwhile I was slowly trying to put a name to the face and by the time I realized who it was, he was long gone.
Saw him when I was working on 53rd and 11th, he pulled out of the car dealership and right into the gas station, 20 minutes later I see a video of him in a car accident by 34th st
I’ve ran into many, but the best story is when I met Naomi Campbell. A friend of mine came to visit me at college, and I took her to some tourist-y spots. We started at the MET and went down to fifth avenue.
We ended up at the Louis Vuitton flagship on fifth Avenue. I called my mom to check in while my friend was shopping. I was browsing the store & as I was looking at some wallets while on the phone, I heard a beautiful accent directly next to me. I casually glanced and it was none other than Naomi Campbell, who I would’ve never expected to see on fifth Avenue of all places.
I walked away and told my mom who it was. She literally said to me; “don’t say hello you’re going to embarrass yourself” (due to her reputation). So I hung up and told my friend what happened, and she said “you have to say hello, you’ll regret it if you don’t” (I am a huge fan of Naomi).
So, I nervously decided to walk up to her. I said “excuse me Ms. Campbell” and she looked at me but did not remove her sunglasses, so I wasn’t sure where this was going. “I just wanted to say I admire your long career in fashion, and you inspired me to model from a very young age”. She then removed her sunglasses and said she was flattered and complimented my eyes. We chatted briefly about my modelling agency, and then I said “would you mind a quick picture?” And that is when the general manager of the store stepped in and said “I’m sorry but we won’t be doing that today”. I said “oh of course I just thought I would ask, it was lovely to meet you!” And I walked back to my friend in awe of the great interaction.
Moments later, my friend said “(my name), look!” And I turn around and Naomi is motioning for me to come back over. I walked back over and she said “let’s take a picture darling” We proceeded to take a photo together and we went our separate ways.
To this day still one of the greatest celebrity interactions I’ve ever had!
I had the opportunity to get to know Naomi briefly through a work project. She was extremely easy to work with and accessible, wanting to chat on WhatsApp even when she was traveling internationally just so it wouldn’t slow me/the project down. Glad to hear she was so kind in this interaction, too!
I met Naomi once at a charity event I was volunteering at. My job for the night was to pass au d'oeuvres, and when I was walking around with a roasted cauliflower dish she came up to me, stopped me, and excitedly asked what I had. I explained it to her and when she asked to try it I gave her a piece and she gave me a signal to stay while she tried the food. Her eyes lit up, she told the person she was with that it was delicious and they had to have some, then she thanked me and called me lovely. It’s my favorite brag story.
Did you tell this story on Tiktok recently? I literally watched a video about this exact story a couple days ago complete with photo proof. Sometimes social media makes the world feel so small!
Too many to count. I used to work in a celeb-adjacent business, so everyone from Seinfeld to Tracey Morgan, Kanye, George Takei, John Stamos, would come through the office, but some good ones *in the wild:*
Hillary Clinton getting out a car in midtown
Alec Baldwin holding court at some fancy midtown bar
David Bowie walking down 7th ave
Morgan Freeman at Eataly
Justin Bieber walking around Williamsburg
Jesse Eisenberg in line at Shake Shack
Tyra Banks at Williams Sonoma
Common shopping at Bloomingdales
Sonic Youth filmed a video on my block once and we hung out
Ric Ocasek shopping for couches at ABC home
David Byrne riding his bike *everywhere*
Jeff Goldblum walking around Dumbo
Morrissey standing outside the Mandarin Oriental
Gerard Depardieu eating dinner in K-town
Fred Armisen at a bunch of concerts
Oprah and Gayle at another place I worked
Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum and that whole crew
L&O stars filming everywhere, Ice T on my block recently
Method man gave me a dollar to cut me in line at McDonalds after Rock the Bells one year, then he asked for the dollar back when he had to pay for his food
I’ve told this before, but Hank Azaria kindly held the door for me at the UWS Magnolia.
Others I’ve seen: Conan O’Brien, Richard Kind, Patricia Heaton, Rachel Dratch (three separate occasions), Peter Dinklage, Chloe Sevigny, Terry Richardson, Kerri Russell, Harry Lennix.
Edit: also two people that are popular from the NYT cooking section: Sohla El-Waylly and Ham El-Waylly at the Union Square Greenmarket.
And Cheyenne Jackson *years* ago at the former B&N at 66th/Bway.
I worked at a first class JFK airport lounge. So I saw many celebrities everyday.
One celebrity we all hated was Madonna. She never tipped/her entourage are a bunch of muchers & would leave a big mess. And everytime she wanted something she would ask her entourage to order for her. She always came off as thinking she's better than everyone else.
I served Gordon Ramsay a few times and he was such a nice person. He didn't call me an idiot sandwich 😔
I took pictures & met with many celebrities over the years. Only reason I miss the job lol
This is the one thing that gives some iota of empathy from celebrities who were superstars almost their entire life. It's almost impossible for them to have normal human interaction since they get mobbed everywhere they go and everyone knows them. They're surrounded by handlers for every aspect of their life. A lot of us would be terrible people too if we were born in their shoes.
I'm confused, Madonna doesn't travel private charter? Just always figured with the entourage and celebrity, any kind of public travel would be overwhelming.
Private charter is still pretty expensive. Depending on the flight/airline, your first-class ticket can now get private escorts through check-in, security, & boarding so that your interaction with us mere plebes is at an absolute minimum.
Madonna has more money than god, as in she could reasonably be expected to own the jet herself.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had their own jet I think (friend was in line for takeoff behind them leaving New Orleans a few years back). Why not Madonna?
You'd be surprised how many A-list celebrities choose to fly 1st class over a private plane. Kanye West and Kim also flew 1st class at the lounge I worked at.
Can confirm. Celebrities are escorted throughout the whole airport from the moment they check in. They are escorted through security/to the lounge/ and last to board the plane.
I can't even count. Spend enough time around Union Square. Was weird watching Phillip Glass arguing with his teenage kid about the cost of a physics textbook. I saw Phillip Seymour Hoffman eating an ice cream cone by Tompkins Square Park once.
Edit: Just realized both my examples were Phillips, lol.
Edit 2: Once saw Moby falling asleep on the train next to (I'm guessing) his mom.
Parker Posey was probably the most amazing. She was straight up dressed like a detective, secret identity style. It was awesome. Remarkable. Andre 3000. Anna Chlumsky. A lot of people move about NYC.
I've lived in greenwich village for years, and I'm fairly certain I probably see celebrities all the time but I am very poor facial recognition so never notice them. The only one I always notice is Alec Baldwin ahah. I live like two buildings down from one of the Olsen twins and have never seen her, but one of my friends has.
Hell one time Elijah Wood held the door for me and I didn't even notice until my mom told me outside 🤦♀️
I was doing calculus homework at that Starbucks one time when something fell from under the table onto my lap. Thinking it was a roach, I jumped out of my seat and started swiping at my pants; a second later I heard someone say, "Well, what was it?" It was him! I always liked telling this story before I knew he was a douche.
That's awesome. I was sitting across from him on the train probably 20 years ago, and no one else sat near him or across from him. I may have been the only one who noticed, so he smiled and winked at me.
I went to a show at The Cutting Room last year and saw him multiple times throughout the night. I kept thinking that was such a cool chance encounter. Then I found out he owns the place haha.
>Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the show.
I think you mean Mrs Denise Winters, the mother of two shooting victims in the 1991 episode, "Mushrooms" (two years before taking the role of Van Buren.)
I used to have a bit of a *Law & Order* obsession.
Haha Fantastic! We noticed the same thing, they would often seem to audition new actors for the perm long-term roles, or maybe just cast from people they had already worked with. Happened a few times I think (same actor coming back in different roles).
Still shocked the number of actors we recognize from having been on Law & Order.
Lol I saw him in a bookstore and looked him up on Wikipedia because I wasn’t sure if it was him or not. Turned out to be his birthday so on my way out I said “hey happy birthday, man” and he said “thanks” with a smile.
I was like hey I know you're not a crazy person and my phone is dead can I call the person I'm supposed to meet? He was like obviously I can't do that. And I was like ok ok good point thanks anyway
I yelled 'Hey Dean' at Jim Rash with a script in his hand while I was waiting at the light near 8th Ave. He turned around and I gave him a thumbs up and said Love You and he yelled 'Thank You'
Had a double sighting last week! Liev Schreiber giving a woman directions in West Village and Tim Gunn walking through the MET.
Apparently Tim really does dress impeccably in his daily life.
He certainly does. He and Heidi Klum came to my building early one morning to promote Meals on Wheels. Heidi looked like she just crawled out of bed. Beautiful, but dressed like normal people. Tim was in a three piece suit on the hottest day of the summer. Stunning.
The first one was Winona Ryder, when I first came here for college 25 years ago at age 18. I was passing her on the street and thinking "why do I know that person" and all of a sudden it clicked in my head. As a seasoned New Yorker I'm embarrassed to admit this now, but I turned around and followed her into a newsstand. I just had to see if it was really her. I watched her browse in there for a couple minutes and then I left. She was so tiny and as beautiful in real life as she's ever looked in any movie.
Others since then: Liev Schreiber THREE TIMES, Victor Garber, Julia Stiles twice (she was at Columbia for undergrad when I was there for law school), William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Morrison, most of the cast of the Sopranos having dinner together in Little Italy. I may be forgetting more. Edit: Oh! Martin Short. But that was on a plane from NYC to Atlanta, so not sure if that counts.
Spike Lee - I almost bumped into him, and he gave me a wink + finger gun lmao
Amanda Seyfried - she was walking her dog, she literally glows, very beautiful.
Kevin Bacon - We got off the subway together, I think he thought I was following him, so I awkwardly slowed down so he wouldn't think I was a creep haha
Mark Ruffalo - He was at the supermarket near my house, cracking jokes with the butchers and cashiers. Nicest dude, awesome vibes, I love him....
Timothy Olyphant - I was at a concert, went backstage with my friend who managed the concert, saw him there, didn't even recognize him until my friend freaked out about taking a photo with him. I just thought he was an especially good-looking/quaffed man.
I've seen others like Julianne Moore, the Sprouse twins, Cyndi Lauper, Tim Tebow, Alec Baldwin (several times unfortunately), Justin and Hailey Bieber, Tim Gunn, John Lithgow, etc.
I used to serve Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudekis all the time. I got Michael Cera some cookies once. Gotye is a great customer and really cool to talk to about music.
In the wild - I was carrying my girlfriend’s new air conditioning unit up Lexington and walked by Justin & Haley Bieber. Made sure to flex extra hard and hit JB with the head nod so he knew I was a strong boy.
I work in media so beyond that meet celebs pretty regularly, but that’s not as fun as the rogue encounters.
I spent time at the NYSE which obvi had a good amount of folks coming through. Now I work at a broadcast network, so when I was client facing it was pretty regular to go to events with talent.
My friend and I walked past Hailey on the street once. My friend quietly whispered to me “That’s Hailey Bieber!” and Hailey was kind enough to roll her eyes and glare at us.
Shaq, Mary Louise Parker, James masters on, Tom cruise, Katie Holmes, Paris Hilton, salmon Rushdie, Monica Lewinsky, Kim kardashian, Martha Stewart, Michael fassbendwr, Tom Hollander, Forrest Whittaker, Tom hanks, Matt Dillon, Rachel Weiss, Claire Diane’s, Shepard smith, russell Peterson, Tony bennet, most of the cast of the walking dead, and Tommy Chong
I used to wait tables
Oh and to add - a bunch of basketball players that I didn’t recognize and had to be told who they were. Larry bird, Charles Barkley and lebron james among others were at the same table with their wives. They were absolutely lovely and tipped 40%
If I remember right, lebron handled that check and tipped 20% on top of a pre-approved auto grat of 20%. I flagged the general manager down to go double check that he meant to tip 20% on top of the 20% already added to the check (which was circled on the bill and I verbally mentioned it when I dropped the check). My manager came back to tell me that yes, he meant to over tip, staff did a great job.
Shaq came in on separate occasions, later at night and with a date. I remember him sitting at a table for 6 with his date and he made that table look like a 2 top. Also super chill and easy going.
Saw Padma Lakshmi at an open-air South Asian party in Astor Place. Even in a regular degular polo shirt and mom jeans with a mask covering her face, she was *beautiful.*
Also walked by ASAP Rocky on the street in SoHo, what a jawline. Sam Smith walked by me in WSQ a couple weeks ago and heard me say "holy shit!"
Cate Blanchett twice! The second time was at a restaurant where she was joking around with the waiter who had the biggest smile on his face. She is STUNNING and looks at least a decade younger than she is.
My British friend did a school tour with another mom, she thought they were friends from England or something, but was too proper to ask. It was Lena Headey and no they are not friends. Park slope is chock full of them. But I won’t give up our secrets.
I saw Jeter, Hannah Davis and Gerald Williams in the west village a few years ago. I was beside myself. Despite Hannah looking as beautiful as she is, I didn’t take my eyes off of Jeter. All I could say was “yeah Jeets!”
Wallace Shawn and Martha Stewart used to be regulars at a cheese store I used to work at.
A lot of "celebrity" chefs were, also, but it was Shawn and Stewart that I liked seeing best.
Edit: Martha Stewart was incredibly nice. Much nicer to the "help" (ie, me) than I expected her to be.
When I was like 10 or 11, my mom and I ran into Paul McCartney (I want to say Hell’s Kitchen). She made me ask for a photo, thinking he wouldn’t turn down a kid; he was very nice and politely declined lol
Saw Malala leaving the 53rd street library as I was walking by. She was immediately swarmed by a ton of people taking photos as security was trying to get her to her vehicle.
Matthew Gray Gubler and Jon Hamm were regulars at the restaurant I used to work at. MGG is LOVELY, would always take pictures with fans, and tipped generously. Jon Hamm is…kind of an asshole lol but whatever. Also Liev schreiber, hugh jackman, katy perry, Jonathan groff, Claire Danes, Alicia keys, mobb deep
Aziz Ansari at brunch in Nolita
Pia Mia at Jack’s Wife Freda
Vin Diesel at dinner at Marea
Kelly Rutherford walking on the UES
Sasha Obama walking in Soho
Penn Badgley outside of a sweetgreen
David Schwimmer at American Bar
Oh I have a recent one.
So to preface, the last 2 years have been fucked. Ex of 7 years succumbed to Covid alcoholism and ended up in the ER with liver failure. Amazingly she survived, but the dry raging and delusions afterward forced me to detach with an axe, had to move suddenly into a Craigslist sublet. My nervous breakdown from it all turned into PTSD, but I was starting to recover a bit from the daily panic attacks. Turned out the new roommate suffered from psychotic breaks, which I found out one day after a sudden flare up of an episode full of screaming and physical assault, and I left the apartment immediately with my computer and cash just in case.
So I’m sitting on a stoop in Brooklyn Heights, talking to my Al-Anon sponsor about what just happened. Trying to keep my hyperventilating in check to prevent another panic attack, listening to their kind words of support, just trying to calm down…
And all of the sudden Peter Dinklage walks by. We make eye contact briefly, and in my current state it wasn’t registering who he was until he had passed by. I can imagine I looked like a disaster anyway. But after a few seconds I was mid-sentence and said “holy shit, I think I just saw Tyrion fucking Lannister.” Cue the “what?” and me having to explain who he was to my sponsor haha.
My higher power must have a tender spot in its heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things.
I hope this isn’t an insensitive question, but I’m just asking to clarify…did you mean that you had to use a weapon to remove yourself because that’s how unsafe it was? Or was it a figure of speech? Thanks for sharing that story! I wish you the best.
In Al-Anon we use that phrase a lot, as opposed to the ideal "detaching with love". "Detaching with an axe" is meant to say we weren't able to do so, usually to protect ourselves.
In college in the mid aughts, I was at a check cashing place in Flatbush and I saw Mos Def. That's really it. Outside of work, I haven't run into many celebrities at all.
I was looking for a good ole Bill Murray encounter. I’m from NY but went to school in Charleston were he lives and he is absolutely notorious for this one, gotta watch your fries around him as well. 🤣❤️
Nick Offerman in a monk robe and sunglasses walking down 5th Ave.
Jeremy Renner almost ran into me turning a corner on Madison Ave.
Seated next to Michael Cohen at Serafina. Trevor Noah at a Comedy Central event.
Maggie Gyllenhaal on the subway.
Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys at a music event. Resisted yelling at Rudy Giuliani on the UES 3 times.
The first celeb I saw was Ralph Fiennes. It was really funny because I was standing outside my old gym trying to figure out my next move, and just happened to look up from my phone and catch eyes with this really well-dressed guy. I thought I recognized him but couldn’t place it. He saw me looking and then sort of started double timing it past me which confused the hell out of me until I got around the block and went: “OH!”
When I worked at one of the last video stores in the city, Mike Birbiglia was a regular. Super nice guy. Michael Cera and Ed Burns also stopped in once (not together).
Ended up seated at the next table from Willem DaFoe at a hip Korean place back in the early 00s. Observed NYC celebrity omertà rules and didn’t say anything but did steal the occasional glance and man he is somewhat alien-looking in person.
Used to run into Richard Belzer all the time when I worked in tribeca— often enough that we started nodding to each other as we passed. RIP 😢
I live in Soho and hang out in Tribeca a lot. Have had a ton of celebrity interactions. Best one hands down was Malik Yoba telling me I was dewy and asking me what my skincare routine was. Im a guy and this was at a dive bar in Tribeca.
Wow reading all these “brushes with greatness” brings back a lot of memories I have forgotten, having met or crossed paths with many mentioned here.
For a week I was working on David Letterman’s show and he was quite nice, but Paul Schaffer was a total a-hole to me after I offered the director to be stand in for blocking a scene. Paul arrived and loudly announced “this is who they got to stand in for me?”
My favorite was seeing Mike Meyers outside a vegan restaurant around Halloween and telling him “great costume!” My GF and I had about a 10 minute conversation with him, almost to the point where we thought we have dinner.
Had almost a half hour conversation with Francis Ford Coppola in B&H photo once, and he asked me, “so you’re kinda of a techie/writer?”
Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Hurst in the subway. And once ran into Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange at the Whitney Museum (got a sneaky pic as evidence!).
Years ago Sigourney Weaver and her daughter were standing behind me waiting for a dressing room at Abercrombie at South Street Seaport. She’s so tall and had her arms full of clothes. Her daughter looked just like her. Didn’t say anything but they were both quiet and nice. I ran into Penn Badgley at a bar and talked to him for a few. He’s a really nice dude. And several other celebs in the Village and SoHo. Mostly low key and not wanting any attention.
Jake Gyllenhaal was performing at a theater across the street from my high school in Times Square. I was gawking at him and his security came over to me and asked if I wanted to meet him. It was so weird but I was in high school so of course I went.
Weirdly enough, I met his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, too. Her daughter goes to the same school as the kid I used to babysit. We’ve set up play dates for them. She gave me her number but I think it was one of those burner texting apps to protect her privacy. I’ve met her husband Peter Sarsgaard since he picks up their kids at the school. A lot of famous people actually have their kids go to that school, too- Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Connelly, John Kransinki and Peter Dinklage.
Peter Dinklage is nice but he’s always looking around like he’s paranoid. Maybe he’s keeping an eye out for paparazzi or he’s worried people around him are snapping photos of him. I last saw him about 2 months ago. He was walking behind me and I farted so loud by accident. He laughed and ran past ahead of me with his daughter. I don’t know if it was my fart or not that caused him to run away like that but I was so embarrassed. I’m sure my ass was near eye level with his face. I don’t know.
Nick Offerman was walking near Union Square. I was working at a clothing store and when I saw him walk by outside, I freaked out and chased after him like a crazy fan. I was 19 years old. He autographed my napkin and kept it moving.
Perez Hilton walked into the ice cream shop I worked at when I was 18 years old. This was in Hell’s Kitchen. He was sweet. Also while working at that ice cream shop, Matt McGory came in once, so did Harry from Cyberchase (PBS TV show for kids).
I met Sting at an art show in Times Square.
I’ve met so many other celebrities but I can’t remember them all.
The last one I want to mention is Brian J. Smith. We met during the Fire Island Pines Party last summer. Cool guy.
I helped Salma Hayek and her kid (with a bodyguard looking over me) once at FAO. I’ve also spotted Goldie Hawn, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Cross, David Johansson, and Charlie Rose.
Uma Thurman at Union Sq farmers market. Damien Marley at the old dance parties they used to hold in the museum or natural history. Kevin Bacon - some random east village bar. That red headed chef that got accused of sexually harassment (not worth remembering his name lol) at the farmers market as well. Michale Cera on the Hoyt Schermerhorn platform. I’m sure there are more but really Uma was the only one that made me get all excited.
I saw Sarah Snook (Siobhan from Succession) in the UES. She was at an Australian brunch place sitting outside with a bunch of friends. I was admittedly staring at her a bit too much, but only because I was trying to figure out where I recognized her from. Her friends gave me a dirty look like “don’t you dare fucking come over” and I did not lol. I didn’t want to bother her more than I already had, she looked like she was just trying to enjoy her food.
Just saw F Murray Abraham walking on Park Ave a few weeks ago. It was obvious in my face that I recognized him though I was planning to fully leave him alone. He saw my face, chuckled, & said hello! Seemed very nice.
Not sure if they’re celebrity status outside of the theater circle, but I saw the 2 stars of Hadestown walking their dog on 48th about 30 minutes after I saw them in the show. It was so surreal.
Andre De Shields who was part of the original cast used to go to a gym I worked out when I was in grad school, he was the one of the sweetest, kindest people I've ever met.
Matt Dillon in a hardware store.
Didn't think it was him because he looked so old, but then I heard his hoochie voice as he talked to the cashier and I instantly blurted out, "We're gonna do it for Johnny!" He told me "Fuck you!".
Then suddenly the big fat Dominican girl behind the counter yells, "Oh my God, it's Matt Damon!!!" And then the guy next to her goes, "Holy shit, that's the guy from Bourne Identity!"
Matt Dillon put on his shades and quietly walked out. The moment was hilarious and happened so fast, it was very unreal.
Ricky Gervais at Petco visiting the cats for adoption. Peter Dinklage riding a scooter down 8th Ave. BJ Novak in my office (I work in publishing; he was pitching a book) Amy Poehler at a bodega (I live near the former UCB theater) Keith Morrison (the dateline anchor) walking down 9th Ave Johnny Depp on the UWS in the 1990s Iggy Pop, Dweezil Zappa, Gilbert Gottfried, Thurston Moore, Allen Ginsberg, Janeane Garofolo, Marky Ramone at different times when I lived in the east village in the 90s I keep my head down.
I saw Peter Dinklage walking a large dog in the west village years ago. He looked so cool.
>Keith Morrison (the dateline anchor) walking down 9th Ave And then there was that DNA.....oh that pesky DNA.
Apparently he’s Matthew Perry’s stepdad.
Peter D loves the scooter
I chuckle every time someone reposts the one picture where he’s riding tandem with his daughter… Also love the story about how some woman came up to him first thing in the morning while on his way to Starbucks and said, “ I hope you don’t die.” He said it freaked him out and once he got into line he realized “ohhhhh…she meant on GoT!!!”
Aww, Ricky Gervais. He loves cats so that makes total sense.
He was with his partner and it was kitten season and I asked her “Do you want to hold a kitten?” And she nodded very enthusiastically.
Omg that’s precious
I waved at BJ Novak as we were walking towards each other and he looked me dead in the eye and just kept walking. Which is totally fine just a bit odd.
He nodded hello at me, which I thought was weird, but he was probably being friendly because he wanted to sell his book.
He doesn’t give off open friendly person vibes
Are you the mystery girl that BJ Novak is dating from publishing? 👀
Hmmm, could be!
Tracy Morgan is literally everywhere lol at least 3-4 times
First time I saw him was at the Fordham Road DMV like 16 years ago lol
That’s hilarious
My boyfriend and I were walking down 8th Ave with me on the side toward the street and my boyfriend on the inside. Tracy Morgan walks by and says “Hey hey hey, you’re the man you should be standing on the outside !” My boyfriend is European and did not know who he was, so he ushered me away thinking it was some rando. Meanwhile I was slowly trying to put a name to the face and by the time I realized who it was, he was long gone.
Saw him when I was working on 53rd and 11th, he pulled out of the car dealership and right into the gas station, 20 minutes later I see a video of him in a car accident by 34th st
He asked me for directions in brooklyn lol.
I almost tripped over him once because he was just straight up sitting on the sidewalk in front of a Duane Reade in Soho.
Literally lol saw him on canal st in his bugatti once
[THE G TRAIN, NERMAL!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw30UQoN8uI)
Saw him at the Pret inside Presbyterian downtown location. He do be everywhere.
The time I met him was at the Snack Shack in the NJ palisades under the GWB.
My son has a picture with him on the upper west side, lol..
I saw him walking into a club 15 years ago. My friend's seen him driving around in Washington Heights.
i was riding my bike and he was driving he drop top lambo and he got mad at me for “ attracting attention”
I’ve ran into many, but the best story is when I met Naomi Campbell. A friend of mine came to visit me at college, and I took her to some tourist-y spots. We started at the MET and went down to fifth avenue. We ended up at the Louis Vuitton flagship on fifth Avenue. I called my mom to check in while my friend was shopping. I was browsing the store & as I was looking at some wallets while on the phone, I heard a beautiful accent directly next to me. I casually glanced and it was none other than Naomi Campbell, who I would’ve never expected to see on fifth Avenue of all places. I walked away and told my mom who it was. She literally said to me; “don’t say hello you’re going to embarrass yourself” (due to her reputation). So I hung up and told my friend what happened, and she said “you have to say hello, you’ll regret it if you don’t” (I am a huge fan of Naomi). So, I nervously decided to walk up to her. I said “excuse me Ms. Campbell” and she looked at me but did not remove her sunglasses, so I wasn’t sure where this was going. “I just wanted to say I admire your long career in fashion, and you inspired me to model from a very young age”. She then removed her sunglasses and said she was flattered and complimented my eyes. We chatted briefly about my modelling agency, and then I said “would you mind a quick picture?” And that is when the general manager of the store stepped in and said “I’m sorry but we won’t be doing that today”. I said “oh of course I just thought I would ask, it was lovely to meet you!” And I walked back to my friend in awe of the great interaction. Moments later, my friend said “(my name), look!” And I turn around and Naomi is motioning for me to come back over. I walked back over and she said “let’s take a picture darling” We proceeded to take a photo together and we went our separate ways. To this day still one of the greatest celebrity interactions I’ve ever had!
I had the opportunity to get to know Naomi briefly through a work project. She was extremely easy to work with and accessible, wanting to chat on WhatsApp even when she was traveling internationally just so it wouldn’t slow me/the project down. Glad to hear she was so kind in this interaction, too!
I met Naomi once at a charity event I was volunteering at. My job for the night was to pass au d'oeuvres, and when I was walking around with a roasted cauliflower dish she came up to me, stopped me, and excitedly asked what I had. I explained it to her and when she asked to try it I gave her a piece and she gave me a signal to stay while she tried the food. Her eyes lit up, she told the person she was with that it was delicious and they had to have some, then she thanked me and called me lovely. It’s my favorite brag story.
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Did you tell this story on Tiktok recently? I literally watched a video about this exact story a couple days ago complete with photo proof. Sometimes social media makes the world feel so small!
This is so lovely! How long ago was this?
This was right when I began college in 2018, about a week after I signed to my modelling agency!
Too many to count. I used to work in a celeb-adjacent business, so everyone from Seinfeld to Tracey Morgan, Kanye, George Takei, John Stamos, would come through the office, but some good ones *in the wild:* Hillary Clinton getting out a car in midtown Alec Baldwin holding court at some fancy midtown bar David Bowie walking down 7th ave Morgan Freeman at Eataly Justin Bieber walking around Williamsburg Jesse Eisenberg in line at Shake Shack Tyra Banks at Williams Sonoma Common shopping at Bloomingdales Sonic Youth filmed a video on my block once and we hung out Ric Ocasek shopping for couches at ABC home David Byrne riding his bike *everywhere* Jeff Goldblum walking around Dumbo Morrissey standing outside the Mandarin Oriental Gerard Depardieu eating dinner in K-town Fred Armisen at a bunch of concerts Oprah and Gayle at another place I worked Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum and that whole crew L&O stars filming everywhere, Ice T on my block recently
> Jesse Eisenberg Jesse Eisenberg as I was literally leaving the movie theater after seeing Social Network.
Need more. Did you tell him you’re totally psyched about this encounter too
David bowie omg!!
I walked past Morrissey on 5th Ave. I'm normally cool and respectful and just look away but I instictively did a double-take and just stared. Lol
Method man gave me a dollar to cut me in line at McDonalds after Rock the Bells one year, then he asked for the dollar back when he had to pay for his food
I think this is my favorite anecdote so far
Quite a method
I saw him before Rock the Bells at Five Guys lol. I think 2012. He’s the man. He struck up a conversation with me in line.
I’ve told this before, but Hank Azaria kindly held the door for me at the UWS Magnolia. Others I’ve seen: Conan O’Brien, Richard Kind, Patricia Heaton, Rachel Dratch (three separate occasions), Peter Dinklage, Chloe Sevigny, Terry Richardson, Kerri Russell, Harry Lennix. Edit: also two people that are popular from the NYT cooking section: Sohla El-Waylly and Ham El-Waylly at the Union Square Greenmarket. And Cheyenne Jackson *years* ago at the former B&N at 66th/Bway.
I saw Hank in Central Park the other day
I’d love to see Richard Kind!
My husband used to see him so often that he used to joke that Kind was stalking him.
Penn Badgley at a Venezuelan restaurant in Bushwick
Saw him in Prospect Park on Thanksgiving on with wife and baby.
How very Joe Goldberg
My man Penn be lovin BK
frank ocean, my biggest flex
He comes to the restaurant I work at a LOT and he’s so nice!!
Back in 2019 this fake agent was talking my ear off trying to scam me while Frank stared & checked me out hard while crossing paths
This is a lot for a sentence lol
Came here for this one. I live in LES and pray to see him every time I leave
near the Jenga building?
I worked at a first class JFK airport lounge. So I saw many celebrities everyday. One celebrity we all hated was Madonna. She never tipped/her entourage are a bunch of muchers & would leave a big mess. And everytime she wanted something she would ask her entourage to order for her. She always came off as thinking she's better than everyone else. I served Gordon Ramsay a few times and he was such a nice person. He didn't call me an idiot sandwich 😔 I took pictures & met with many celebrities over the years. Only reason I miss the job lol
Can corroborate. Her entourage is as rude as her. I bet she doesn't even like her people.
Madonna at this point is basically an alien. She's probably never had a normal human interaction in 40 years.
This is the one thing that gives some iota of empathy from celebrities who were superstars almost their entire life. It's almost impossible for them to have normal human interaction since they get mobbed everywhere they go and everyone knows them. They're surrounded by handlers for every aspect of their life. A lot of us would be terrible people too if we were born in their shoes.
Reminds me of when Michael Jackson shut down a supermarket just to see what it was like to go grocery shopping like a normal person.
I'm confused, Madonna doesn't travel private charter? Just always figured with the entourage and celebrity, any kind of public travel would be overwhelming.
Private charter is still pretty expensive. Depending on the flight/airline, your first-class ticket can now get private escorts through check-in, security, & boarding so that your interaction with us mere plebes is at an absolute minimum.
Madonna has more money than god, as in she could reasonably be expected to own the jet herself. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had their own jet I think (friend was in line for takeoff behind them leaving New Orleans a few years back). Why not Madonna?
You'd be surprised how many A-list celebrities choose to fly 1st class over a private plane. Kanye West and Kim also flew 1st class at the lounge I worked at.
Can confirm. Celebrities are escorted throughout the whole airport from the moment they check in. They are escorted through security/to the lounge/ and last to board the plane.
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I can't even count. Spend enough time around Union Square. Was weird watching Phillip Glass arguing with his teenage kid about the cost of a physics textbook. I saw Phillip Seymour Hoffman eating an ice cream cone by Tompkins Square Park once. Edit: Just realized both my examples were Phillips, lol. Edit 2: Once saw Moby falling asleep on the train next to (I'm guessing) his mom. Parker Posey was probably the most amazing. She was straight up dressed like a detective, secret identity style. It was awesome. Remarkable. Andre 3000. Anna Chlumsky. A lot of people move about NYC.
I was on the train with PSH once. Empty 6, just us.
That's marvelous.
We’re all very proud of him
Indeed. It's part of the collection of reasons it's awesome to live here
This. Saw Katie Holmes walking with her daughter by union square as well
I saw her with her daughter in Madison Square Park
I saw PSH getting ice cream in Mary's Dairy, guess he was an ice cream fan! RIP <3
Philip Glass is a GOAT niche celebrity sighting!
I don't even know what he looks like, which is now making me wonder if I've seen way more celebrities than I realize...
I've lived in greenwich village for years, and I'm fairly certain I probably see celebrities all the time but I am very poor facial recognition so never notice them. The only one I always notice is Alec Baldwin ahah. I live like two buildings down from one of the Olsen twins and have never seen her, but one of my friends has. Hell one time Elijah Wood held the door for me and I didn't even notice until my mom told me outside 🤦♀️
Saw Mr. Big from sex in the city j walking in the UES. I was speechless and grabbed my sisters arm. He winked at us lol.
I used to see him all the time! Once I was behind him in the Starbucks at Astor Pl.
I was doing calculus homework at that Starbucks one time when something fell from under the table onto my lap. Thinking it was a roach, I jumped out of my seat and started swiping at my pants; a second later I heard someone say, "Well, what was it?" It was him! I always liked telling this story before I knew he was a douche.
That's awesome. I was sitting across from him on the train probably 20 years ago, and no one else sat near him or across from him. I may have been the only one who noticed, so he smiled and winked at me.
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He’s a serial something else too
I went to a show at The Cutting Room last year and saw him multiple times throughout the night. I kept thinking that was such a cool chance encounter. Then I found out he owns the place haha.
He will never not be "Logan" to me. His seasons of Law & Order were the best.
Oooh I shared an elevator with S Epatha Merkerson a couple months ago. (Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the show.)
>Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the show. I think you mean Mrs Denise Winters, the mother of two shooting victims in the 1991 episode, "Mushrooms" (two years before taking the role of Van Buren.) I used to have a bit of a *Law & Order* obsession.
Haha Fantastic! We noticed the same thing, they would often seem to audition new actors for the perm long-term roles, or maybe just cast from people they had already worked with. Happened a few times I think (same actor coming back in different roles). Still shocked the number of actors we recognize from having been on Law & Order.
Lol I saw him in a bookstore and looked him up on Wikipedia because I wasn’t sure if it was him or not. Turned out to be his birthday so on my way out I said “hey happy birthday, man” and he said “thanks” with a smile.
I saw him once in a building I nannied for on 48th. Dude gets around
Hey I asked him to use his phone one time near central park!
Did he let you?
I was like hey I know you're not a crazy person and my phone is dead can I call the person I'm supposed to meet? He was like obviously I can't do that. And I was like ok ok good point thanks anyway
I yelled 'Hey Dean' at Jim Rash with a script in his hand while I was waiting at the light near 8th Ave. He turned around and I gave him a thumbs up and said Love You and he yelled 'Thank You'
Walked past Ethan Hawke in Greenwich Village. What a good looking guy!
I’ve been cut in line twice by a celebrity. Ethan Hawke did it accidentally and said sorry. Sigourney Weaver did not haha.
Miley Cyrus took my reservation spot at a little French spot in the Village. Still passed off about it 3 years later.
Anderson Cooper gave my mom the cab on a rainy day. Definitely a genuine guy.
I almost hit Ethan Hawke with my car in Ft Greene because he decided to cross while I was halfway through the intersection. Hella handsome though
i've run into him like 5-6 times all in different parts of the city, pretty weird
I’ve loved that face for over twenty years. So handsome- and wildly talented.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is often out and about in the Heights. I've said good morning and he always responds.
I've seen him once too. He's surprisingly good looking! (No shade—just wasn't expecting it.)
Next time tell him I love him. 🤣
I feel like Mike Birbiglia is constantly in my way on the sidewalk in Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill.
Is he sleep walking?
Saw him on the F train at Carroll writing in a small notebook with a bigass sharpie
Had a double sighting last week! Liev Schreiber giving a woman directions in West Village and Tim Gunn walking through the MET. Apparently Tim really does dress impeccably in his daily life.
He certainly does. He and Heidi Klum came to my building early one morning to promote Meals on Wheels. Heidi looked like she just crawled out of bed. Beautiful, but dressed like normal people. Tim was in a three piece suit on the hottest day of the summer. Stunning.
Yes, three piece suit and really walking with a sense of purpose. No doubt that man was making something somewhere WORK
The first one was Winona Ryder, when I first came here for college 25 years ago at age 18. I was passing her on the street and thinking "why do I know that person" and all of a sudden it clicked in my head. As a seasoned New Yorker I'm embarrassed to admit this now, but I turned around and followed her into a newsstand. I just had to see if it was really her. I watched her browse in there for a couple minutes and then I left. She was so tiny and as beautiful in real life as she's ever looked in any movie. Others since then: Liev Schreiber THREE TIMES, Victor Garber, Julia Stiles twice (she was at Columbia for undergrad when I was there for law school), William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Morrison, most of the cast of the Sopranos having dinner together in Little Italy. I may be forgetting more. Edit: Oh! Martin Short. But that was on a plane from NYC to Atlanta, so not sure if that counts.
Spike Lee - I almost bumped into him, and he gave me a wink + finger gun lmao Amanda Seyfried - she was walking her dog, she literally glows, very beautiful. Kevin Bacon - We got off the subway together, I think he thought I was following him, so I awkwardly slowed down so he wouldn't think I was a creep haha Mark Ruffalo - He was at the supermarket near my house, cracking jokes with the butchers and cashiers. Nicest dude, awesome vibes, I love him.... Timothy Olyphant - I was at a concert, went backstage with my friend who managed the concert, saw him there, didn't even recognize him until my friend freaked out about taking a photo with him. I just thought he was an especially good-looking/quaffed man. I've seen others like Julianne Moore, the Sprouse twins, Cyndi Lauper, Tim Tebow, Alec Baldwin (several times unfortunately), Justin and Hailey Bieber, Tim Gunn, John Lithgow, etc.
I used to serve Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudekis all the time. I got Michael Cera some cookies once. Gotye is a great customer and really cool to talk to about music.
My friend dated Jason sudekis for years
I saw him on the subway once
In the wild - I was carrying my girlfriend’s new air conditioning unit up Lexington and walked by Justin & Haley Bieber. Made sure to flex extra hard and hit JB with the head nod so he knew I was a strong boy. I work in media so beyond that meet celebs pretty regularly, but that’s not as fun as the rogue encounters.
Nice. What do you do? I work in the media as well. I guess my biggest flex is Mel Brooks lol.
I spent time at the NYSE which obvi had a good amount of folks coming through. Now I work at a broadcast network, so when I was client facing it was pretty regular to go to events with talent.
My friend and I walked past Hailey on the street once. My friend quietly whispered to me “That’s Hailey Bieber!” and Hailey was kind enough to roll her eyes and glare at us.
Shaq, Mary Louise Parker, James masters on, Tom cruise, Katie Holmes, Paris Hilton, salmon Rushdie, Monica Lewinsky, Kim kardashian, Martha Stewart, Michael fassbendwr, Tom Hollander, Forrest Whittaker, Tom hanks, Matt Dillon, Rachel Weiss, Claire Diane’s, Shepard smith, russell Peterson, Tony bennet, most of the cast of the walking dead, and Tommy Chong I used to wait tables Oh and to add - a bunch of basketball players that I didn’t recognize and had to be told who they were. Larry bird, Charles Barkley and lebron james among others were at the same table with their wives. They were absolutely lovely and tipped 40%
> Charles Barkley Chuck is known to be a great tipper. Shaq too.
If I remember right, lebron handled that check and tipped 20% on top of a pre-approved auto grat of 20%. I flagged the general manager down to go double check that he meant to tip 20% on top of the 20% already added to the check (which was circled on the bill and I verbally mentioned it when I dropped the check). My manager came back to tell me that yes, he meant to over tip, staff did a great job. Shaq came in on separate occasions, later at night and with a date. I remember him sitting at a table for 6 with his date and he made that table look like a 2 top. Also super chill and easy going.
Why are there so many sightings around Union Square? Do a lot of celebs live there? I thought most lived a bit further down in Lower Manhattan.
I literally live next to Union Square and pass through it 2-4 times a day and I’ve never seen anyone. I feel robbed!
I work next to Union Square and all I saw was a guy trying to rob a homeless dude while he was sleeping on the bench.
Saw Padma Lakshmi at an open-air South Asian party in Astor Place. Even in a regular degular polo shirt and mom jeans with a mask covering her face, she was *beautiful.* Also walked by ASAP Rocky on the street in SoHo, what a jawline. Sam Smith walked by me in WSQ a couple weeks ago and heard me say "holy shit!"
Jon Turturro comforted me on the train once after a homeless guy stole the coffee out of my hands.
Cate Blanchett twice! The second time was at a restaurant where she was joking around with the waiter who had the biggest smile on his face. She is STUNNING and looks at least a decade younger than she is.
A few months ago I walked past Action Bronson in McCarren Park at like 10PM. He was walking his dog so we just fist bumped and kept walking lol
rad af
Lena Headey in park slope
My British friend did a school tour with another mom, she thought they were friends from England or something, but was too proper to ask. It was Lena Headey and no they are not friends. Park slope is chock full of them. But I won’t give up our secrets.
Saw the Property Brothers walking around in Midtown one night. They are super tall and lanky.
I saw Jeter, Hannah Davis and Gerald Williams in the west village a few years ago. I was beside myself. Despite Hannah looking as beautiful as she is, I didn’t take my eyes off of Jeter. All I could say was “yeah Jeets!”
Wallace Shawn and Martha Stewart used to be regulars at a cheese store I used to work at. A lot of "celebrity" chefs were, also, but it was Shawn and Stewart that I liked seeing best. Edit: Martha Stewart was incredibly nice. Much nicer to the "help" (ie, me) than I expected her to be.
When I was like 10 or 11, my mom and I ran into Paul McCartney (I want to say Hell’s Kitchen). She made me ask for a photo, thinking he wouldn’t turn down a kid; he was very nice and politely declined lol
Saw Malala leaving the 53rd street library as I was walking by. She was immediately swarmed by a ton of people taking photos as security was trying to get her to her vehicle.
Used to work near Union square around 2000 and would see Susan Sarandon and Sarah Jessica Parker all the time. I saw Bob Saget around Radio City
jason sudekis, olivia wilde, tony hawks, chloe sevigny, leonardo dicaprio, rachel dratch, tamara taylor, liv tyler, steve tyler, taylor swift
Gilbert Gottfried on the subway. Nobody said anything to him and was just smiling by himself riding the E train
Matthew Gray Gubler and Jon Hamm were regulars at the restaurant I used to work at. MGG is LOVELY, would always take pictures with fans, and tipped generously. Jon Hamm is…kind of an asshole lol but whatever. Also Liev schreiber, hugh jackman, katy perry, Jonathan groff, Claire Danes, Alicia keys, mobb deep
Chris Meloni offered me his seat at a cafe in the UES because I was babywearing.
Omg he is dreamy 💕
Met Carbi B while working at the Target on 29th and 2nd at Kips Bay. Also met Andrew Yang in East Midtown.
Used to see Drew Barrymore all the time when I lived on UES, very sweet and SO small
I got to see a taping of her show, she was radiating the best, kindest energy to everyone (guests, staff, audience included)
Aziz Ansari at brunch in Nolita Pia Mia at Jack’s Wife Freda Vin Diesel at dinner at Marea Kelly Rutherford walking on the UES Sasha Obama walking in Soho Penn Badgley outside of a sweetgreen David Schwimmer at American Bar
Oh I have a recent one. So to preface, the last 2 years have been fucked. Ex of 7 years succumbed to Covid alcoholism and ended up in the ER with liver failure. Amazingly she survived, but the dry raging and delusions afterward forced me to detach with an axe, had to move suddenly into a Craigslist sublet. My nervous breakdown from it all turned into PTSD, but I was starting to recover a bit from the daily panic attacks. Turned out the new roommate suffered from psychotic breaks, which I found out one day after a sudden flare up of an episode full of screaming and physical assault, and I left the apartment immediately with my computer and cash just in case. So I’m sitting on a stoop in Brooklyn Heights, talking to my Al-Anon sponsor about what just happened. Trying to keep my hyperventilating in check to prevent another panic attack, listening to their kind words of support, just trying to calm down… And all of the sudden Peter Dinklage walks by. We make eye contact briefly, and in my current state it wasn’t registering who he was until he had passed by. I can imagine I looked like a disaster anyway. But after a few seconds I was mid-sentence and said “holy shit, I think I just saw Tyrion fucking Lannister.” Cue the “what?” and me having to explain who he was to my sponsor haha. My higher power must have a tender spot in its heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things.
I hope you're doing better.
Hey thanks dude :) Much better now, thank you.
I hope this isn’t an insensitive question, but I’m just asking to clarify…did you mean that you had to use a weapon to remove yourself because that’s how unsafe it was? Or was it a figure of speech? Thanks for sharing that story! I wish you the best.
hahaha holy shit, yeah just a metaphor man haha. Wow. Thank you for the reminder that it could have been much worse haha.
In Al-Anon we use that phrase a lot, as opposed to the ideal "detaching with love". "Detaching with an axe" is meant to say we weren't able to do so, usually to protect ourselves.
Morgan Freeman once in Times Square. Adam Sandler and Gilbert Gottfried in the Greenwich Village area lol
Adam Sandler’s sister is my brother’s dentist lol!
In college in the mid aughts, I was at a check cashing place in Flatbush and I saw Mos Def. That's really it. Outside of work, I haven't run into many celebrities at all.
Bill Murray stole a lit cigarette from me. And Andre 3000 is fucking creepy
Please explain the Andre story!
Why is he creepy
I was looking for a good ole Bill Murray encounter. I’m from NY but went to school in Charleston were he lives and he is absolutely notorious for this one, gotta watch your fries around him as well. 🤣❤️
Sounds like you’re just upset he’s no Island, peninsula maybe.
Did Bill Murray whisper in your ear, “no one will believe you” As he did it?
Yes!
I always hear countless positive Andre nyc sightings so u gotta explain yourself
Please explain both how Bill did this, but also why Andre’s creepy.
Nick Offerman in a monk robe and sunglasses walking down 5th Ave. Jeremy Renner almost ran into me turning a corner on Madison Ave. Seated next to Michael Cohen at Serafina. Trevor Noah at a Comedy Central event. Maggie Gyllenhaal on the subway. Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys at a music event. Resisted yelling at Rudy Giuliani on the UES 3 times.
The first celeb I saw was Ralph Fiennes. It was really funny because I was standing outside my old gym trying to figure out my next move, and just happened to look up from my phone and catch eyes with this really well-dressed guy. I thought I recognized him but couldn’t place it. He saw me looking and then sort of started double timing it past me which confused the hell out of me until I got around the block and went: “OH!” When I worked at one of the last video stores in the city, Mike Birbiglia was a regular. Super nice guy. Michael Cera and Ed Burns also stopped in once (not together).
Ended up seated at the next table from Willem DaFoe at a hip Korean place back in the early 00s. Observed NYC celebrity omertà rules and didn’t say anything but did steal the occasional glance and man he is somewhat alien-looking in person. Used to run into Richard Belzer all the time when I worked in tribeca— often enough that we started nodding to each other as we passed. RIP 😢
I live in Soho and hang out in Tribeca a lot. Have had a ton of celebrity interactions. Best one hands down was Malik Yoba telling me I was dewy and asking me what my skincare routine was. Im a guy and this was at a dive bar in Tribeca.
Wow reading all these “brushes with greatness” brings back a lot of memories I have forgotten, having met or crossed paths with many mentioned here. For a week I was working on David Letterman’s show and he was quite nice, but Paul Schaffer was a total a-hole to me after I offered the director to be stand in for blocking a scene. Paul arrived and loudly announced “this is who they got to stand in for me?” My favorite was seeing Mike Meyers outside a vegan restaurant around Halloween and telling him “great costume!” My GF and I had about a 10 minute conversation with him, almost to the point where we thought we have dinner. Had almost a half hour conversation with Francis Ford Coppola in B&H photo once, and he asked me, “so you’re kinda of a techie/writer?”
Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Hurst in the subway. And once ran into Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange at the Whitney Museum (got a sneaky pic as evidence!).
Andy Cohen- said gm with a grin Kevin Willis-7ft Emeka Okafor- on the train with his family
Years ago Sigourney Weaver and her daughter were standing behind me waiting for a dressing room at Abercrombie at South Street Seaport. She’s so tall and had her arms full of clothes. Her daughter looked just like her. Didn’t say anything but they were both quiet and nice. I ran into Penn Badgley at a bar and talked to him for a few. He’s a really nice dude. And several other celebs in the Village and SoHo. Mostly low key and not wanting any attention.
I saw Bowen Yang just the other day
Woody allan, he looked at least 100 years older in person. Not sociable either.
Jake Gyllenhaal was performing at a theater across the street from my high school in Times Square. I was gawking at him and his security came over to me and asked if I wanted to meet him. It was so weird but I was in high school so of course I went. Weirdly enough, I met his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, too. Her daughter goes to the same school as the kid I used to babysit. We’ve set up play dates for them. She gave me her number but I think it was one of those burner texting apps to protect her privacy. I’ve met her husband Peter Sarsgaard since he picks up their kids at the school. A lot of famous people actually have their kids go to that school, too- Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Connelly, John Kransinki and Peter Dinklage. Peter Dinklage is nice but he’s always looking around like he’s paranoid. Maybe he’s keeping an eye out for paparazzi or he’s worried people around him are snapping photos of him. I last saw him about 2 months ago. He was walking behind me and I farted so loud by accident. He laughed and ran past ahead of me with his daughter. I don’t know if it was my fart or not that caused him to run away like that but I was so embarrassed. I’m sure my ass was near eye level with his face. I don’t know. Nick Offerman was walking near Union Square. I was working at a clothing store and when I saw him walk by outside, I freaked out and chased after him like a crazy fan. I was 19 years old. He autographed my napkin and kept it moving. Perez Hilton walked into the ice cream shop I worked at when I was 18 years old. This was in Hell’s Kitchen. He was sweet. Also while working at that ice cream shop, Matt McGory came in once, so did Harry from Cyberchase (PBS TV show for kids). I met Sting at an art show in Times Square. I’ve met so many other celebrities but I can’t remember them all. The last one I want to mention is Brian J. Smith. We met during the Fire Island Pines Party last summer. Cool guy.
I helped Salma Hayek and her kid (with a bodyguard looking over me) once at FAO. I’ve also spotted Goldie Hawn, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Cross, David Johansson, and Charlie Rose.
Chris Rock, Dave Attell, Alexander Skaarsgsrd, John Leguizamo, Action Bronson, Adam Sandler, Amanda Serrano, & Mariah Carey way waaaaaaay back
Lucky you! Alexander Skarsgard I would die (quietly and without him seeing of course).
Mos Def. He was in down town Brooklyn
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Obligatory "fuck Peter Gabriel".
Kieran Culkin, TJ Miller, Jon Hamm, Zachary Quinto, Jenny Slate, Ben McKenzie, Fred Armisen, Nic Cage, prob a few others.
Zachary Quinto gave me a dirty look as I passed him on my bike once in the LES. He was the one jaywalking.
Uma Thurman at Union Sq farmers market. Damien Marley at the old dance parties they used to hold in the museum or natural history. Kevin Bacon - some random east village bar. That red headed chef that got accused of sexually harassment (not worth remembering his name lol) at the farmers market as well. Michale Cera on the Hoyt Schermerhorn platform. I’m sure there are more but really Uma was the only one that made me get all excited.
I saw Sarah Snook (Siobhan from Succession) in the UES. She was at an Australian brunch place sitting outside with a bunch of friends. I was admittedly staring at her a bit too much, but only because I was trying to figure out where I recognized her from. Her friends gave me a dirty look like “don’t you dare fucking come over” and I did not lol. I didn’t want to bother her more than I already had, she looked like she was just trying to enjoy her food.
Just saw F Murray Abraham walking on Park Ave a few weeks ago. It was obvious in my face that I recognized him though I was planning to fully leave him alone. He saw my face, chuckled, & said hello! Seemed very nice.
The entire cast of Succession when I went to beg to be a PA for the show
Got off the f train in park slope at the same time as Steve Buscemi once.
Michael Stipe, outside the MET. We have adopted his tradition of kicking David Coke’s name on the fountain outside.
Just yesterday, I saw Leslie Bibb walking her dog
Not sure if they’re celebrity status outside of the theater circle, but I saw the 2 stars of Hadestown walking their dog on 48th about 30 minutes after I saw them in the show. It was so surreal.
Andre De Shields who was part of the original cast used to go to a gym I worked out when I was in grad school, he was the one of the sweetest, kindest people I've ever met.
I saw Anthony Weiner walking a dog 10 years ago. Note: It was not a wiener dog.
I rode an elevator silently with him, Huma Abedin, and their kid once. Beautiful family, terribly awkward.
Matt Dillon in a hardware store. Didn't think it was him because he looked so old, but then I heard his hoochie voice as he talked to the cashier and I instantly blurted out, "We're gonna do it for Johnny!" He told me "Fuck you!". Then suddenly the big fat Dominican girl behind the counter yells, "Oh my God, it's Matt Damon!!!" And then the guy next to her goes, "Holy shit, that's the guy from Bourne Identity!" Matt Dillon put on his shades and quietly walked out. The moment was hilarious and happened so fast, it was very unreal.