Another one that I have is that I ran in a couple of races in high school against Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, NJ. He was a decent high hurdler, but not so great in the quarter, and we were both anchoring in a mile relay, so he wasn’t too close to me in the race.
I saw Russell Crowe in The Rocky Horror Show in the '80s. Of course since he was a nobody at the time, I didn’t realize it until I found the program many years later while moving house.
In 2000 I played in the band for a play featuring Jenna Fischer. She can sing.
A couple years later I did another play with Silas Weir Mitchell.
I also played a cabaret show with Simon Helberg right before he got his Mad TV gig (he was subbing on piano). Years before Big Bang Theory.
The other celebs I’ve played with had already “made it big” and don’t fit the criteria of the OP.
I saw the second gig of Dave Grohl’s new band (Foo Fighters) at a small club.
Well, he wasn’t exactly an unknown at the time, but when I met Richard Nixon during his 1960 campaign for President of the United States, he was destined to become even “bigger."
I was just a small tyke at the time, brought by my dad to an outdoor venue to hear Nixon speak when he was in our town during the campaign trail. After the speech, encouraged by dad, I put my hand out to shake Nixon’s hand, as he approached. It was cold and snowing that day, so I was wearing mittens. Nixon bent down and shook my hand heartily, then (I assume accidentally…but, who knows?), he pulled away with my mitten still in his hand.
I said, “gimme back my mitten, mister.” My dad and I forgot exactly what he said when he handed back my mitten, but it was something like, “I am not a crook.” 
I haven’t met anybody before they were famous. 
The only celebrity I met in person was Marc Dacascos, but this was well after his big break in Only the Strong.
Well, I guess it’s a possibly interesting story:
I was at a small fast food restaurant, and I noticed the guy sitting at a bench looked vaguely familiar. He didn’t seem big or tall, but something about him clicked something in my memory, and then I realized it was Mark Dacascos. While he might not be a household name, for collectors of martial arts movies he was huge. He starred in the first capoeira themed Hollywood film, Only the Strong, and he was in a couple of little known films that were hot in the martial arts community, Drive and Crying Freeman.
A couple of teenage girls came up to him and tried to get him to say who he was, but he very politely distracted them and returned to the bench. I noticed he was with a woman and a baby, so I tried not to gush as he was with his family, but after a minute or two, I leaned over, and said, “Are you planning on making a part 2 for Drive?”
He looked at me, obviously startled that I had even seen it. It was never released in the states and was only shown once on Showtime or HBO. We talked about his films for a while, and he asked me why I wanted to see Drive 2, so I told him that the first one didn’t have an ending, you just drove off and didn’t fight the final bad guy. He told me that the cable TV version was cut, and in the longer European version there is a final confrontation. After some small talk, he got his food and left.
He is a really nice guy and I’m happy for his success, but it’s just too bad he never really hit the mainstream after he did the Crow tv show.
Went to college with Sandra Bullock, so I saw her in The Three Sisters, Stage Door, and Peter Pan (as Tiger Lily).
I acted with Kevin Williamson (creator of Dawson’s Creek, writer of Scream) in the children’s show Ozma of Oz.
Dude, you turned her gay.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the superstar conductor.
I’ve worked with him twice before he was internationally known.
Yes! “Over Here!” (and yeah, JT was in Welcome Back Kotter).
I’ve seen a couple other Broadway musicals (a long time ago and I can’t remember which ones) so I may have seen other pre-celebrities performing in them.
I saw them at Wetlands in NYC, just before or after (can’t remember which) “August and Everything After” came out. The buzz outside while waiting to get in was that they were going to be huge. It never quite worked out that way, did it? Although “huge” is of course a relative term.
It sure is. I saw them open for the Stones on the Voodoo Lounge tour, back in…92? The Stones are who they are, of course, but it struck me as funny that Counting Crows’ album at the time was outselling the Stones’ at about ten to one.
All mentioned elsewhere on these boards before, but here goes again:
I was going to the legal department at MGM on the 8th floor, and on the elevator with me was a good looking blond dude with a script. Casting was also on the 8th floor and I saw the script was “Thelma and Louise” and I said something like, “I hear that is going to be a good film. You auditioning?”
He answered, “Yeah, I think I got the part!”
“Congrats!” i said, wishing I had the guts to give this guy my number.
I doubt Brad Pitt would have ever called me back, but I am always able to say I met him on the way up - both figuratively and literally.
Also, in the late 70’s, I was at the Gay Pride Festival on Christopher Street in NYC and there was a flatbed truck used as a stage at the end of the street. It was early and hot and only about 20 (if that) people were listening to the band. I though they were good and said to my friend, “Who are they? They are really good!”
He answered, “The band is called Blondie and that is Deborah Harry singing.”
(BTW, fast forward a decade later and a good friend of mine bought an apartment that had just turned condo - and the previous tenant was Deborah Harry.)
Hardly anybody in the US (except Annie Xmas here on the boards) has ever heard of the German musical theater/pop singer star Angelika Milster - but my SO and I used to hang out with her all the time in Berlin long before she hit it big, and even after she become super famous there - her first step into German superstar territory was starring in the Vienna production of CATS (which I hate that show, but had to politely go see it as Angelika gave us tickets many times…)
She has since done many movies/TV shows/specials and has sold tons of CD’s and performed in concerts throughout Europe. We have sort of lost touch over the years, but get the occasional phone call.
A minor regret: I was visiting the hometown and grandma called from the retirement home, “You like movies and plays and stuff. One of the women here is having her grandson visit tomorrow and he is interested in making films. Do you want to come over and meet him?”
I politely declined and said I was busy.
Sort of wish I had gone to meet the unknown Terry Malick that day.
Oops - as long as I am mentioning film directors, might as well brad that I had dinner with Gus Van Sant and spent a day hanging out with Pedro Almodovar when I was reviewing films at the Berlin FilmFest - both were there with their first films, before they were famous.
I went to high school with Dunham. I didn’t know him (it was a big school and he was a year ahead of me), but I did once stop him in the hall to compliment him, and he did once read my name out over the intercom.
That’s all I’ve got.
A buddy of mine was raised in Maple Heights, Ohio, which is a suburb of Cleveland. He’s 46 now. He said Rush used to play at his high school.
I was visting Vancouver with some friends in the early 80’s and went to a comedy club one night. Turned out to be amateur night, with a professional comedian at the end. The amateurs ranged from embarrassing to pretty good. One of the good ones popped up years later on the Drew Carey Show–Ryan Stiles.
The professional turned out to be some guy named Jim Carrey. He was clearly another league above even the best amateurs, but it struck me at one point that as good as he was, it must be a lousy life playing little, no-name clubs like that his whole career. I wonder where he is now and if he ever regrets trying to make a go of it in comedy…
My cousin played basketball for the Sacramento Kings some years ago. He would often get us tickets to our local game, and then passes to come the the family waiting area after the game, where the away team players would come out after the game to speak with their guests prior to heading back on the bus.
This specific time, a young kid (middle school aged) was waiting with us. Jason Williams played for the Kings then, and this kid had clearly saved all his allowance for like his entire life to show his appreciation for “White Chocolate”. I mean, he had on the jersey, the shoes, and he had a “backstage pass”. He was just so excited to see his idol and get an autograph! Jason walks through without stopping, the kid screams his name a million times. He’s crushed, we all get in on it. We’re all calling out to him, we’re asking our cousin to go ont he bus and get this kid an autograph, Jason’s not having it. He’s a big star, he doesn’t have to deal with this crap! That poor kid was crushed. It was hard to watch.
That kid? I’ve never seen him turn down ANY autograph requests. I’m sure Kevin Durant gets lots of them now…
Back in the 80s went to see REO Speedwagon. Their opening act was Stevie Ray Vaughn (I’ll spare you the dramatic build up :rolleyes: ). He was kinda known but not “big” by any means. The idiot crowd seemed underwhelmed but I was absolutely blown away. Big fan ever since.
Yep. He was also an acoustic solo act back then. Excellent guitarist.
B52s, performing at Frat Party back in the late 70s.
Tom Green came into the hobby shop I worked at in Ottawa while he’s was starting off with his “street theatre” bit. He worked for CKCU radio at the time, and asked me all sorts of off the wall questions about stuff in the store while recording it.
“Dude is fucked in the head” was what I thought after he left.