35 Celebrity Encounters From People Who Didn't Recognize They Met Someone Famous

Although we’d all like to pretend that we’d be super cool when meeting a celeb, most of us freak out. We ramble, take selfies, and then run away. Sure, some people probably act chill, but the majority of us are embarrassing individuals.
But could you really blame us? Seeing someone you idolize in person is a huge event, and something you will never forget. It’s hard to keep your cool when you’re meeting someone that changed your life.
However, not all celebrities are created equally recognizable. They could even be mistaken for another celebrity entirely. Or maybe they're just not as famous as they thought they were. There are tons of stories about stars unrecognized by the average Joe, and each encounter is incredibly awkward. True obliviousness can lead to cold or rude encounters; pretending not to recognize another famous person is also an epic way of throwing shade. All the times people didn't recognize other celebrities prove that fame is always fickle, sometimes cringeworthy, and often really funny.
The following 35 people met celebrities and had no idea who they were. Maybe they figured it out eventually or realized it months later by watching the news, but at the time of the meeting, they just looked ignorant, or like they were too school for cool.

#1 Angelina Jolie

"Probably close to 20 years ago, my grandparents were visiting family in LA and went out alone to do some shopping while everyone was at school/work. My grandpa went into a small boutique by himself to look at gifts for my grandma. He held the door open for a woman and two men. He had a light conversation with the woman while he looked around. As he was leaving, one of the men pulled him aside and said something like, 'Thank you for not making a big deal out of being in here with her. We’ve been dodging paparazzi all day.' My grandpa was super confused but just said, 'Of course.' When he got to my grandma, he asked if she knew who the woman was who’d gone into the store after him. It was Angelina Jolie."
—nikola2393

Source: Samir Hussein / WireImage / Getty Images

#2 Post Malone

"My friend's mom owns a small Asian grocery store. Post Malone came walking in with his girlfriend, and my friend's mom had no idea who he was.

A few cute things happened: 1. She was nervous because of his tattoos, but happy/not worried once he bought a lot of food. She had no idea he was a celebrity.
2. She gave him a free snack for buying so much food and told him to come back for lunchtime for cheap and tasty gyoza (he did come back the next day!).
3. She was worried he would get mugged going to his car because of three big men outside, so she followed him outside (they were his bodyguards).
4. She really liked his 'cool car' (it was a Lamborghini).
When Post Malone came back the next day for gyoza, she got a selfie with him. The whole thing is adorable with how innocent his mom is."
—u/Resviole

Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images For dcp

#3 Justin Timberlake

"I went to a basketball game with my dad, and we stopped by the bar area in the arena first. I walk up to the bar to order a beer. There's only one seat at the bar next to a guy in a baseball cap and sunglasses. I politely ask if the seat is taken, and he just says, "Nope, it's all you, man." We shoot the shit for a couple of minutes. He's sitting on my right, and eventually, he says he and his wife are going to go to their seats. He extends his hand and asks my name. I tell him and ask his name. He says, 'Justin. Nice to meet you, dude. Have a good night.' He and his wife leave, and the bartender comes up to me and says, 'You know that was Justin Timberlake, right?'"

—u/Ken_the_Andal

Source: Isa Foltin / Getty Images

#4 Owen Wilson

"A couple of years ago, me and my sister were at Comic-Con. We were at one of the booths waiting for their giveaways when a man suddenly came up beside me all excited and in a bit of wonder. He told us how great everything was there and how much of an experience it was for him there, all while I was probably looking at him strangely because of how familiar his accent and his voice and his face and his blonde hair were. He asked where we got our poster tubes, and that's probably when I remembered who he was but decided to just not mention it because I was kind of still in disbelief and pointed him to one of the far-off booths where they sell poster tubes. The man was Owen Wilson. I always thought he'd be a lot taller. It was kind of warming to see how excited he was to be there in the crowds."

—u/pinecone316

Source: Jason LaVeris / FilmMagic / Getty Images

#5 Billy Joel

"One day back in the '90s, I happened to be sitting next to Billy Joel. A stranger walked in and started to strike up a conversation, apparently without any clue about whom I was sitting next to. They chatted briefly about the pop music that was playing overhead. At the end of the conversation, the man turned to Mr. Joel and said, 'Hey, by the way, has anybody ever told you, you look kinda like Billy Joel?' Mr. Joel grinned and nodded politely, then coyly responded, 'Ha! Yeah, yeah! I get that a lot!' The other man smiled and then said, 'Well, I bet you WISH you were Billy Joel...'cause then you’d be married to Christie Brinkley!' Without missing a beat, Mr. Joel simply played along and let out a thunderous laugh, 'Ha! That’s right! Wouldn’t THAT be something! Sure wish that was me!'”

—Douglas Chin

Source: Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

#6 Ethan Hawke

"One night I'm walking home from work, and I see who I thought was my friend, John, just walking around Hell's Kitchen, and I yell, 'JOHN!' but he doesn't turn around. So I decide to yell it again, and instead of responding, his pace quickens. I decide the best thing to do is to run at him, which seemed to terrify him — keep in mind, it's late, and there are very few people around. Anyway, I catch up to him and say, 'Oh, you're not John,' and then walk away from what was a very frightened Ethan Hawke."

—u/whereegosdare

Source: Leon Bennett / Getty Images

#7 Magic Johnson

"About five years ago, my dad was in LA for business and got into the elevator of his hotel to head down to one of his meetings. When he got in, he instantly recognized a huge, legendary, hall-of-fame LA Laker standing next to him. Normally, my father would never say anything, but for some reason felt compelled to introduce himself. He stuck out his hand and said, 'Shaq, it's nice to meet ya.' He realized he messed up when the guy responded, 'I'm Magic Johnson, but it's nice to meet you, too.' The secondhand embarrassment is real."

—u/dutchman3532

Source: Mike Coppola / Getty Images

#8 Tupac

"Back in about 1996, I was vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I got up early in the morning to go for a walk and went into town, which was largely deserted. As I was walking by some different bars and restaurants, I heard music playing and was curious about what was going on, so I walked into the building. Went I walked in, I looked further and saw about 20-30 really beautiful Black ladies who were dressed to the nines. Around that time, a young Black man walked out of the area, smiled at me, and said hello. I said hello back and asked him what was going on with the music and girls. He said, 'We’re shooting a video for MTV.' I told him that I thought that was really awesome and I was happy for his success. Then I asked him if he minded me asking for his name. He said, 'Not at all.' When he gave me his name, I thought he said 'six-pack'…I was embarrassed and admitted to him that I wasn’t familiar with his music. He said that it was OK, and then he wished me good luck and an enjoyable stay during my vacation. He was super nice, squared away, and pleasant. Looking back, it kills me that I wasn’t able to get a selfie with him because I wasn’t familiar with his music. But I’ll never forget what a pleasant experience it was to chat with him. I wish he was still with us. RIP, Tupac."

—Mark "Stone" Atherstone

Source: Raymond Boyd / Getty Images

#9 Justin Bieber

"So I walked up to this dude at the showers at the beach, and he said, 'Hey, kid, can you turn on the water for me. I was a little confused but did so anyway and then walked away. I walk over to where my cousins are talking and tell them what happened and how it was kind of creepy. My cousin just replied, 'Creepy?! That was Justin Bieber!'"

—livinforjesus

Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty Images for The Recording Academy

#10 Scarlett Johansson

"My wife took my son to the zoo, and he wanted to read every little plaque in the reptile area. My wife was distracted for a moment, so he asked the nearest stranger to read the plaque for him. My wife turned around to see Scarlett Johansson happily reading the info to him."

—u/mojomann128

Source: Todd Williamson / NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

#11 Chuck Norris

"My husband was vacationing in Arizona, killing time in a bar over a burger and a beer. A guy sat next to him, and my husband had a nice chat with him. The guy left, and my husband went to close his tab. The bartender told him it had been covered by the guy he was talking to. My husband had no idea it was Chuck Norris — or that he was at his bar."

—u/diskebbin

Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty Images

#12 Ryan Reynolds

"In 2010, at a San Diego Comic-Con, I was riding the escalator down and had made a Heath Ledger Joker muppet as cosplay. I saw this dude with some big entourage of people following him up the escalator into the lobby. As we intersected, the dude looked over at me, pointed at my muppet, and went, 'Hey, that's cool!' I said (via the muppet), 'Thanks, man!' and went on my merry way down toward the exhibition hall. I exited, and it struck me that it was Ryan Reynolds (he was there for the Green Lantern panel)."

—u/basa1

Source: Michael Loccisano / WireImage / Getty

#13 Elton John

"My mom is a big sports fan. One time she was shopping and saw a really large, fit-looking man who she didn't immediately recognize but seemed familiar. She thought it must have been a professional football player or something, so she went up to the only other person in the shop, who was this smaller weird-looking guy, and asked him if he knew who the athletic-looking man was. The short guy looked at my mom and said, 'That's my bodyguard. I'm Elton John.'"

—u/tastefulsidebutthole

Source: Michael Kovac / Getty Images for EJAF

#14 John Legend & Chrissy Teigen

Source: Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic / Getty

#15 Bruce Springsteen

"Years ago, my ex spent 15 minutes in conversation with another dad in a mom-and-pop toy store while last-minute Christmas shopping. My ex said the guy's voice sounded really familiar, but just couldn't think of who it was until he walked away. Bruce Springsteen is apparently also a last-minute shopper!"

—njdevils1

Source: royrochlin.com / WireImage / Getty Images

#16 Henry Winkler

"About a month ago, I pulled into a parking structure only to immediately encounter a nasty traffic jam. After 15 minutes of going nowhere, I saw a familiar-looking gentleman stopping at the window of each car. He got to me and explained a car had rolled into the aisle, blocking both directions. The driver was nowhere to be found, and not much could be done, but he wanted to let people know what was going on to try and ease the frustration. After explaining to the remaining drivers behind me, the kind fellow headed inside. By the time Henry Winkler finished whatever business he had there, a group of us had managed to lift the offending Honda and move it enough to let cars pass. I hope we improved his day some fraction of as much as he did ours."

—j3458

Source: Rich Fury / Getty Images for Vulture

#17 Drake

"I used to work with an older lady, and one day she came back from her break with ice cream. She said, 'Some young guy and his friends decided to buy me ice cream. She explained, 'He was about your age — I should have given him your number!' Later that night, she saw on the news that Drake had done an event near our job. She came in the next day to say 'THAT WAS HIM! I really should’ve given him your number!!!'"

—pinnockleanne6

Source: Karwai Tang / WireImage / Getty

#18 Ben Affleck

"When I was 15, I was really into playing StarCraft. After finishing this one particularly epic match (close game, we won), we all got into a chat room to talk about how fun it was. One of them says something to the effect of 'Not sure if you all care, but you just beat Ben Affleck.' Of course, we all ask him to prove it, so he told us to wait a minute and visit his official website's message board. He had just made a post in red (red meant it was Ben Affleck himself) about just losing a game of StarCraft."

—u/gregorykay

Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for iHeartRadio

#19 Jack Nicholson

"A few years ago, I was at a local barbecue place, sitting outside on the patio eating. It was late afternoon, and the restaurant was pretty dead. This big car pulls up, and a guy in a suit gets out and walks inside. I see through the windows some of the employees getting photos with him. I thought it kinda looked like the current mayor, so didn’t think anything of it. A few minutes later, he walks out with a bag of food. I waved at him, and he waved back. After the car pulls away, I walked inside to get a refill of my drink. I asked one of the waiters, who the guy was. He just looked at me like I was a complete idiot and says…'Do you not know who Jack Nicholson is?'"

—tomb4adc7727a

Source: Christopher Polk / FilmMagic / Getty

#20 Spice Girls

"Back in the late '90s, my dad got invited to watch a Liverpool game in London. He sat in the business lounge and noticed Robbie Fowler and a couple of top Liverpool players walk through the lounge with a few ladies. Once they had passed him, he turned to his friends and said, 'Did you see Robbie Fowler?' His mate said, 'Yeah, but did you see who the ladies were?' My dad said no. Turns out it was the Spice Girls!"

—pandorahopeless

Source: Stephane Cardinale - Corbis / Sygma via Getty Images

#21 Chris Evans

"I worked at a movie theater in Albuquerque at the time they were filming the first Avengers film. Captain America was about to come out; I remember because we had the huge standee of him in the lobby. I was reading in the box office when three people came up. The guy asked for three tickets to Bridesmaids. It was dark out, and he had a green baseball cap and sunglasses. He paid with a credit card. Christopher Evans. I stared at the card after I swiped it. Handed it back. 'I need you to sign the receipt'; he did. And then he walked in."

—u/sarahm0ses

Source: Amanda Edwards / WireImage / Getty

#22 Noah Centineo

"I was having a beer at Seaport Village at a restaurant bar, and this guy comes up next to me asking for the most complicated order. He wanted his food not touching, everything at certain temperatures, and a plethora of substitutes. Meanwhile, all these young girls were coming up asking for pics and giggling, so I figured it was someone famous. After he left, I asked who it was — it was Noah Centineo."

—michellef429789405

Source: Dia Dipasupil / WireImage

#23 Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson

"My wife and I were hiking on a trail that was supposed to loop around, but we were pressed for time, so we decided to turn back the way we came. Five minutes later, we saw three people walking towards us up the trail, and my wife said she wanted to ask them how far it would have taken if we stayed on our original route. She started talking to the guy while I’m chewing on my lip trying not to laugh. He gave us directions, and we went our separate ways. After a beat, I say to her, 'You know that was Tom Hanks, right?' She had no idea that she just had a three-minute conversation with him. Not to mention he was hiking with his wife Rita Wilson and another friend of theirs. We still laugh about it."

—davidschiff

Source: Amy Sussman / Getty Images

#24 Snoop Dogg

"I used to work in a bank at a grocery store in Orange County, California. Once I was walking back from the bathroom and saw the floral department lady chatting with a tall guy with long dreadlocks and sunglasses on. I said hi to her but kept on my way before I realized the man she was talking to was Snoop Dogg. It turned out that the lady’s son played on Snoop’s sons' football team and they had become good friends."

—kimmmmmmm0520

Source: Jerod Harris / Getty Images

#25 Taylor Swift

"My grandma had been shopping in Rhode Island and told me about some nice young blonde lady who'd helped her reach something off the top shelf. 'She sings, but I've never heard of her. Your cousin said she recognized her though.' It was Taylor Swift."

—rebeccad9407

Source: Jmenternational / JMEnternational for BRIT Awards/Getty Images

#26 Steven Spielberg

"I was working a shift helping first-year college students move in. I see a guy in a hat and sunglasses. I strike up a conversation, ask if he needs help with the bags. He gives first names only — 'We're from California. My wife, Kate, and I sent all our kids to East Coast schools though.' Stuff like that. Later, when his daughter opened the door for the first time, he whipped out a camcorder and, wearing the biggest dad grin, recorded the whole thing before turning the camera on my friend and me to ask us about the city. So I have a supporting (the luggage) and a speaking role in a limited release (home movie) film shot by Steven Spielberg."

—u/AdamHR

Source: Michael Kovac / Getty Images for AFI

#27 Reese Witherspoon

"Around 2000, my mom was selling at a flea market and thought she recognized this cute, young blonde woman who was clearly trying to stay incognito while browsing the booth. Mom thought she'd come up with the solution and asked, 'Do I know you from somewhere?' The woman smiled and adorably did the 'shhh' finger to her lips, but Mom had no chill and asked, 'Are you Tracey Gold from Growing Pains?' The woman responded, 'Uh, no, I'm Reese.' As in Reese Witherspoon, right when her fame was exploding. My mom was about 10 years out of date when it came to cute pop culture blondes."

—squirreltooth

Source: Steve Granitz / WireImage

#28 Keanu Reeves

"My dad was at a beach on vacation in California. He bumped into this guy on the staircase, who had this total surfer dude look. They exchanged the usual ‘sorry’ before my dad walked away. He looked familiar to him, but it took him a second to realize who it was. His now ex-wife had a huge crush on the said person at the time, and she looked back at my dad, in shock, and said ‘That was Keanu Reeves.’"

—starcasmlol

Source: Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

#29 Tom Cruise

"I was at a test screening of the movie Valkyrie. My friends and I were near the front of the theater talking before the movie started, and I went on this big, loud rant about how 'normally I like Tom Cruise movies, but War of the Worlds was such a piece of shit, one of the worst movies I've ever seen.' After I wrap up my five-minute rant outlining everything wrong with War of the Worlds, the person sitting behind us tapped me on the shoulder and points four seats down in my row to Tom Cruise glaring at me. I gave him the nod and sat there for what might have been the longest 10 minutes before a movie started ever."

—u/reble02

Source: Karwai Tang / WireImage

#30 Lin-Manuel Miranda

"My friend invited me to go meet the original cast of Hamilton in New York City. We were admitted directly onto the stage in the theater, and immediately we saw a man in a ponytail, center stage, talking to at least 10 people. We walked over, and my friend is basically tripping over herself, stuttering words of admiration about the man. In my head, I'm like, 'Why is she being so weird? Who is this guy?' He was so warm and sweet. He introduced himself as Lin, and my friend is literally ready to pee herself. Instead of telling him my name, I asked him where Leslie Odom Jr. was. It wasn't until 20 minutes later that I realized I shrugged off a conversation with one of the most prominent playwrights in modern history, Lin-Manuel Miranda."

– cpacheco

Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

#31 Robin Williams

"One day, while shopping, I saw a Jeep I really liked. As I pressed my nose up against the VERY darkly tinted driver's window (to see what the dash looked like). The window rolled down, and I was standing there, almost nose to nose with Robin Williams. I stuttered out that I really liked his car, and he invited me to sit in the passenger seat. He spent five minutes or so happily showing off all the features to me. I have no clear memories of anything I said, so I'm pretty sure it was gibberish. It was an awesome experience and probably why I can't bring myself to watch his movies anymore."

—rlwstream

Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

#32 Ringo Starr

"I got on an elevator with Ringo Starr once. During our 30-second ride, we became best friends. To this day, he still calls me on my birthday to sing the birthday song. I’ve never had the heart to tell him I’m more a Monkees fan."

—allenbanks

Source: Randy Holmes / ABC via Getty Images

#33 Kylie Jenner

"I was in line for a ride at Disney when the group of girls behind me started hysterically screaming and pointing. When I asked the girl who they were pointing at, she just gave me a funny look and got on the ride. And that’s the story of how I didn’t recognize Kylie Jenner at Disney World."

—ashleyc4d46e38da

Source: Rich Fury / Getty Images for Vanity Fair

#34 Pitbull

"My mom just casually became pool buddies with Pitbull when she was living in LA. She had absolutely no clue who he was and even asked him one day what he did for a living. He told her he was a rapper and went by Pitbull, and she said she would try to check out his music because she hadn’t heard of him. Later, on the phone, she asked me if I’d ever heard of him. She would call him Armando and say he was very sweet and a gentleman."

—laurabellejean

Source: Phillip Faraone / Getty Images for Gateway Celebrity Fight Night Foundation

#35 Daniel Radcliffe

"I was 10 years old in 2002 when my mom took me to the Bronx Zoo for the first time. It was a rainy day, so we practically had the whole place to ourselves except for three British kids running around, chaperoned by a woman. My mom quickly befriended the woman while I made like a kid and joined the hoard, looking at spiders and scorpions, and sharing in the awe and excitement of the animals. About an hour after we said our goodbyes, my mother told me that the kid, Daniel, who I had been hanging out with had played Harry Potter in the movie that came out last year. I had thought he looked familiar."

—u/Syntactic_Acrobatics

Source: Dave Hogan / Getty Images