Lights, Camera, Action!

Some of the many questions I get asked since moving to New York have included, "Are New Yorkers mean?" (No), "Do you live in a shoebox?" (Yes), Are there rats on subways?" (Only on the subway tracks)". All naturally easy to answer.

Though the one question I am always stumped by is whether I have had any encounters with celebrities. I have friends who have walked past Woody and Soon-Yi, shared an escalator with Dr Phil and chatted with Tina Fey over beers.

As a hard-core Law & Order fan, I was thrilled when I thought Jerry Orbach was at the same intersection waiting to cross the street with me. Until I was informed that he had passed away many years before!! So I guess the answer to that pertinent question, is: nope, nada, not even one. And no, paying to watch them on Broadway does not count.

That changed earlier this summer.

I was staying home from work one day. Earlier that week, we were informed that the front entrance and lobby to our apartment would not be available for the one day that week. Naturally I assumed it was for refurbishing and/or cleaning purposes.

As I was resting in bed catching up on Twitter, I came across a tweet by a fellow resident:

"THEY'RE FILMING WHITE COLLAR IN MY LOBBY. MATT SEXY BOMER IS IN MY LOBBY. IM FAINTING."

WHHHAAATTTT??!!!! So of course I do what every sane (insane?) person would do - I leapt out of bed, brushed my teeth, popped my contact lens in, painted my face with eyeliner and lippy, grabbed my camera and DASHED DOWN. The elevator opened up on the ground floor to reveal a full-on tv shoot!

Not settling for being "shoo-ed" off from the general area, I decided to hang around by the back door of the apartment complex with some of the crew. I didn't have to wait long before the beautiful-looking star of the show walked by.

I could barely utter the words "Can I please have a picture with you" quickly enough. All the nervousness was completely unneccessary as Mr Bomer was so very lovely and so very gracious.

I probably then mumbled something silly like "Australia loves you!!" and left Matt with a HUMUNGOUS grin on my face!

At work the next day, this was all I could talk about and who could blame me really. I suppose the celebrity Gods must have been shining down on me as who was filming around the corner from my office that day, but White Collar AGAIN!

I couldn't help it - I had to stop by the shoot on my "coffee break" to take a quick look. (Cool fact: they were filming right by Roxy's and Kate's (former) digs). Long story short, this happened:


I promise I was merely taking advantage of the situation and not trying to be "stalker-like". For someone not really fazed by the rich and famous, I was well and truly star-struck.


The scenes shot those couple of days were part of the season finale of the show which aired just last night. I was very tickled to see my apartment lobby in the episode trailer. Can you spot it too? (Hint: the hat is involved!)

If you don't have cable or have missed the repeats, the episode can be viewed here at some point.

So tell me, what was the best celebrity encounter you have had?