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Did you know anyone before they became famous?

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E

EBreda

Member
I practiced tennis alongside Gustavo Kuerten for some good 10 months when I was 15 and he was 18.

That's like 3 years before he won the first of three Grand Slam titles in Roland Garros.
 
J

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Stinkles said:
Yes. Zzap 64 was the commodore 64 version. Jaz Rignall and Gaz Penn were other leading lights. In England at the time it was very important to contract (or expand) your name to include a z and a vowel.

So -
Gary = Gaz, Gazza
Julian = Jaz, Jazza
Mark = Maz, Mazza

Etc

Benedict Cumberbatch would be Bezza Cumbazzitch and Orlando Bloom would be Ozzo Blozzo.

I realize nobody asked for this level of detail.
Click to expand...

You're getting me misty eyed. I really came to appreciate those guys when Jaz started the Mean Machines pages in the back of C&VG. One of the reasons I ended up working at EMAP not Future.
 
M

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
Stinkles said:
Yes. Zzap 64 was the commodore 64 version. Jaz Rignall and Gaz Penn were other leading lights. In England at the time it was very important to contract (or expand) your name to include a z and a vowel.

So -
Gary = Gaz, Gazza
Julian = Jaz, Jazza
Mark = Maz, Mazza

Etc

Benedict Cumberbatch would be Bezza Cumbazzitch and Orlando Bloom would be Ozzo Blozzo.

I realize nobody asked for this level of detail.
Click to expand...

So this is why people call Jeremy Clarkson "Jezza"?
 
B

bonesmccoy

Banned
The lead singer for Billy Talent was friends with my older brother, and used to sleep over on our (covered and enclosed) front porch.

Otherwise, no, not really.
 
M

mclem

Member
I can't think of anyone who I knew before they were famous, but one of my sisters says she used to go clubbing with Idris Elba.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
I went to school with my friend since grade 3, all the way though elementary school and high school.

Now he has 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube and growing. He's huge. Still talk and are friends on facebook. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
 
S

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
I don't have one, but a really good friend of mine from college is high school BFFs with a Playmate (Brittany Binger). She was in town for some event in College and my wife pushed me into accompanying said friend to meet her. It was a weird night. She was nice.
 
S

ShabbadooJr

Member
Adam Devine was in my class from Junior High through High School. Had many classes with him.

Also I fought/play fought both of the Ellenberger's from the UFC in my friends side yard back in 7th grade.
 
K

Kid Ying

Member
Hmm... I've went to junior school with a guy that would became a brazilian drug lord a few years later. I didn't knew him well though.
 
T

Transhuman

Unconfirmed Member
Stinkles quoted me on NeoGaf once. I tell everyone I meet.
 
C

Chojin

Member
My cousin is sorta famous? She married Ray J. and is on a reality tv show.

I also went to school with the pink power ranger on Time Force. Erin Cahill. Same grade as me. She was was a guest star on Supernatural and How I met your Mother as Ted's sister.

I'm all about the D listers I guess :p
 
Machine

Machine

Member
Not all are me directly but I have some close connections to famous people.

My boss went to grade school with Iggy Pop.

When they were in college, a couple "little sisters" from my fraternity lived on the dorm hall where Sanjay Gupta was an RA when he was an undergrad.

I went to high school with a guy that has a Super Bowl ring (Jim Morrissey with the Chicago Bears) and the little brother of one of my friends from high school won a Stanley Cup (Brian Rolston with the Devils).

I have a few others but those are probably the biggest.

Edit: I just remembered another. My "little brother" in my fraternity now lives in St. Joseph, Michigan, the home town of Kate Upton. Apparently he has known her since she was a kid.
 
A

Azzanadra

Member
Jordan Peterson, Justin Trudeau maybe? I mean he was always famous due to his parentage but because of my near lifelong involvement with the Liberal party, I knew him years before he became prime minister.
 
V

Vincent Grayson

Member
I went to high school with some woman that was big on American Ninja Warrior sometime recently. I saw a bunch of stuff on Facebook from other friends, but I don't watch the show, so I'm not sure what the big deal was. I think she broke some record or something.
 
T

The Salt Life

Banned
Smoked a blunt with Craig Mack before he had his fifteen minutes of fame, I wouldn't consider me knowing him though, he was just kind of there along with a bunch of other people smoking.
 
T

thetruth1983

Banned
PurpleMoustache said:
I went to high school with Niykee Heaton. You'd be forgiven for not knowing who she is, which is why I linked her Wikipedia page. She got a Justin Beiber deal, got seen on YouTube doing covers and somehow got a record deal.

She was an absolute horrid person. I don't like to use the word bitch, but she certainly was one, bossing people around, pushing people, being hostile. Constantly complaining about having to be around idiots and that she was better than everybody. Her carefully written "backstory" full of bullshit (Lived in South Africa? False.) includes the fact that she was bullied at Geneva High School. I would say the exact opposite, being stuck in homeroom with her.

Literally zero people thought she would go anywhere, but sure enough she's something. Looking back through things, it looks like she pulled a Brittney Spears by posing nude shortly after we all graduated and that somehow spiked her popularity through the roof. Goes to show that sex sells, but it doesn't necessarily equal talent.

Edit: Another one, but not my experience: My dad was until his recent retirement a photography professor at a small community college by the name of College of DuPage. He had a student who didn't really ever turn in assignments, and when he did they were rarely to specifications. My dad pulled him over and said that he needs to get his act together for the next assignment or he fails. He comes back with photos of a young rapper on stage in a small Chicago club. My dad thought the pictures were great and asked who the performer was. The guy's response? "He's this guy named Kanye West. I think he's gonna blow up soon.". Turns out Kanye got a hold of his picture and he's one of Kanye's official photographers now.
Click to expand...

Never heard of her before this thread but god dam she is fine (face kind of strong though). Did she have plastic surgery or has her body always looked like that?
 
Herbspiceguy

Herbspiceguy

Member
Several rappers/groups from internet communities where we mainly discussed music. That's where they started out and would post demo's, asking for feedback. Also a few I saw at rap battles years before they blew up.
Very interesting to see how people can grow and how they're able to shift their image. And eventually see them go from the hardcore rap they were known for to casual friendly sugar coated stuff.
 
K

Kilvin

Member
Vincent Grayson said:
I went to high school with some woman that was big on American Ninja Warrior sometime recently. I saw a bunch of stuff on Facebook from other friends, but I don't watch the show, so I'm not sure what the big deal was. I think she broke some record or something.
Click to expand...

Jessie Graff?
 
P

p2535748

Member
Uma Thurman babysat for me and my siblings a few times. Through a friend, I had a few interactions with one of the founders of Akamai at college.
 
P

PurpleMoustache

Member
thetruth1983 said:
Never heard of her before this thread but god dam she is fine (face kind of strong though). Did she have plastic surgery or has her body always looked like that?
Click to expand...

110% plastic surgery and airbrushing. She was high school pretty/attractive, but she is completely unrecognizable in pictures now.
 
K

komarkaze

Member
I spent my entire freshman year in college dorm living two doors away from Mike Birbiglia. This is about a year before he started dabbling in stand up comedy at school. He kinda kept to himself mostly, but we were cool with each other. One time he asked me to teach him to play Round Here by Counting Crows for a song parody he was working on.
 
S

Shadybiz

Member
I haven't, no, but a good friend of mine went to high school with the Angry Video Game Nerd. He only knew him from passing in the hallway, really. I would have gone to school with him as well, but my parents sent me to private school for high school, for reasons.

ionitron said:
Oh my god was it this woman?!
Click to expand...

Holy crap, that was impressive!!
 
M

Media

Member
I hung out with the a Plain White Ts lead singer when I was in high school.

Also knew/worked for a guy who has his own wiki page for inventing a genre in gaming. RIP my friend.
 
M

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
I got to know Melissa McBride in the early 2000's at the coffee shop she frequented that I worked at. She started playing Carol on The Walking Dead and got extremely famous so that was funny to think back on.

I also had a friend who brought me to hang out with Bradford Cox at his place, he turned out to be one of the great indie rock frontmen of his era with Deerhunter, at the time I guess they were just a very local act.
 
T

Trevelyan

Banned
Jeff Bezos if he counts. My mom's cousin, so no idea what that makes him to me, but met him a few times, dating back to the mid 90s.
 
S

SirUltimos

Member
I went to highschool with the YouTuber Jus Reign. He was a year younger than me so I didn't really know him other than in passing, but he was always super nice to everybody and absolutely hilarious.
 
H

hey_monkey

Banned
Many years ago, I used to do online text-based roleplay. A woman I played with, we'd talk a lot about the storytelling aspects and the challenges of group narratives. We were both pretty serious about writing. Now she's a relatively famous award-winning author with something like 30 books and I'm just a poor ol' academic. Good for her, though.
 
Xyrmellon

Xyrmellon

Member
I went to college with Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway. Didn't really know him though.

My old roomate went to see "some band from Seattle" one night in 1991. According to him there were only like 8 people at the club and when they were finished he had a beer with them. They were about to release or had just released their new album Nevermind. Thats his story anyway.
 
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