35 Times Famous Men Went Above And Beyond And Were Wholesome As Heck To "Regular" People
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We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the most wholesome encounters they've had with celebrities, and it turns out a lot of them were about famous men. Here are their amazing stories.
Note: Some submissions were pulled from this Reddit thread by user u/LeCrowing.
Disclaimer: We can't confirm 100% of these stories, but some of these people are supposedly speaking from their own experiences meeting celebrities.
1.Joshua Jackson
"It was in 2004 or so, and my family was about to fly out of LAX. My sister and I killed time by walking around for a bit — on our way back to the gate, we passed a packed Starbucks and saw Joshua Jackson standing around. He had a beard and we weren't totally sure it was him, but after we circled around again, he introduced himself. He couldn't have been a nicer guy — after a minute or two, my sister told him she had to get in line for a quick coffee before getting on the plane. It turns out he was waiting for his coffee, and soon as he got it, he gave it to us and told us he had plenty of time to wait for another one. He was such a cool dude."
2.Dave Chappelle
"Dave Chappelle has a history of running very long comedy shows, and my buddy and I saw one of his shows a while back. It ran very, very late (until almost 4 a.m. on a weekday) and by the end, almost the entire crowd had trickled out. Only about a dozen of us remained at the show by this point — Dave invited us all to play basketball with him the next afternoon, and of course we took him up on his offer. He had rented out an entire gym for an hour, and after everyone finished playing, a handful of us stuck around and shot the shit with Dave. He bought us all fruit smoothies and gave us free tickets to his show the next night — he's a SUPER nice guy, just like he is on TV. He couldn't have been any cooler."
3.Keanu Reeves
"I remember seeing Keanu Reeves in New York a long time ago when I was a young (and probably very annoying) pre-teen. I yelled out, 'Yo, Neo!' and then I mimicked the bullet-dodge motion from The Matrix. He looked back at me, laughed, and mirrored the same move in acknowledgement. It's such a great memory because I feel like anyone would have been justified in getting annoyed and shrugging a kid off, but instead, he was a good sport and humored me. I'll never forget it."
4.Daniel Radcliffe
"My family and I met Daniel Radcliffe in a London hotel when we went out for a celebratory dinner. He was alone in the lobby, so we asked if we could join him, not expecting much. We ended up sitting with him for a good 20 minutes chatting and drinking with him — he raised his glass to my sister, who toasted Dumbledore. It was pretty much the best night of our lives."
5.Tom Hanks
Paramount Pictures
"This is my mom's story: Tom Hanks was in our town because we have a typewriter store and he was shopping there. On the way out, he passed by a bunch of Girl Scouts selling cookies, and he decided to help them sell their cookies for a while. That’s right: Tom Hanks was casually shopping for typewriters and ended up selling Girl Scout cookies on the way out because he’s THAT wholesome."
6.LeBron James
"I was at a shoe store in Cleveland, and I was looking at the new LeBron sneakers (mind you that I'm only 18 at the time) — a tall shadow appeared over me, and when I turned around, it was LeBron fucking James standing there! He smiled and said, 'You want my new shoes?' I stumbled over my words for a few seconds, and told him I was thinking of buying a pair that day. He then asked me my size, went up to the front desk, and bought me two pairs — one he signed, and the other he said was for me to practice my post-moves in. It was one of the best days of my life."
"I was in a suite at a Cleveland Guardians [formerly Cleveland Indians] game in Aug. 2016 when a group of guys from the next suite over came out to watch the game. Lo and behold, LeBron James sat down in the seat right next to mine (a small metal railing was all that was between us) — being that the Cavs had just won the title a few months back, I was geeking out to the extreme. I kept it cool and didn't fan out all over him, but I did hear him talking about my favorite MLB player of all time: Ken Griffey Jr., and that's when LeBron pointed to my Griffey 2 sneakers I had on. He complimented them, I thanked him, and then we proceeded to talk for roughly 15 minutes about all things baseball — the guy knew his stuff, and could not have been nicer to my wife and I!"
7.Will Ferrell
"I was working at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego one summer in the private side of the resort. It was during Comic-Con, and a lot of the famous people speaking at the convention were staying at the Del — being the five star resort that we were, all the employees were told that if anyone asked a celebrity for an autograph or picture (or even talked to them outside of job duties), they would be promptly fired. One guy decided it was worth it and was fired on the spot, and I think Will Ferrell must have heard about it — he spent the next day or two at the hotel asking employees if he could give them an autograph and take a picture with him (he didn't have a camera, so the employees would use theirs and email the pictures to him later). He was a super cool guy."
8.Antonio Banderas
Warner Bros.
"I worked as a print vendor with most of the major movie studios, one of which was DreamWorks. As a result of our great relationship on numerous projects, I was invited to bring my kids to a special Shrek 2 screening — it was a great event where the kids came in their pajamas, were able to have a green breakfast, get lots of goodies, and even meet Antonio Banderas.
There was a little boy my youngest son had befriended who was always made fun of — so, when this opportunity came up, we invited him to come along. When he met Antonio Banderas, you'd have thought he was the only child there. The little boy brought a picture he had drawn to show Antonio, who ended up loving it, and he told the boy how great it was — he even autographed it! When my son's friend got back to school, everyone thought he was cool, and [no longer made fun of him]."
9.Steve Buscemi
"Steve Buscemi meets my friend every year on 9/11 at her dad's old firehouse, since her dad died on 9/11 — they go out to dinner with a huge group of people, but he always makes sure he spends a lot of time talking to my friend. The last few years I went with her, and the first conversation I had with him really showed his character. I forget the word-for-word conversation, but we were joking around and he said something like, 'So, how do you know [your friend]?' 'Oh, we met through a camp for people whose parents died on 9/11.' Do you know what his response was? 'Well, then, I guess that makes you family' — he was the nicest person."
10.Misha Collins
"In Feb. 2017, I was in Nashville for a Supernatural convention — I was pretty bummed that I couldn't afford a photo with Misha Collins. The night before the convention, I was walking around downtown Nashville playing Pokémon Go and sure enough, Misha Collins came walking right towards me on the sidewalk! He could tell by my reaction that I was a fan, so he opened his arms and said, 'Come on, give me a hug if you'd like!' He was soooo sweet and friendly — we stood there talking for at least 15 minutes, and even took this selfie! (My son in the ring sling is named Jensen, which Misha got a big kick out of). I just appreciated that he had zero obligation to be nice, and he was talking to me as if I were an old friend of his instead."
11.Tracy Morgan
"I work at a pizza shop and Tracy Morgan lives up the street from our little downtown area. He's a regular customer since his son used to work here, and we hadn't seen too too much of him since his accident. Tracy came in one day and started talking about his ordeal and everything he went through. For a good 20-30 minutes he spoke to me and a few other customers about how precious life is, and how it's so important to be thankful for everything you have since you never know when your last day will be. It was eye-opening and prolific, and good to hear from someone with so much experience in living life to the fullest. It was a very nice, down-to-earth talk."
12.Ryan Gosling
NBC
"Ryan Gosling paid for my parking on Hollywood Boulevard once (we had parked in the same parking lot). He was leaving as we were arriving, and I struck up a conversation with him real quick. He asked where I was from and why I was there/who I was with (I was on spring break with nine friends and we had two cars between us). He said, 'Don't worry about parking today, man, I'll cover you all for the weekend. Have a fun spring break!' It was so cool — he is JUST as nice in real life as you think he would be."
13.John Stamos
"I met John Stamos on the set of his Fox show, Grandfathered, before it was taken off the air. First of all, when Stamos walks into a room, your jaw will drop. When he was taking a break in-between scenes, we snapped this photo — in addition to being super nice and not at all weirded out by the girl who could hardly form a cohesive sentence in front of him, he was a true gentleman on set and to me for the rest of his shoot. As if I weren't in love with Uncle Jesse before!"
14.Jason Momoa
"I met Jason Momoa at a convention. I was in a wheelchair, and he was in the elevator. I wheeled in and looked up in shock, and he grinned at me and said, 'I'm not that guy, I'm just a good cosplayer.' He got quiet for a moment and then laughed really hard. When my floor came up, even though it wasn't his floor, he insisted on helping me out. I squeaked out a request for a picture and aimed the camera at him — he said, 'Hell no, sweetie, you're getting in this one,' and tossed my camera to his friend. He was so sweet — also huge. H-U-G-E."
15.Philip Seymour Hoffman
"I met Philip Seymour Hoffman after A Long Day's Journey into Night on Broadway — several people were waiting by the stage door since everyone in the play was very well-known (like Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Sean Leonard). Everyone was kind, but P.S.H. came right up to me and asked for my Playbill — he signed it and chatted with me for a bit. He asked how old I was, I said I was 19, and I'll never ever forget his response: 'We don't see a lot of teenagers at this show — you're an intelligent and lovely young lady.' He then got on a bike that was locked to a nearby parking sign and rode off — I sure as shit kept that Playbill, right next to my birth certificate and other important papers (where it belongs!)."
16.Muhammad Ali
"I was at the Chicago airport on a winter day to pick someone up (who I'm not close to) — I was dreading that day for weeks, and knew it would be terribly uncomfortable. We walked towards the parking lot when I saw Muhammad Ali — there he stood with his wife by his side, just the two of them, waiting for their assistant to finish loading their van (he was already deep into his illness). There was nobody else around, so I figured I wouldn't start a big commotion when I walked up to them — I let Ali know that I admired him, and thanked the both of them for their charity work for people with disabilities. I didn't ask for a handshake or a picture — I just wanted to let them know.
His wife smiled warmly, and suddenly I saw a sparkle in his eye. He opened his arms and embraced me — he hugged me long and deep. It was cold on that parking platform, and I could feel the heat from his body transfer to mine. There I was at the airport, receiving the kind of hug I should've gotten earlier from the person I picked up — instead, Muhammad Ali and I kept each other warm for a moment. That warmth stayed with me for a long time, and it helped me that day in ways he would never know."
"I worked at a magic shop in my twenties, and one day Muhammad Ali came in. My boss (a huge Ali fan from back in the day) was visibly in awe. Ali hung around for a couple of hours — we did some magic tricks for him, he did some for us, and he was beyond cool taking pictures with us. He sent us a 'thank you' post card a week later and signed it: 'Cassius Clay — oops, I mean Muhammad Ali.'"
17.Michael Jordan
"My cousin caddied for Michael Jordan at a charity golf tournament — he was around 14 years old at the time, when baggy Dickie pants were all the rage. By hole #9, my cousin was sweating in the Midwest heat — as they passed the Pro Shop to proceed to hole #10, MJ stopped and handed my cousin his credit card, saying, 'It's hot outside and [you're] sweating. Run inside and get yourself some shorts.' My cousin quickly got a pair of shorts and caddied the rest of the round, and MJ tipped him $600."
18.Adam Sandler
"My grandmother and Adam Sandler's father had back-to-back chemo appointments in Boston — every week she would see Adam Sandler in sunglasses bringing his father to chemo. Her cancer was stage three at this point, and she was under a great deal of stress — and honest to god, Adam Sandler would help ease her nerves by rubbing her back. Unfortunately his dad died that year, but my grandmother made a full recovery — the way Adam treated my sick, elderly grandmother was incredible."
19.Pharrell
NBC
"I went to some local radio station festival and N.E.R.D. was playing in the afternoon (I hadn't heard them before, but I knew who Pharell was and wanted to see if I liked them as a group). They were amazing, but right before their last song, Pharrell told everyone to come forward to the stage — I was up front already, but I'm in a wheelchair and get nervous around crowds, so I went to the side because I didn't want to get trampled. He saw me and motioned to a security guard to get me up on stage — I was hanging on the side of the stage and he called me over to the center of the stage while they performed 'Rock Star.' It was quite amazing — they were just the nicest guys."
20.David Bowie
"I don't know if it's cheating since this celebrity was a friend of the family, but when I was in 6th grade, I was given an assignment to do a biography on a celebrity and dress up as them when presenting. I chose to do David Bowie since I loved his music and he was a nice guy — my dad told David about my assignment, and he called the house one day to talk about it with me. He told me a bit about his work and his past (the PG version, of course) and was excited to hear about the project. Fast forward to the presentation day, and I dressed up as Ziggy Stardust — I got nervous and stumbled all over my words. Later that day, David called to follow up and asked me if I did his British accent — I confessed I didn't, and he seemed 'disappointed' and laughed it off — it was the best school work I ever did."
21.Mark Hamill
Lucasfilm
"I met Mark Hamill at Star Wars Celebration in Europe in July 2016. I paid to have a photo and autograph with him, which I know might not be as cool as running into a celebrity — but both times I met him that day, he was so warm and genuinely sweet. After asking me if I was Mara Jade (Luke Skywalker’s wife in the Legends canon because of my red hair and black clothes), I explained I was actually an homage to him in Return of the Jedi. He hugged me in the photograph, then he thanked ME for it, to which I said, 'No, thank YOU' — this made him laugh.
Later when I got his autograph, I could have sworn he messed with me a little because when the staff gave him what I wanted signed, he did so without looking at me or saying a word. I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker, because after he was done, he looked up at me smiling and kindly said, 'Here you go, Jenny!' I gave him a hand-written letter, where he complimented the Star Wars font I wrote his name in on the envelope — even though he probably saw HUNDREDS of people that weekend, he was so, so nice to me, and I'll never forget it."
22.Ricky Martin
"Ricky Martin came in to an outdoor furniture store I worked at in Miami — he was slightly disguised (wearing a hat, sunglasses, and beard). The only other customers in the store had a young daughter who recognized him immediately — he took the time to talk and take photos with the young fan. I can only imagine the excitement of an 8-year-old girl around the peak of 'Livin' la Vida Loca' meeting Ricky Martin in such a quiet and personal environment. He was a super nice guy — I couldn't find him the double outdoor chaise lounge he wanted, but he wasn't mad at me."
23.Danny Trejo
"My cousin is a photographer, and I used to spend my summers working as his assistant. We got a job to shoot Danny Trejo for a tattoo magazine, and it turned out that the location for the shoot was at Danny's house. As we were packing up all of the gear to leave, he insisted that we stay and hang out — we ended up sitting in his living room for hours, listening to all of his funny and amazing life stories. He was the nicest dude on Earth! 14 years later, any time I see him in a movie, I can't help but squeal in excitement, 'It's Danny!' as if I actually know him really well. But that's how I felt after getting to spend the day hanging out at his house — he was very warm and welcoming."
24.Zachary Levi
"Zachary Levi is actually the nicest person ever. We went to the stage door after seeing him in She Loves Me (he was amazing in it!), and the first thing he did when he came out was put a boombox on while waiting for the other actors to change. Then, he went down the line signing autographs and taking pictures — he was definitely there the longest. Additionally, my sister told him about a time that she accidentally knocked him over in Times Square, and he jokingly said, 'That was you?! I was black and blue for weeks!' He's so sweet."
25.Ice-T
"Ice-T was on the same flight as me, my mom, and my sister when I was younger. My sister needed help getting her bags off the carousel, but I was too busy reading Harry Potter and basically told her to fuck off. Ice-T came walking over and grabbed all of my sister's bags and helped her carry them to our car. I learned a good lesson that day: never help anyone because it's easier to let a celebrity do it for you."
26.Kurt Russell
"About 11 years ago, I was eating lunch at the Charter House in Malibu with my family — my sister (who was a baby at the time) had a cold, and was sneezing a lot. Suddenly, the man seated next to us said, 'Bless you!' — imagine our surprise when we realized it was Kurt Russell! He was eating by himself and we ended up having about an hour-long conversation with him — he asked my dad for his contact information after learning he was a pilot, and said he hoped they could fly together sometime. He was so kind and down-to-earth, you would have never guessed he was such a famous actor (to this day, we share a smile whenever we see him in a movie and remark what a lovely man he is)."
27.Ben Affleck
Miramax Films
"A week after the 9/11 attacks, my father (a New York City carpenter) stepped into an elevator with Ben Affleck. It was just the two of them in the elevator, and they were both going to one of the upper floors of a very tall building — they ended up talking about the attacks on the World Trade Center, and got into a deep conversation about humanity. According to my father, Ben was a really cool, intelligent, and down-to-earth guy."
28.Kunal Nayyar
"One time my dad was in New York at a club and bumped into Kunal Nayyar (Raj from The Big Bang Theory), and they started chatting. Later, Kunal invited my dad into his VIP area where they hung out all night. Some time later, I was in New York with my dad for my engagement party, and one night we ended up going to one of Kunal's Broadway shows. After the show, Kunal came out (so casually I might add) to catch up with my dad and to meet me — he asked my dad how he was doing and how his triathlon went because he had seen posts about it on my dad's Facebook. It blew my mind to think that Kunal actually saw the things that were posted on my dad's Facebook — he was so sweet, and even congratulated me on my engagement. HE IS SERIOUSLY THE NICEST."
29.Danny Glover
"I met Danny Glover at a meeting for the United Auto Workers (some people from my university attended in support of the workers). At the end of the meeting I talked to Danny for a while — I told him I was minoring in economics, and he got really excited because that was his major in college. He talked to me for a long time about being a force for change, and that it's never too early to try and change the world. He's a really smart man, and you can tell he genuinely cares — it was a really nice encounter."
30.Paul McCartney
"I used to be a supervisor at a major theme park in the VIP department, so seeing celebrities was a pretty normal thing. One day, Paul McCartney came to the park and I went out to meet him along with my tour guides. He was very pleasant and shook my hand, and then we escorted him into the park. Once inside, the guides took him to the rides and I stayed in the office to do paperwork — about four hours later, the group came back to the lobby to leave. Paul said goodbye to the guides who were with him and handed them gratuity — then he saw me and handed me a $50 bill, saying, 'Here, have a drink on me, mate.' I saw him for a total of 10 minutes the whole day — I actually still have the $50 bill. I don't think I'll ever spend it."
31.Wilmer Valderrama
CBS
"I had the opportunity to interview Wilmer Valderrama for my high school newspaper — the interview was conducted in Spanish, and since Spanish isn't my first language, I was very nervous. He told me that my Spanish was great, and that I asked really insightful questions — he made Univision wait for their scheduled interview with him because he wanted to give me more time for the article."
32.Rowan Atkinson
"Rowan Atkinson and his family were in the same heliskiing group as me and my family in Chamonix, France (it was a private group company, but the guide we hired had a pretty bad injury, so they had to join our group). My family was really excited, as we all really love Blackadder, Thin Blue Line, and Mr. Bean — when Rowan, his wife, his daughter, and my family first met up, we introduced ourselves as huge fans of his, and if he wouldn't mind giving us his autograph. He said he'd do us one better, and he took us out to dinner after we finished skiing — it was the funniest dinner I've ever had!"
33.Michael Strahan
"I’m a teacher at a rural school — a friend (also teacher) and I went to New York City for fall break and attended a taping of GMA. At the end of the taping, Michael Strahan came around the audience asking if anyone wanted pictures. We had a student with a disability who LOVED Michael Strahan, so we asked if we could get a picture of Michael standing giving a thumbs up for the student. He let us take the picture, and even offered to make a video for us to send to the student's mom — it was over two minutes long, and he kept telling the student to never give up on his dreams and that he was so proud of him. I still tear up thinking about how awesome he was!"
34.Robin Williams
"Having lived in the San Francisco Bay area almost all of my life, there are MANY stories of Robin Williams' generosity. There was a family who had just come from their grandma's funeral, and they stopped at a donut shop for a snack and coffee. One could tell that they were upset by their conversation about cleaning out their grandma's belongings from her nursing home — after a while, the man in the next booth (his back to them) got up and introduced himself, and it was Robin Williams! He asked if he could join them and mentioned he had overheard their conversation — he asked them what kind of person their grandma was like, and what kind of things she enjoyed doing. After just a few minutes, he had them laughing and celebrating her life, and when he left, he paid for their donuts and coffee."
35.And James Earl Jones
"Darth Vader, aka James Earl Jones, is from my hometown in Michigan. I was working at my grandpa's fly shop in a small, neighboring village in the same county — as a reward for my hard work, my grandpa took me out to breakfast the morning of my last day of work at the most popular inn of the area. Because it was an early Friday morning, there weren't too many people there — just us, one couple, and an older man with glasses in a booth reading a newspaper. As we started eating, the older man started reading his newspaper aloud in a very familiar voice — we both turned around to see who it was, and holy crap, it was James Earl Jones!
My grandpa then called, 'Hey, Jimmy, long time no see! How 'bout you come over here and sit with us?' He came over, introduced himself to me, and we shook hands — as they got into their conversation, I learned that my grandpa was really good friends with Jones in elementary school before he moved out of the area. His voice sounded like gold, and he was a really sociable and humorous person — when we had to leave, he paid for our breakfast and then signed the daily newspaper he had been reading and gave it to me."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
