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Andi's Celebrity Guest Book
I have been lucky enough to meet some famous people
(Well, at least they're famous to me)
and I thought I'd share those Kodak moments.
Enjoy!
Carl Andress and Charles Busch Charles Busch and Carl Andress original stars of Die Mommie Die!
Denise "Tasha Yar" Crosby
The USA Film Festival brought divine playwright-actor Charles Busch and collaborator Carl Andress to Dallas for their film A Very Serious Person. My production of Charles Busch' comedy Die Mommie Die! was playing at Uptown and they came to the show. They loved it, and the cast and I got to visit with them afterwards and again at the film screening. Also attending the film fest was Denise Crosby aka Tasha Yar, Star Trek Next Generation. 		Tasha Yar
Walter Koenig Walter Koenig (Star Trek, Babylon 5)
My SciFi geekdom actually began when I was a young girl, with my being hooked on two TV shows, Lost in Space and of course Star Trek (TOS). I finally had the chance to meet one of my first crushes that started my whole love of SciFi when I met Walter "Chekhov" Koenig at a Dallas con. He was very polite and soft-spoken, and still looks great at his age.
Morena Baccarin Morena Baccarin (Firefly/Serenity, Stargate SG-1)
Morena Baccarin is simply one of the most beautiful women in the world, and amazingly unaffected for being so stunning in person. She was charming to every fan in the very long line to get her autograph. I told her that I knew Alan Tudyk from his days in Dallas and about the Rubber Chicken reunion we had with him at the Dallas con, and she asked when I'd seen him. She was the epitome of graciousness and class, hard to believe she was playing an superpowered evil alien on Stargate's final season at the time.
Michael Urie Michael Urie (Ugly Betty)
We were incredibly lucky to have Michael Urie co-host the 2007 Column Awards for local theater (Michael is originally from Plano). He even agreed to be in the wacky opening number that Column founder John Garcia and I staged (complete with a chorus line of Ugly Bettys). I had a chance to take some pics with Michael at our rehearsal. He is a real nice guy, very talented and funny, not at all like the diva his character Marc is on the show. Because of weather cancelling his flight from LA on Saturday, the only flight he could get to Texas was to Austin. But because of more flight cancellations, he couldn't get a flight from Austin to Dallas in time for our Sunday rehearsal. He actually rented a car and drove from Austin to Dallas on Sunday morning so he would be able to rehearse with us. I adore this man! Read all about the award show and Michael's fab job as co-host on my LiveJournal blog 		Rehearsing with Michael Urie
Alan's last night in Big D Alan Tudyk (Firefly/Serenity, Dodgeball, Knight's Tale)
Flashback many years ago when a young Dallas actor named Alan Tudyk was part of an improv troupe that I used to hang with, when a bunch of us got together to see him off before he headed to Julliard and I took the photo on the left. Flash forward a few years and he lands supporting roles in movies with Heath Ledger and Sandra Bullock. Flash forward again, and he is a cult fan favorite due to Dodgeball (as Steve the Pirate) and the SciFi series Firefly and film Serenity. Flash forward to July 06 where Alan is appearing at a local SciFi con and I go to see if he remembers me after all these years. He did, and he was also surprised by several of his old friends from the improv troupe at the con as you can see from the photos at right. It was an impromptu reunion for all of us. You can read a lot more about Alan's convention appearance and our reunion on my LiveJournal blog.
Me and Steve the Pirate
Rubber chicken Reunion
Amy Acker Amy Acker (Angel)
Amy Acker is another former Dallas actor who made it big appearing on TV's Angel and Alias. I got to meet Amy at a Nov. 06 con and told her about our unique connection, that we were both nominated for Leon Rabin Awards in the same year back when she was an actress and SMU student here. We had a good laugh together when we both admitted we didn't win our categories!
Jayne, the Hero of Canton Adam Baldwin (Firefly/Serenity)
Not long after I saw the film Serenity, based on Joss Whedon's brilliant but short-lived TV Series Firefly, I got Adam's autograph at a Dallas con. I told Adam about knowing his co-star Alan Tudyk when he was a Dallas actor and that I'd seen Alan naked onstage. He laughed and said Alan had told the Firefly cast about doing that play. (That is Marc "Beastmaster" Singer in the background of this pic signing another fan's autograph).
River Tam Summer Glau (Firefly/Serenity)
I also met Adam's co-star, Summer Glau, at another Texas convention. I had found out from my Evil Twin John that she had danced in The Nutcracker ballet in San Antonio years ago with him so he told me to say Hi to her for him when I saw her. While getting her autograph, I told her John said hello. She remembered him and was excited to find out that I knew him, and asked me for his email address so she could get in touch with him.
Andi and Ash, himself, Bruce Campbell Bruce "Evil Dead" Campbell
I finally got the chance to meet one of my favorite actors, Bruce Campbell, at a Sci-Fi convention in Dallas in 1999. I'm smiling so big because I'm actually leaning against him in the photo...sigh...I had another chance to see Bruce at a book signing in Dallas in 2005, where he actually announced that the book signing was about to begin incognito over the store loud speaker. But he did give himself away to fans when he finished the announcement with his famous line "Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart."
He has a very entertaining website and a very funny book (which was the one I bought at the book signing).
Yummy Dr. Jackson Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge (Stargate SG-1)
Though I wasn't able to get a photo up close and personal with Michael and Chris like I did with Bruce, I was able to snap a few photos from a distance at the Stargate con I attended. I did get to talk with them briefly while getting their autographs - both are very funny and gracious in their convention appearances. I'd step through the gate with them any day!		 Teal'c
Ann-Margret
Here am I with Ann-Margret at a book signing. I was so awestruck that I was afraid to speak to her for fear of embarrassing myself in front of my childhood idol. At least I had the presence of mind to wear animal print!		 redheads
Leslie and me Leslie Jordan
You may recognize Leslie's face and short stature from many TV and film appearances (Murphy Brown, Will & Grace). He originated the role of "Brother Boy" in the play Sordid Lives and reprised his role in the film. When I directed the Dallas stage premiere of Sordid Lives, Leslie attended our preview benefit show and was very complimentary of my direction and our cast. He regaled us at the after-party with anecdotes about his 2 year run in the LA stage version. He's a very sweet, very funny fellow.
Skie Ocasio
This gorgeous guy is former Dallas actor (and friend of mine) Skie Ocasio who made a brief return to Dallas while he was appearing in the national tour of one of my fave musicals, the Bollywood-inspired Bombay Dreams. Skie put together an AIDS benefit cabaret show with members of the Bombay Dreams cast which they also performed in Dallas and I videotaped the event for him.		 Louder Than Words
Cheng Pei Pei Cheng Pei Pei
You're probably wondering who this adorable Chinese woman is. Well, she is commonly thought of as the Mother of Female Asian Action Stars. Cheng Pei Pei is known to US audiences as the villainess Jade Fox in the awesome Crouching Tiger but she has been a star of Hong Kong cinema since she kicked her first butt in Come Drink With Me in 1966. That film ushered in a new era in Hong Kong action films that paved the way for HK stars such as Brigette Lin, Michelle Yeoh, and many more. The action scenes in her films in the 60s broke new ground and are the model on which Asian action films have been built ever since. Read more about my obsession with Hong Kong cinema here. I'm sure Ms. Cheng thought I was a crazy American from the way I gushed over her like I was meeting a rock star, but she was incredibly gracious and, well, very Chinese.
Karl Urban
I met Karl Urban at the January 1998 XenaCon in Dallas when he was familiar to Xena fans as Cupid and Caesar. Now the world knows him as Eomer of Rohan, Captain of the Rohirim in The Lord of the Rings films, The Two Towers and Return of the King. Karl held his own acting along side Viggo Mortenson, Ian McKellan and Orlando Bloom in the battle to save Middle Earth. And to think I met him just before he landed that plumb role! 		karl
ksorbo Kevin Sorbo
My friend Steve Lovett was vacationing in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1996 when, to his great surprise, he saw Kevin Sorbo walking across the lobby of the Hotel Carlton.  "You're...Hercules!" Steve stammered.  Kevin was very nice, and was happy to talk to another American.  (Turns out that he had lived in Dallas in the '80s, where he'd worked as a bouncer at Confetti's.  Who knew?)  When my friend Cynthia attended the Xena-Hercules Convention in Burbank in 1997, she had Kevin sign it.		 hemen
Tim Thomerson
At the same convention where I met Bruce Campbell, I also saw Tim Thomerson, who played the recurring role of Meleager on Xena. You may recognize Tim as the star of every B-movie ever made--in fact, I think it's in his contract that his name has to appear in the credits of every low-budget sci-fi cult film. He achieved cult status starring in such classics as Cherry 2000 (with a pre-stardom Melanie Griffith, no less) and the Trancers film series. Tim was not feeling well that day, and his wallet had been stolen earlier, but he was still nice enough to pose for a picture with me. 		Meleager the Mighty
Ginger, is that you? Ginger Rogers
I know it's hard to tell from this photo, but that really is Ginger Rogers, virtually unrecognizable under three layers of pancake makeup, an opaque scarf and huge sunglasses--all attempting to hide the fact that she was much older than her bio claimed.  When I shook hands with Ginger, all I could think of was that I was holding the hand that had danced with Fred Astaire, at which point I began to sob uncontrollably and say, "Oh my god, I'm really touching her!" over and over.  Ginger thought this was "precious," and was extremely flattered that anyone would be that overcome at meeting her.  (Little did she realize that I would have behaved in exactly the same way with Cyd, Leslie, Rita, or any of Fred's other dancing partners.)