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For me, it was Jane Goodall.

For a good portion of my life, I was a part time member of Roots and Shoots. Well, maybe not an official member by any means, that was my Sister who did that. Mainly whenever Roots and Shoots was having a field day I would attend it. This kinda ranged from removing all the invasive plant species from the nearby forest to planting a metric asston of Milkweed trying to get the Monarch Butterflies to return to the local area.

So… maybe after 5 years of doing all of that and between three different schools, the founder of Roots and Shoots came to a local school (Local as in a 3 hour bus drive, but close enough), and our group was invited to attend her speech. I had designed a board and my sister constructed it almost entirely by herself.

So after the speech, all the different roots and shoots groups got to show off to Jane as she took a stroll around all the different booths we had set up. We where all ordered not to crowd around Jane, so I was going into all the rows she was not in to have a look.

I lost track of time, and Jane was already in our row. I saw it and was just dumbstruck kinda, and I was stuck in another row so there was no way I could get there in time.

Jane pretty much felt my presence and dragged me over to be in the picture, so I was right next to Jane for our group picture.

It was like I was in the presence of a goddess. I wasn't even a giant environmentalist nut like my sister but I felt unworthy and embarrassed. After that photo was taken I just shied away.

And as it turns out there was an exchange between my sister and Jane, where Jane was legitimately impressed with the work she did. My sister was an emotional happy teary mess after that, which I guess I would be too if one of my own personal heroes remarked on my work like that.

I have other people I have "Met", but nobody to that caliber and never that close to them. So KYM, what celebrities have you met?

Well, 'met' is kind used generously here, but I've met the previous Sinterklaas, Bram van der Vlugt.
Sinterklaas, like Santa, is played by different people, but there's always one main actor who plays him for TV and the official arrival in November and other such national events.

About ten years ago the arrival was where I live, and since he ported literally in front of my Grandma's house, I got to be one of the people who stood there to shake his hand. He had been the person who played Sinterklaas for since before I was born, so it was quite something, even though it was years after I found out he wasn't real.

It wasn't much more than a handshake and a ten-second chat maybe, but it was cool nonetheless.

Oh right, this is what he looks like with and without his Sinterklaas stuff:

Voice actress of:

I met the pianist Vladimir Leyetchkiss.

I met Jeff Hardy at a mall once. Really nice guy.

Not particularly celebrities in their own right, but I have met some high profile evangelical preachers at Bay Shore Camp as speakers. Don't remember their names though.

The closest thing to a celebrity that I've met would have to be Desmond Morgan, linebacker for the University of Michigan football team. Back in High School we were in certain classes together, including Broadcast Journalism. If he gets drafted next year, then he'll count as more of a celebrity.

My guitar teacher is John Mellencamp's bassist.

I've meet quite a few.
Charles Martinet, Sylvester McCoy, Ally McCoist along with a good amount of the Glasgow Rangers players.

While I was interning, I was dragged around to multiple conferences where several high-level speakers would be involved. Normally with conferences, you sit in the audience like most others and take really intensive notes that you're 80% sure you'll never look at again. I had the opportunity to join an after-conference "party" with a number of astrophysics field leaders. It wasn't all that exciting, but I had the opportunity to meet and say hello to Professor Stephen Hawking and several other scientists and field researchers. It was fun.

Had to really draw in the fanboying though…

Lena Headey (Cersei, Ma-Ma, Queen Gorgo)
Kristian Nairn (Hodor)
Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett)
David Prowse (Darth Vader's body)

"Met" is a very loose term here, but I shook Mario Andretti's hand and talked to him for 30 seconds.

Interestingly enough, I've also met the Harlem Rockets, who I would not say are really celebrities. They're a rinky-dinky basketball comedy team that travels the East Coast. They do basketball fundraiser stuff.

Also, they asked my friend where they could score some weed during one of his graveyard shifts at the gas station, which I thought was a hilarious story considering they're all school-friendly and stuff.

John Goodman

"Met" is a very loose term here but I read a book for summer reading when I was a high school freshman and drew a fanart of it as my project to accompany reading the book. So I posted it on my deviantart and the author of the book favorited the image. I inquired if it was actually her and she said it was and when scouting her profile it all seemed pretty legit. Too bad the book itself was your standard young adult romance trash.

As I mentioned once in a thread before, my cousin and I were at a punk show in Berkeley and before they were famous (and before I had quit drugs) we shared a joint with Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day.

My wife and I didn't really "meet" him, but we were once on a plane with Snoop Dogg.

Most of my celebrity encounters have to do with my obsession for comics. I've met Jeff Keane (Family Circus), Aaron MacGruder (The Boondocks), Greg Evans (Luann), Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha), Scott Kurtz (PvP), Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (Penny Arcade), Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), and Art Spiegelman (Maus).

I've met Tony Moore (he did the art for the first 6 issues of The Walking Dead), all four members of the Best Friends Zaibatsu (internet celebrities count, right?) and Marc Kielburger. I've also seen (but did not talk to) John Carpenter and have attended one of JonTron's panels.

I had Shaq visit my elementary school at like 3rd grade.

A few years ago I met Neil DeGrasse Tyson. It was a whole arranged visit thing while we were visiting New York. He toured us around the Hayden Planetarium and talked with us for a few hours. He also gave signed by copy of Origins and gave me some astronomy software. It was really cool. :3

I've met George R. R. Martin at the 2012 American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim. For a guy that murders his characters is progressively more awful ways, he's actually a pretty amiable fellow.

I forgot to mention that back in seventh grade, the New York Mets came to my school. I got autographs from David Wright and Ike Davis. The Islanders did the same thing in ninth grade.

Met Joel, Dr.Forrester, Pearl, Tom Servo (J. Elvis), and T.V's Frank of MST3K fame.

I was attending a live show of "Cinematic Titanic", and after it was over I got to meet them at the autograph table. Funnily enough when I got there I hadn't bought anything to sign; so I used the back of the page-ticket printout for the show….I still have it.

But yeah, on top of bringing what I consider to be one of the funniest TV series ever into existence, they were all really enjoyable, funny people.

I shall give you a few.

For political figures I've met the governor of my state twice (Duval Patrick). Once when I was an usher for my church's Armenian Genocide remembrance ceremony and the other time when he visited my high school.

For religious figures I've met the current Catholicos of all Armenians: Karekin II. (Basically he's the Armenian version of the pope). He visited my Church.

For athletes I've met Clay Buchholtz once at my local mall to get an autograph from him (I still have it, and I have not sold it on eBay yet) and Jose Bautista follows me on Twitter (He followed me first, on his own, on his legit account, I'm SERIOUS). (It was the same mall that Paul Blart: Mall Cop was in, I was in there when they were filming it, but I wasn't on screen.)

Not bad, I say.

I met Bible Man and the Villain from the show when I was a kid if that counts (my family still has an autographed poster.)