Who is this guy?

Do you know who this guy is? (photo credit: http://www.pbs.org) If you answered Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Records and legendary producer of artists like Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Dire Straits, and considered the person who discovered rapper Eminem, you're right!

What does this have to do with anything? Well, I saw him walking his dog a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles. And it's why my sister made the following request in the comments section of a previous post:

Now I want to see a post about your superpower of recognizing famous people in public, esp. people whom most of us couldn't pick out of a lineup.

Since I moved to L.A., I've seen lots of celebrities, and I usually realize who they are after I notice them, know I've seen them somewhere, and think I probably went to college with them or know them from Baltimore. At a school event, for example, I marched up to Alfre Woodard and introduced myself to her because I just KNEW I knew her from somewhere in my past. How embarrassing. I've finally accepted the fact that, since I live in L.A., if I think I know someone, it's probably from the "magic box" in my living room and not from my high school that is 3,000 miles away from Los Angeles.

But I often identify random people who you may have heard of but you might not know what they look like. For example, at Starbucks I saw Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records. I was in total awe. This guy discovered Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Whitney Houston, among others. But how many people outside of the music industry would recognize him?

But I'm not perfect. The first time I saw Denzel Washington, for example, I thought to myself, "Wow, that guy is so good looking. He looks like...Denzel Washington...duh."

But I can't beat the best celebrity sighting of all, which belongs to my sister: Tommy Lee in IKEA.

I never ask to have my picture taken with a celebrity, but here's one of the few times I did: Here's a picture of me with actor Jake Gyllenhaal. taken while he was filming the movie Jarhead.

Take that, Reese Witherspoon! :-)