Celebrity Sighting- Jay Baruchel (Montreal; July 2007)

If you ever experience a random celebrity sighting, it's usually at a bar, or a restaurant, or an airport, or a hotel. You don't expect to see a pretty big star hanging out drunk on the streets of Montreal with no paparazzi around. I had never previously been to Montreal so I didn't know what to expect. But lo and behold as I was w alking back to the hotel with my brother and good friend Schechter after a night of drinking and strip clubs, I caught a familiar face from the movies and TV in my headlights. Although my brother and Schechter didn't believe me when I told them, I was pretty sure the person standing in front of us hanging outside a bar with some friends was none other than Jay Baruchel.

Here's a brief overview of who Jay Baruchel is. He played Steven Karp on the short-lived 2001 sit-com, Undeclared produced by Judd Apatow. He also had small roles in big movies such as Almost Famous, The Rules Of Attraction, and Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby in which Clint Eastwood even mentioned him by name in his acceptance speech. But since then, he's taken on a plethora of film roles and is considered a supporting member of The Frat Pack. You can see him in Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Fanboys, and Night At The Museum 2. 2010 promises to be a huge year for him as well as he is starring in She's Out Of My League and Disney's big-budget summer movie The King's Apprentice with Nicholas Cage. What I like about this dude is that he doesn't take himself too seriously and plays his roles to perfection.

Back to our Montreal story! So I'm pretty sure it was him, and had no shame to approach him. So I go up to him for a closer look and confirmed it was him. I motioned my brother and Schechter to come over and join the chat. Baruchel seemed to be really appreciative that somebody recognized him, and we had a great conversation about his career at that point. I got him laughing out loud when I asked him how he has gone from appearing in Oscar winning films to playing side characters in Judd Apatow movies. My brother forgot that he had been in Almost Famous and Million Dollar Baby upon me listing Baruchel's accomplishments. He asked where we were from figuring out we never had been to Montreal before, and claimed to actually have been in my neck of the woods. When I told him he was bullshitting me, he mentioned roads that only somebody that came here would know. This guy was legit. We asked him what he was working on at the moment and he casually said he was doing stuff with his buddy Seth. The Seth he was talking about was his co-star in Knocked Up and Undeclared as real life pal, Seth Rogen. I didn't want to take up too much of his time, but if we really wanted to, I'm sure we could have gone bar hopping with him. I asked him if it was okay to pose for a photo, and he was more than grateful to pose with me. I didn't have a camera on me, so the cell phone was the only option I had. We chatted for a good ten minutes, and I wished him the best for his career and that I truly appreciated his work. He just kept saying that hearing those words from true fans is why he's an actor.

Since our meeting, Jay Baruchel's career has skyrocketed. Tropic Thunder came out right after our encounter, and that movie's success earned him even more recognition. This guy we were talking to like a long lost friend had been filming action scenes with Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. I have been keeping my eye on his career over the past few years, and expect big things from him. He deserves every good thing that is coming his way. Why? Because he is a real down to earth dude like myself, not a typical primadonna that most actors become once successful. I'm crossing my fingers that he'll win an Oscar sooner rather than later.