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a case of mistaken identity

Talk about embarrassing!

I was watching an episode of Extras, entitled "Samuel L. Jackson" one evening. That episode dealt with Andy's (Ricky Gervais) stint as an extra in a film being shot with Samuel L. Jackson. It also featured how Maggie (Ashley Jensen) mishandled communications with a mixed-race actor about race, leading to bad and comical consequences. The way she put herself in that situation was certainly embarrassing but what made me shake my head in disbelief was what came next: She talked with Jackson the following day, mistaking him for Laurence Fishburne (who definitely is NOT Samuel L. Jackson!). 

Disbelief, yes, because mistaking actors for other actors was one thing I did too! If not recognising Craig David when I was right beside him in Glorietta 5 or not recognising Manny Pacquiao when I saw him surrounded by his bodyguards in Ortigas weren't embarrassing enough...

A few years ago, I was at Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth lecture at the SMX Convention centre when I bumped into a celebrity. I recognised her because her face was always on the society pages of newspapers. She smiled when I said hi and got her first name right but her facial expression turned sour immediately when I said the wrong surname. I knew I should have stopped at the first name!

Oh well.

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