When your local celebrity hits the big time

In the big wide world we live in, we all know the big celebrities out there:

Brad and Angelina, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Madonna, Beyonce, Sting and all the others out there.

But we all have local celebrities who live in the same city or country as you. They may not have the fame or money as the people above have but you know them because they are on local TV, radio, movies, stage, the catwalk or store catalogues. They have varying degrees of popularity and fame in their own country.

In Canada I remember musicians like K-OS, Bedouin Sound clash, Chantal Kreviazuk, TV/Radio personalities – Shaun Majumder, Jian Ghomeshi and Sook-Yin Lee. TV actors like Rick Mercer, Gavin Crawford, Cara Pifko, Leah Pinsent.

What happens if your local celebrity hit’s the big time, do you feel a connection to them ? Because you knew of them before they hit it big? That happened to me in Oz.

I was browsing a movie website for news on movies in production. One of the items was for a comic book adaptation of Justice League, which features many superheroes in one movie. Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. The person slated to play Wonder Woman is Megan Gale. Then that evening on the local news was footage of Megan Gale doing her last catwalk in Melbourne before going on to shoot Justice League.Megan Gale is very famous in Australia as the face of upmarket department store David Jones. Megan Gale is also a model and actor. She has appeared in an Italian movie and had a small role in the American movie Stealth, which was shot in Sydney. She also dates one of the radio hosts that I listen to in the afternoon.It was quite amusing when I recognized the name, but not recognized it as being a big Hollywood star, but for being the face of David Jones and dating radio host Andy Lee.

Just last week I received a David Jones flyer and she was on the front cover and I paid no attention to her. As you see her on TV, billboards and catalogues.

I am sure there are actors, comedians and singers all around the world that we don’t know about that make it big every year but have a history and connection with the people from their city or country.

Since living in Melbourne I now know of people who provide entertainment (both Australian and from around the word) that the rest of world may not know of. People like Myf Warhurst, Hamish and Andy, Adam Hills, The Chaser gang, Akmal Saleh, Rove McManus, Peter Helliar, Dave Hughes, Ed Kavalee, Julia Zemiro and host of other people.

Now not only do I know of American entertainers, Canadian entertainers, but now Australia ones. I feel that I have a better appreciation for the difference in entertainment and comedy from each of the countries.