I don't have a last name. I'm not famous.

I met an Italian movie star the other day! Which would be way cooler if I had actually known who he was at the time. Thursday on my way home from school, I stopped to buy my May bus pass (I can't believe it is my last month here!!). The tabacchi I usually go to for tickets was already sold out and so I had to go to the other one on the street. There was a woman ahead of me in line and then a man came in the store right behind me. At some point the woman in front of me turned and said to the man (in Italian of course) "Excuse me, but you're that actor, aren't you?"I turned around to see. He had sunglasses and a baseball cap on indoors, in Italy, at 7 pm. Should have been some sort of tip off. He confirmed that he was "that actor" and she oohed and ahhed for a minute and said how cool it was to meet him. I didn't have any idea who he was but decided to just ask. I said "you're an actor? Are you famous" and he replied "yes, I am, but I not famous at all" at which point the woman behind the counter interrupted "He is very famous, don't listen to that." I apologized for not knowing but asked him if he did TV or movies and he said both. I then asked what his name was. He introduced himself as "Claudio. Just Claudio. No last name because I'm not that famous." I think that is a response that only a celebrity would give. Anyway he departed with a charismatic movie star smile and a "It was nice to meet you."

I immediately went home and described him to Sonia hoping she would know who he was. She doesn't watch TV and doesn't like Italian movies so she didn't know. I then used The Google and found him surprisingly quickly. There are a lot of Claudios in the world but he was the 6th result (3rd name) when I searched "Claudio Televisione." It turns out he was Claudio Gioè who was in I Cento Passi (100 Steps) and La Meglio Gioventù (Best of Youth) and a bunch of other stuff. I showed his picture to Sonia who recognized him from the neighborhood but didn't know that he was a celebrity. So he isn't that famous, but I still think it was pretty cool. OH, and he is a redhead. Just thought that was cool too because there aren't many in Italy.