Encounters:
Real-life tales of Julian-sightings

Meeting Julian Sands seems to be a rare thing, particularly for those who would most like to do so. But once in a rare while, someone gets lucky enough to run into this talented and handsome man in the flesh. To give the rest of us a brief glimpse into what this would be like, I encourage everyone who has met Julian to tell us about the experience. Even if you only get a glimpse of him across the street, the rarity of such sitings are enough to make them valuable to those of us who have not been so lucky.

From Jeannie (4/11/99): Hello, Just passing along my own observation - this morning I saw Julian Sands at the Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon in Los Angeles, and he appeared on the short side. I would guess about 5' 10". May have been the angle, because I was sitting on the curb when he walked past. I will report that as he walked past a group of runners they obviously recognized him, and he smiled a very large, very sincere smile.
To be honest I had never been a big fan of his until recently I watched "Room With a View" for the first time. I studied it for a film class, and I was impressed with his acting. My main association was "Leaving Las Vegas", and I was shocked he was a redeeming character in "RWAV". He was so convincing in "LLV" I assumed he was an ass in real life. I stand corrected..."

From Patti W.:

About 10 years ago I went through a 2-3 year period where I kept running into Julian Sands throughout the L.A. area. None of this was planned, and even though I am a fan and tremendous admirer of his work, I am not a "super-fan" who is obsessed with him to the point of trying to locate him and follow him around. Some of you die-hards will probably hate me for having seen him so much, but we can't explain these coincidences. (I also have a recent Ben Kingsley siting which was also totally unexpected- you can imagine how the webmaster felt.)
Moving right along, about 10 years ago I was at a restaurant in Pasadena, and who walks in but Julian and an entourage of 4 or 5 people. They sat down and appeared to be discussing a project of Julian's. This was only a few years after "Room with a View", which I loved, and I just had to meet Julian and commend him for his wonderful performance. I strode over to his table and very boldly asked if I could meet him. He was incredibly shy and blushed, he kept his head down most of the time. But I still told him how great I thought he was in the movie.
"Maybe his embarrassment is over being in the nude scene," I thought. I took off immediately after that, feeling bad about interrupting him, but still glad that I had met him.
I saw him another time at the L.A. County Modern Art Museum, with a pretty brunette girl; next riding a bike in Beverly Hills (I kid you not) and the last time he strode right by me in Farmer's Market.
It's weird, but I have never seen a famous person so many times. I never bothered him after the first time.
Anyway, I continue to wish him luck in his career. Hopefully Phantom will the part he really needs and deserves to push him further up the top.

From Am:

I was in New York City in December/January of 1994/1995 visiting a boyfriend (now ex) of mine. We were taking a stroll down one of the streets...(being an out-of-towner, I'm not quite sure of the name, it was by the big iceskating place with the huge christmas tree).
I was talking about how it would be funny if I ran into Julian because I had just read he was there for a while (either on a visit or had a home there, I can not remember).
So at any rate, no sooner did I get the words "if I ran into Julian Sands, I wouldn't know what to do!" out of my mouth when Julian himself walked by. I stood there, completely shocked. And as he passed, I turned around slowly and said (quite a bit louder than I imagined) "Oh my GOD that was Julian Sands!!".
He turned around and looked at me, waved emphatically and said "hello!" then continued on his way.
I stood there waving (even after he walked away), smiling and felt so completely rediculous for behaving so silly.

Nevertheless, I did see him in person, and if I had a chance to do it all again, I don't think that I would be as "star-struck". *laugh*