Have you had a brush with fame? (2 photos)

With Northern Ontario Film Studios carving out a film industry sector in the Nickel City, this mining town suddenly has jobs for actors, grips, production assistants — basically, a whole new job market.

For those us not working in the industry though, the burgeoning film sector has brought us something to — the possibility of bumping into a Hollywood celebrity right here in Sudbury.

A month ago, the celebrity du jour was William Baldwin, who most of us probably remember as “Billy Baldwin” from his days as the young bedroom-eyed leading man in classics like “Backdraft,” “Sliver” and “Flatliners.”

Sudbury resident Mel Dionne ran into Baldwin at a coffee shop, where he graciously posed for a photo with her.

“People always think actors are hard to approach but he was very down to earth and very approachable,” Dionne said, adding her favourite Baldwin flick is “Backdraft”. “We chatted for a few minutes and he explained he was in Sudbury for two weeks, filming a movie and wanted to get in as much of Sudbury as he could.”

Baldwin was in the city to film “Lead With Your Heart,” the second movie for the Hallmark channel he’s shot in Sudbury and the fifth one in the past three years or so.

From TV movies like those produced for Hallmark to lower-budget Hollywood films for major studios to independent flicks, stars like Baldwin and Natasha Lyonne, to and icons like James Caan and Lou Gossett Jr. have shot films here. So have Ryan Reynold, Jason Priestly and Richard Dreyfuss.

For those of us who can’t work in the industry, a chance meeting in a coffee shop or on a sidewalk is about the closest we’ll get. Have you have a run in with a celebrity working in Sudbury?

We’d love to hear the story or see the photos. You can send them to [email protected], post comments in below or share them on our Facebook page.

Ain’t it great to live in the true Hollywood North?