Outfest Celeb Encounters: From S. Epatha to Lt. Sulu

Ya just never know who you're gonna run into at Outfest. On Monday night, Nick Nolte and Lesley Ann Warren were among the celebs taking in the screening of "Coffee Date" at the DGA while Kathy Najimy was at the Showcase to see pal Ricki Lake's new movie "Park."

But it really was celeb paydirt Tuesday night at the DGA where I went to see the documentary about Tony Kushner: "Wrestling With Angels." Before the movie, I was introduced to George Takei (below), the "Star Trek" legend who came out publicly last year. "Everybody already kneeeew," he said in that distinctive voice of his."

George is keeping busy these days attending 40th Anniversary "Star Trek" conventions around the world and he says fans have been great. Always out in his private life, Takei says he decided to go public after Gov. Schwarzennegar vetoed the same-sex marriage bill.

"I felt I needed to speak out on that, I felt I needed to be authentic," he said. "It feels great. Although my colleagues and the fans knew, the difference is now I get to address issue much more openly. And the conventions give me the opportunity to use 'Star Trek' as a platform for LGBT issues."

It seems that George is also pals with Howard Stern and did his second weeklong stint on Stern's radio show recently and may do it again sometime. Stern loves the way George says, "Oh myyyyyyyyyy." He says Stern won't marry his girlfriend until gays are allowed to marry as well.

"Howard could not believe that I am gay. He said, 'You're so masculine!' I said, 'So!' We have baseball players and truck drivers, all very masculine, and gay."

Also met Rex Lee (above), the openly gay actor who plays Jeremy Piven's gay assistant on "Entourage." He told me that when he auditioned, 'I didn't knoiw how gay to be. I wasn't clear on what flavor of gay they wanted. So I just went over the top. Then on my second reading I was more subdued. They must have liked something."

As he was walking over to the DGA earlier in the evening, Rex said someone driving down Sunset Blvd. honked and yelled out, "Lloyd!"

"It's such a blast," he said of his newfound fame. "A day doesn't go by that someone doesn't say, 'Hey! You're that guy on 'Entourage!'"

And last, but not at all least, I got to see the sensational S. Epatha Merkerson (pictured below) at the after-party for the Kushner movie. Epatha, winner of the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG awards last year for "Lackawanna Blues," called the film "breathtaking."

" I thought it was fabulous," she said. "It's an amazing journey he's been on and I can't wait to tell him I was so moved by it."

Usually based in NYC where she films "Law & Order," Epatha is in town making a movie with Sir Anthony Hopkins. she has been in real demand since "Lackawanna" and after having the most memorable Emmy acceptance in recent memory: she dropped her speech down the front of her dress and couldn't retrieve it! Instead of trying to play it cool, she just confessed to the audience what had happened in the most genuine way.

This is a busy new chapter in this lovely, and lively woman's career and she deserves it. I'm a huge S.Epatha Merkerson fan.