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Topics: US News, Film and TV
Emma Guinness
A lot of people dream of making an appearance on the silver screen, but one person who likely thought it impossible was a homeless man, who's now done it over 100 times.
Yes, you read that right, a homeless man made it to Tinsel Town, and he's appeared in some of Hollywood's best-known flicks, including Miss Congeniality and Shutter Island.
The man, who is known among the who's who of Hollywood as 'Radioman' because of the radio he wears around his neck, has appeared in the background of many films.
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He's known as the homeless man because there was a time when he wasn't paid to be on the streets of New York, but thanks to the film industry, it's now his career.
His remarkable story has recently resurfaced thanks to TikTok, where it has been doing the rounds.
Radioman - whose real name is Craig Castaldo - has done more than just appear in flicks like Elf and Two Weeks Notice, and he's befriended some of the stars too, including Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg.
In fact, Goldberg liked Radioman so much that she decided to bring him to the Oscars with her when she presented the event - now that's a rags to riches story if we've ever heard one!
Hanks, meanwhile, said of the former homeless man turned pro: "This man's a cultural institution. You get on a first-name basis with Radio, you know you've made it."
George Clooney has also said of Radioman: "No one shoots in New York and doesn't know who Radioman is."
The late great Robin Williams even described him as 'one of the fixtures of New York'.
On the subject of New York, the Big Apple is the city that Radioman calls home, and in 2012, he explained that he doesn't like to think of himself as a movie star - just a homeless person.
"I'm just me, Radioman," he said. "I don't like to be pigeonholed into being called a movie star. People look at a guy like me and they think, 'Oh yeah, a bum'."
Radioman explained that he remembers the days when he simply saw the stars as a homeless person living in New York and revealed that he used to heckle them.
He told The Star: "I was drinking at the time. I said, 'Bruce Willis! I think your movie looks like a cartoon!'"
The extra is now such a Hollywood institution that a documentary has been made about his remarkable story, but he insists that he's not really an actor either, let alone a star in his own right.
"Radioman? I guess it's a character, yeah, in a way," he said.
"But I am the real one, I am the real Radioman - not really a character at all. I am what I am, it was on the film sets where I became Radioman.
"I always wanted to be part of... somewhere, to be an actor, to be in the movies. In any capacity.
"I just love it. I just like the atmosphere, I like the people. I like what happens in the movie business. Plus you get free food..."
Absolutely fair play.