Lindsay Shiver
Lindsay Shiver

'The Rookie' Star Says Fame Got Him Out of a Speeding Ticket

Sometimes it pays to play a cop on TV or at least it helps to stop from paying. The Rookie star Nathan Fillion revealed that he got out of a speeding ticket thanks to fame.

Sometimes it pays to play a cop on TV or at least it helps to stop from paying. The Rookie star Nathan Fillion revealed that he got out of a speeding ticket thanks to fame.

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Fillion plays police officer John Nolan on the hit crime drama. He was pulled over for speeding before. However, luck appeared to be on his side. The police officer recognized Fillion as a Hollywood actor. Was he a fan of Fillion's work on The Rookie? Or perhaps Firefly?

"I got pulled over once and the officer looked at my ID and said, 'I recognize you're an actor,' " Fillion explained. "I said, 'Yes... actually, I'm pretty good.'"

The police officer offered the actor an ultimatum. He would let him off with a warning if The Rookie star gave his wife an autograph.

"He said, 'If you give my wife an autograph, I'll let you off with a warning,' " Fillion continued. "I said, 'Great.' He handed me his phone. I asked, 'What's your wife's name?' He said, 'Lily.' So I wrote, 'To Lily...' "

'The Rookie' Star Explains

However, here's where the story gets twisted. Before Fillion signed for the officer's wife, he heard the officer tell his wife that he was meeting actor Jason Bateman.

"Then I heard him say, 'Hey honey, I'm getting you an autograph, it's Jason Bateman,' " he recalled. Thinking fast, Fillion wasn't going to correct him. He explained, "And I signed it... 'All my love, Jason Bateman.'"

Meanwhile, Fillion's The Rookie castmate Deric Augustine also says that he got go from a ticket because of his role on the show.

"I recently got pulled over because of my tinted windows, and the officer recognized me from The Rookie," Augustine, 36, said. "He let me go."

But not everyone was so lucky. Actor Lisseth Chavez got a ticket despite starring on the show.

"I also got pulled over on PCH... and I still got the ticket," Chavez said.

What is really interested is how many of the actors have been pulled over despite playing police on the screen.