Forest Whitaker arrived with his wife Keisha and Star Jones, while will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas was spotted leaving the field level following Stevie Wonder's sound check.
Before singing the national anthem to a slowly filling stadium, Jennifer Hudson appeared lost in thought, wearing a casual gray dress and listening to iPod earphones as her handlers asked for directions to the podium. While waiting, she typed on a Sidekick.
Also spotted on the field in the hours leading up to the presentation: Daniel Dae Kim of Lost, new mum Jessica Alba and her husband Cash Warren, Rosario Dawson, Wilmer Valderrama, and Fergie - who waved to fans shouting her name.
"Fired up!" said an excited Spike Lee. "Bigger than the Super Bowl!"
The musical lineup for the evening included will.i.am performing with John Legend, Sheryl Crow (who Obama has said is among the artists on his iPod), Wonder and Michael McDonald.
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Earlier in the day, Steven Spielberg, who directed a short film on veterans that was shown on Wednesday at the convention, was spotted entering the Pepsi Center.
Jennifer Lopez spoke at a reception honouring children's rights activist Marian Wright Edelman. Ben Affleck read excerpts from a Howard Zinn book and made an appearance at the city's food bank for America's Second Harvest.
Affleck was joined by his wife, Jennifer Garner, at the book reading at the Starz Green Room across the street from the Pepsi Center. Also participating: Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Taye Diggs, Hill Harper and Josh Brolin.
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Other celebrity sightings around Denver:
- The Black Eyed Peas performed a concert at the Fillmore Auditorium for the Creative Coalition. Fergie praised Hillary Rodham Clinton's Tuesday-night speech, saying Clinton "really spoke to me as a woman. And I think she spoke to a lot of people in that way."
- Politicians including former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner attended a ONE Campaign party featuring a Kanye West performance. Also in attendance: Forest Whitaker, Kal Penn, Jamie Foxx and director Davis Guggenheim.
- Muhammad Ali sat in the convention audience.
- Fran Drescher, Ashley Judd and Joy Bryant joined Lopez at the reception honouring Edelman.
- Hathaway and others gathered at a morning reception honouring Annette Bening for her work narrating the documentary 14 Women, about women in the US Senate.
- Big Boi of Outkast was at the airport on his way out of town after hosting a Radio One show where he interviewed John Legend, among others.
