Celebrities Archives - Page 24 of 28

Abbott Elementary Star, Lisa Ann Walter, is a MoCo Native and MCPS Graduate

Published November 3, 2022 at 5:55PM | Updated November 3, 2022 at 8:29PM

Lisa Ann Walter is an actress, comedian and television producer, perhaps best known for her roles as Chessy in the romantic comedy film The Parent Trap and her current role as Melissa Schemmenti on the ABC mockumentary sitcom Abbott Elementary. She’s also a native of Montgomery County.

Walter was born in Silver Spring on August 3, 1963. She grew up in the area and was a 1979 graduate of Blair High School. She later graduated with a theater degree from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, in 1983. Below you’ll see yearbook photos of Walter, sent in by her former teacher, Carole Chansky Goodman (who is also Blake High School’s first ever principal).

The Blair Witch Project: Created by Wheaton High School Graduate and Filmed Primarily in MoCo

By MCS Staff

Published October 26, 2022 at 7:31AM

With Halloween almost here, it’s the perfect time to watch some scary movies. Did you know that the first installment of the Blair Witch franchise, The Blair Witch Project (1999) was primarily filmed right here in Montgomery County?

In the indie supernatural horror, three film students camp in the fictional Black Hills Forest of Burkittsville, Maryland in October of 1994 to film a documentary on the local legend of the Blair Witch. Mysteriously, the trio vanishes, leaving behind hours of footage to be discovered a year later by University of Maryland anthropology students. What the viewer witnesses is this purportedly real home video style footage.

Halloweentown Star, Kimberly J. Brown, is From Gaithersburg

By MCS Staff

Published October 23, 2022 at 8:55AM | Updated October 24, 2022 at 7:13AM

Actress Kimberly J. Brown, best known to audiences for her portrayal of the teen witch Marnie Piper in the Halloweentown films, is from Gaithersburg. In a 2016 interview with a Maryland-based blog, she referenced growing up in Gaithersburg in the 80s and early 90s. “There were certain areas near where I lived that were so serene. I love that whole country, green feel. Our family ritual was going to duck ponds in the area and playing with the baby chicks. I love being able to have a bat and a ball, and not caring where the ball lands if that makes sense. In Los Angeles, you don’t have that luxury all the time.” In the interview she also refers to Washington as her favorite NFL team.

Brown got her first big break playing the role of Marah Lewis on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light– the daughter of “super couple” Josh Lewis and Reva Shayne. When she was 13 she was cast in Halloweentown as Marnie Piper, a young witch who is determined to learn magic from her grandmother Aggie, portrayed by Debbie Reynolds. Halloweentown aired on October 17, 1998, and was well received by audiences, leading Disney Channel to produce three sequels; Brown reprised her role as Marnie in two of them, but was replaced by Sara Paxton in the fourth installment, Return to Halloweentown, a decision over which Brown expressed confusion and disappointment.

MoCo Native and Lead Guitarist of Hootie and The Blowfish, Mark Bryan, Will Perform With His Band “The Screaming Trojans” (Nod to Seneca Valley and Gaithersburg) in Frederick This Saturday

By MCS Staff

Published October 19, 2022 at 12:23PM

Half of Hootie and The Blowfish, Mark Bryan and Dean Felber, are graduates of Seneca Valley High School in Germantown. Mark Bryan, lead guitarist of Hootie and The Blowfish, will […]

Former Rockville Resident Connie Britton Co-Stars in #1 Movie on Netflix, Luckiest Girl Alive

By MCS Staff

Published October 12, 2022 at 11:24AM

Connie Britton was born Constance Elaine Womack in Boston, Massachusetts, but moved to Rockville as a baby and spent the first seven years of her life there. Britton lived off of Norbeck Rd. and Bel Pre Rd. You might recognize her from one of her many popular roles in Friday Night Lights, American Horror Story, Nashville, 9-1-1, Dirty John, and a lot more. She is currently co-starring in the number 1 movie on Netflix, Luckiest Girl Alive.

Luckiest Girl Alive is a 2015 New York Times Bestselling mystery novel written by the American author Jessica Knoll. The novel follows a young woman, Ani Fanelli, who has sought to reinvent herself in her adult life, following a series of horrifying events during her teenage years. The star of the movie is played by Mila Kunis, who works as an editor at a glamorous New York City women’s magazine and has a loving fiancé from a good family. Yet Ani also hides a secret – as a teenager,she underwent a series of horrifying and emotionally crippling events, including a school shooting, that have continued to impact her well into her adult years.

MoCo Connection in Hocus Pocus; Sequel Set to Release on September 30

By MCS Staff

Published September 29, 2022 at 9:40AM

With Hocus Pocus 2 being released on Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, we wanted to revisit the [not so strong] MoCo connection from the popular original 1993 film– Bethesda native Sean Murray in his role as Thackery Binx.

Hocus Pocus follows teenager Max Dennison (Omri Katz), who after moving to Salem, Massachusetts, explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani (Thora Birch) and their new friend, Allison (Vinessa Shaw). After dismissing a story Allison tells as superstitious, Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy) who used to live in the house. Now, with the help of a magical cat (Binx) the kids must steal the witches’ book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal.

Blair High School Alumna Cynthia Addai-Robinson Stars in New Lord of the Rings Television Series

By MCS Staff

Published September 6, 2022 at 9:49AM

Cynthia Addai-Robinson stars as Queen Regent Tar-Míriel in Amazon Prime’s highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. She was born on January 12, 1980, in London; her mother is from Ghana and her father was a U.S. citizen. She moved to the U.S. when she was 4 and was raised by her mother in Silver Spring, where she graduated from Blair High School in 1998.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered last week with its first two episodes. The rest of the eight-episode first season is running until October 14. The show’s time period is before the events of The Hobbit and the original The Lord of the Rings.

Utkarsh Ambudkar Returns to MoCo For an Episode of ‘Secret Celebrity Renovation’ to Upgrade His Parents’ Home in Gaithersburg

By MCS Staff

Published August 27, 2022 at 9:56AM | Updated August 27, 2022 at 7:29PM

Utkarsh Ambudkar was born in nearby Baltimore, but was raised in Rockville while his parents worked at NIH in Bethesda. The 38 year old actor graduated from Wootton High School and is well known for his roles in Hulu’s The Dropout, the male lead in hit CBS sitcom Ghosts (which he stars in with fellow Wootton alumnus Richie Moriarty), Donald in Pitch Perfect, Rishi in the Mindy Project, Skatch in Mulan, and a lot more. In season 2, episode 5 of the CBS series Secret Celebrity Renovation, Ambudkar comes home to MoCo to renovate his parents’ home.

The episode starts off with views of Gaithersburg, where his parents currently live, leading into Ambudkar and the show’s host, Nischelle Turner, driving through MoCo on their way to his parents’ home. While home he visits friends who are still in the area and heads over to Wootton High School where one of his childhood friends, Nick Hitchens, is currently the assistant principal at the school. He stops by the theater where it all started and credits one his former directors, Harriet Mittelberger, for changing the course of his life by convincing Utkarsh’s mom to let him pursue acting.

Damascus Native Brian Stelter Signs Off of CNN’s ‘Reliable Sources’ for Final Time

By MCS Staff

Published August 22, 2022 at 5:58AM

CNN’s “Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter” came to an end on Sunday night after the company announced Thursday that it is ending the media analysis show that has aired in various iterations for 30 years (Stelter has hosted for nine years). Stelter is a native of Damascus, MD, where he was born and raised, graduating from Damascus High School in 2003.

After graduating from college in May 2007, Stelter joined The New York Times as a media reporter at the age of 22, making him one of the youngest staff members at the time. In November 2013, he became the new host of CNN’s Reliable Sources and also chief media correspondent.

Who Am I? MoCo Edition

By MCS Staff

Published August 15, 2022 at 8:52AM | Updated November 23, 2022 at 7:12PM

This comedian (pictured above in the middle with his mother and siblings), born Anthony Reed in Greenville, Mississippi, was seen by millions weekly when he became an original cast member on Fox’s In Living Color. At just 18 months old, he was abandoned in the trash before being rescued by the woman who became his adoptive mother. His parents changed his name to what he’s known by now when they adopted him. His adoptive parents divorced when he was five years old, and his mother and the children moved to Washington, D.C. before later moving to Montgomery County where he lived in Wheaton, the neighborhood of Rosemary Hills in Silver Spring, and then Takoma Park. He attended Rosemary Hills Elementary School, Sligo Middle School, and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (with a short amount of time at Mark Twain in Rockville).

After graduating in 1981, he studied communications and interned at the radio station of the University of the District of Columbia for one semester. While in the area he held jobs across MoCo, including in the kitchen of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, cleaning at Roy Rogers, bussing tables at an IHOP in Wheaton, and working in Prince George’s County at the storeroom of Hechinger in Hyattsville.

Mike Tyson’s Cannabis Brand Expands National Footprint to Four New Markets, Including Maryland (Includes Two Montgomery County Locations)

By MCS Staff

Published July 24, 2022 at 4:37PM

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson’s cannabis brand, Tyson 2.0, announced its launch in four additional markets: Arizona, Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania with Columbia Care. The expansion into Maryland will include two Montgomery County locations– in Chevy Chase and Rockville. Mike Tyson previously lived in Montgomery County, where his former home at Congressional Country Club sold last summer.

Per the press release: Columbia Care is Tyson 2.0’s exclusive national cultivation, manufacturing and distribution partner in the markets where it operates. The partnership was first announced in October of 2021, with products hitting shelves in November of 2021. Tyson 2.0 is now available in nine Columbia Care markets, with more planned in the coming months.