Celebrities

Beyond MoCo

Beyond MoCo: Queen Elizabeth II Saw her First (American) Football Game at UMD

By Amy Lusignan

Last November, the Netflix show “The Crown” reached Netflix’s top 10 most watched shows. The hit drama follows Queen Elizabeth II’s long reign of Great Britain. Unfortunately, the show didn’t cover the Queen’s tour to the United States and Canada in 1957. On October 19, she and the Duke of Edinburgh cheered among 45,000 other fans at a University of Maryland (UMD) football game.

The Maryland Terrapins were playing against the North Carolina Tar Heels. While watching her first game of American football, the Queen stood next to Maryland governor Theodore McKeldin (to the right in the photo) and University of Maryland president Wilson Homer “Bull” Elkins (to the left in the photo).

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MCPS

Gibran Hamdan, the First Player of Pakistani Descent to Play in the NFL, Attended Churchill High School

By MCS Staff

Gibran Hamdan, the First Person of Pakistani Descent to Play in the NFL, Attended Churchill High School

Gibran Hamdan was drafted by the Washington Football Team in the seventh round of the 2003 NFL Draft, making him the first person of Pakistani descent to play in the league (his mother is Pakistani and his father is Palestinian).

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Arts

O.A.R. Embraces Their Rockville Roots

By Amy Lusignan

O.A.R. Embraces Their Rockville Roots

It was 2014 and the band O.A.R. was releasing its eighth studio album. After becoming an international success and touring all around the world it seemed fitting to go back to where they started and name their album “The Rockville LP,” after their hometown in Montgomery County, MD.

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Arts

Who Am I? MoCo Edition

By Amy Lusignan

This Montgomery County native is an accomplished musician, a New York Times Best Selling author, and Twitch streamer. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he grew up in the West Deer Park neighborhood in Gaithersburg. He also worked at Joe’s Crab Shack in Rio and performed there a few times when he started off.

Originally under the name Psychological, he started performing professionally in 2009. As to why he called himself that, he said, “ I just loved this word because it was about the mind and I knew that’s what I wanted my music to consist of; something that really challenges the mind.” Years later, he would rise to international fame and receive 2 Grammy nominations.

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Celebrities

Kate Siegel, Current Star of Netflix Series, is From MoCo

By MCS Staff

Kate Siegel, Current Star of Netflix Series, is From MoCo

Kate Siegel, popular for her roles in horror films like Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, and the new Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor, is from Montgomery County.

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Gaithersburg

Halloweentown Star, Kimberly J. Brown, is From Gaithersburg

By MCS Staff

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.”

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Gaithersburg

Top 5 Movies Filmed in MoCo

By Daniel Garay

The DMV has many scenic areas and buildings that have been used as striking locales for filming film and TV. Whether it’s downtown D.C., Baltimore, or Annapolis, location scouts consistently look to our surrounding areas as visual homes for their stories. Montgomery County is no different.

Here are five movies (in no particular  order) where you can see Montgomery County on the big screen:

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Celebrities

Who Am I? MoCo Edition

By MCS Staff

This young Superwoman spent some of her formative years growing up in Potomac and even attended a Gifted & Talented program in the area during her elementary school years. At one point, she also lived in Senegal before moving to LA with her family, which is where she spent the majority of her teens. in 2018 she was one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influencial People.

Issa Rae is known for many projects, including her HBO show, Insecure. She also recently starred in the popular movie The Photograph. The Photograph was playing in theaters last winter and spring and is about the journey of a famous photographer’s estranged daughter (Issa Rae) as she falls in love with a journalist who is going through an investigation of his mother’s life Even if you haven’t seen The Photograph, you might recognize Rae from one of her many other works. She voiced the mom in the award winning animated short film Hair Love, and directed and acted in the movie The Lovebirds (released in April 2020).

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Bethesda

Who Am I? MoCo Edition

By MCS Staff

She was born and raised in Bethesda and attended the Holton-Arms School on River Road. After appearing on Broadway shows, commercials, and multiple television shows in the 80s, Patricia Richardson got her big break when she landed the role of Jill Taylor on Home Improvement as a last minute replacement. The role led to Richardson receiving four Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations. While working on Home Improvement in 1994, she co-hosted the Emmys with Ellen DeGeneres. TV Guide also named Jill Taylor the 7th best TV Mom of all-time.

Currently, Richardson lives in Los Angeles and will be turning 70 years old this upcoming February. The featured photograph comes from one of her high school yearbooks and below you’ll see a shot from her Home Improvement days.

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