MoCo Celebs Archives - The MoCo Show

CBS Sitcom ‘Ghosts’ Stars Two Wootton High School Graduates

Published February 20, 2022 at 1:35PM | Updated August 27, 2022 at 9:24AM

The CBS sitcom ‘Ghosts’ debuted in October of last year and was recently renewed for a second season. Coincidentally, it stars two actors who graduated from Wootton High School in Rockville. The show is about a married couple in New York, Samantha and Jay, who believe that their dreams have come true when they inherit a beautiful country home. They soon find that it is falling apart and inhabited by ghosts who died on the mansion’s grounds and are now bound to the area until they can reach the afterlife. Jay cannot see or hear the ghosts, but Samantha, after having a near-death experience, can.

Jay, the male lead, is portrayed by Utkarsh Ambudkar. 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 as a VJ for MTV Desi, Donald in Pitch Perfect, Rishi in the Mindy Project, Skatch in Mulan, and more. Below you’ll see Ambudkar’s rap from the 2020 Oscars.

Bethesda

MoCo Natives Take #1 Box Office Spot with Jackass Forever

By MCS Staff

Published February 10, 2022 at 12:44PM | Updated February 16, 2022 at 8:48PM

Jackass Forever took the #1 box office spot this past weekend, grossing over $23 million in its first weekend in theaters. The comedy is the fourth Jackass movie and is based on the American reality comedy television series created by MoCo natives Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze along with actor Johnny Knoxville. Tremaine and Jonze were childhood friends, both growing up in MoCo and graduating from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda in the mid 80s and are both executive producers of all the Jackass movies, including Jackass Forever.

Tremaine is the former editor of the skating culture magazine Big Brother and a former art director of the influential BMXmagazine GO. He was also a former professional BMX rider. Tremaine has directed and produced all the movies in the Jackass franchise and was also the executive producer on the MTV reality series Rob and Big, and the executive producer of Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, Ridiculousness, Nitro Circus, and Adult Swim’s Loiter Squad.

MoCo Celebs

Issa Rae, Who Grew Up in Potomac, Ends Successful Five-Year Run of Her Show ‘Insecure’

By MCS Staff

Published December 28, 2021 at 9:41PM

Issa Rae was born in Los Angeles. After moving to Senegal for a couple years where her father, a pediatrician, attempted to open a hospital, her family moved to Potomac, Maryland.

While growing up in Potomac, she was in a gifted and talented program at Cold Spring Elementary School. Rae was quoted as saying that in her time in Potomac, she grew up with “things that aren’t considered ‘Black,’ like the swim team and street hockey and Passover dinners with Jewish best friends.”

MoCo Celebs

Ben Stein, Silver Spring Native

By MCS Staff

Published December 7, 2021 at 8:46AM | Updated December 7, 2021 at 2:34PM

Ben Stein grew up in the Woodside Forest neighborhood of Silver Spring. He attended Montgomery Hills Junior High with Sylvester Stallone in the late 50s. Stein then moved on to Blair High School, where he was a year ahead of Goldie Hawn and graduated with journalist, Carl Bernstein (teamed with Bob Woodward to do much of the original reporting on the Watergate Scandal, which led to the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon).

He majored in economics at Columbia University’s Columbia College and graduated with honors before graduating as valedictorian from Yale Law School.

Potomac

Former NBA All-Star Buck Williams Holding Estate Sale in Potomac

By MCS Staff

Published October 28, 2021 at 9:48AM

Former NBA All-Star Buck Williams and his wife, Mimi, are downsizing from their six-bedroom, nine-bathroom Georgian mansion in Potomac and have listed many items in an estate sale.

Williams, a North Carolina native, attended and played for the University of Maryland from 1978-1981. At Maryland, he earned All-ACC honors in 1980 and 1981.

Bethesda

Hocus Pocus: MoCo Connection

By MCS Staff

Published October 22, 2021 at 8:09AM

Hocus Pocus has been a Halloween favorite for a couple decades now, but did you know there’s a MoCo connection in the 1993 film?

Not quite as big of a connection as the Sanderson sisters graduating from a local high school, but something fun nonetheless.

Education

Montgomery Planning Recommends Approval of New Building for Woodlin Elementary School

By MCS Staff

Published September 30, 2021 at 7:00AM | Updated September 30, 2021 at 9:01AM

Montgomery Planning staff recommends approval of new two-story building for Woodlin Elementary School in Silver Spring.

Fun Fact: Sylvester Stallone and Dave Chappelle both attended Woodlin Elementary School in Silver Spring.

Bethesda

MoCo Native Katie Ledecky Moves Home Base to Florida, Joins Florida Gators Swimming Program as Volunteer Coach

By MCS Staff

Published September 22, 2021 at 1:41PM | Updated November 6, 2022 at 6:49PM

Katie Ledecky, MoCo native and one of the greatest swimmers of all-time, has decided to move her home base from Stanford in California to Gainesville, Florida. Today she announced the move along with the Florida Gators announcing her joining the swim team as a volunteer coach. Ledecky has won 7 Olympic gold medals and 15 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. She is also the world record holder in the women’s 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle (long course), and holds the fastest-ever times in the women’s 500-, 1000-, 1500-, and 1650-yard freestyle events.

Bethesda

Katie Ledecky Visits Little Flower School in Bethesda

By MCS Staff

Published September 18, 2021 at 8:52AM | Updated November 6, 2022 at 6:42PM

Katie Ledecky, one of the greatest female swimmers of all-time, visited Little Flower School in Bethesda yesterday. Ledecky provided words of encouragement to current students at the school while proudly wearing her most recent gold and silver medals from the recent 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held this summer). She and her Team USA Swimming teammate Phoebe Bacon both attended the school while growing up right here in MoCo.

MoCo

MoCo Natives Darren Star and Chris Van Dusen Featured in Variety’s 2021 TV Producers Impact Report

By MCS Staff

Published September 17, 2021 at 2:53PM | Updated September 21, 2021 at 1:37PM

Each year, Variety celebrates the live-action, scripted TV producers whose series made the biggest impact over the course of the year.

This year two Montgomery County natives were featured in the article. Darren Star, for Emily in Paris and Younger, and Chris Van Dusen for Bridgerton.

Germantown

Germantown Native, Ivan Carlo, Cast in HBO’s Gossip Girl Revival

By MCS Staff

Published August 21, 2021 at 10:45AM

Prior to his role in HBO’s “Gossip Girl” reboot, Ivan Carlo grew up in Germantown– attending Clopper Mill Elementary School, Roberto Clemente Middle School, and Northwest High School.

The actor credits Northwest High School’s production of “Hairspray” as his inspiration for getting into acting, according to a recent interview in Newscene Magazine.