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.

Actor Utkarsh Ambudkar (@UTKtheINC) gave us all a little update at the Oscars last night. He graduated from Wootton!

He is well known as Donald from Pitch Perfect and Rishi (Mindy’s younger brother) from The Mindy Project, as well as other projects. pic.twitter.com/Oh08yI4SMx

— The MoCoShow (MCS) (@TheMoCoShow) February 10, 2020

Richie Moriarty portrays one of the ghosts, Pete Martino, who was a girl Scouts leader who died in 1985 from being shot through the neck with an arrow. He moved to Rockville with his family at the age of 5 and attended Fallsmead Elementary School. The 41 year old actor also graduated from Wootton High School. He can also be seen in What We Do in the Shadows on FX, in the Netflix hits Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards, season seven of Orange Is the New Black, and more. Below you’ll see Moriarty in his first grade talent show at Fallsmead Elementary School in Rockville:

MoCo natives Stefon and Trevon Diggs have dominated the NFL this year. The brothers, who grew up in Gaithersburg, were both recently selected as Pro Bowlers for this NFL season.

Stefon grew up in Gaithersburg and attended Good Counsel High School in Olney, where he played football and ran track. He recorded 810 yards receiving with 23 touchdowns as a junior in 2010, and was runner-up for the Gatorade Maryland Player of the Year. As a senior, he recorded 770 yards receiving and 8 touchdowns, and racked up 277 rushing yards and three more touchdowns on the ground. He was named to the All-Metro team by The Washington Post both seasons.

Following his senior season, he was named MVP of the U.S. Army All-American Junior Combine in 2011 and was invited to play in the 2012 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.A consensus five-star recruit, Diggs was viewed as one of the best players in the nation. He was considered the second-best wide receiver recruit in the nation and was rated as the No.1 recruit in the state of Maryland by Rivals.com. Though he had scholarship offers from Florida, USC, Cal, Ohio State, and Auburn, among others, Diggs chose to stay close to home and committed to the University of Maryland on February 10, 2012.

In his three seasons at Maryland, Diggs had 150 receptions for 2,227 yards and 14 touchdowns. During his freshman year at College Park, he recorded the second-most all-purpose yards in school history with 1,896. He finished his three-year college career with 2,227 receiving yards and 14 receiving touchdowns, as well as two kick-return touchdowns. He was selected in the fifth round with the 146th overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2015 NFL Draft, and signed a four-year, $2.5 million deal that included a guaranteed $227,000 signing bonus.

Diggs became a full-time starter for the Vikings midway through his rookie year despite his late-round draft status. In 2018, he received a 5-year contract extension, playing two more seasons in Minnesota before being traded to Buffalo in 2020. With the Bills, he became the fastest receiver to surpass 100 catches with his new team and broke Eric Moulds‘ franchise record for receiving yards in a season. Diggs led all NFL receivers in 2020 with 127 receptions and 1,535 receiving yards. He already has over 1,000 receiving yards on 82 catches with 8 touchdowns this season for the 8-6 Bills.

Trevon Diggs was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 2020 draft. The Gaithersburg native currently leads the NFL with 10 interceptions.

Trevon played for the Wootton Patriots before transferring to Avalon. At Avalon, Diggs played on both sides of the ball and became a four-star recruit and was two-time All-Met as a wide receiver.

After his time at Avalon Diggs continued his academic and athletic career at the University of Alabama. By his junior year in 2018, Diggs had become a full-time starter for Coach Nick Saban’s defense until he broke his foot midseason, ending the 2018 season with 20 tackles, one interception, six pass breakups in six games.

By his senior year, Diggs started 12 games and posted 37 tackles and two fumble recoveries. (including a 100-yard score). During his senior year, he was a third-team AP All-American and second-team All-SEC.

As a rookie, Diggs played in 12 games and started 12 of them. He had 58 tackles, one forced fumble, a sack, and 3 interceptions. This year, his second in the league, he has 10 interceptions, 38 tackles, and 19 passes defended.

Photos courtesy of the NFL.

Myles Frost graduated from Wootton High School in Rockville in 2017. Four years later, in December of 2021, he will take over the role of Michael Jackson on Broadway’s MJ. He will take over for Tony Award nominated Ephraim Sykes, who released this statement:

“It’s with a heavy heart that I depart MJ. This year has brought a lot of change and opportunity, and although it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to an iconic role and production, I look forward to what is to come. Thank you to the MJ team and congratulations to Myles. I can’t wait to see you shine as the King of Pop and for us all to celebrate the return of Broadway.”

Frost will take over the role for the show’s previews starting December 6, 2021, at the Neil Simon Theatre, with opening night set for February 1, 2022. Below you’ll see a teaser of Frost portraying the King of Pop:

MoCo Native’s Short Film Selected for Matt Groening Fellowship Program

MoCo native and Wootton High School graduate Demetri Tzamaras has worked on a few notable movies including Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse, The Minions, and Secret Life of Pets.

He recently created a short animated comedy about a pair of young brothers who are on a trip to Ocean City, MD with their “Papou” (the Greek word for grandfather).

Tzamaras told us that this was similar to what he and his friends experienced growing up here in MoCo.

The film was selected for the Matt Groening Production Fellowship by Matt Groening himself (creator of the The Simpsons), and is going to be playing at various film festivals in Greece.

The Bucket Hat trailer can be seen here.

Brian Nicholson, a MoCo Native, is the Youngest Krispy Kreme General Manager in Company History

Krispy Kreme recently opened a new shop at a Columbia Heights in Washington DC with general manager Brian Nicholson leading the way.

Brian is a MoCo native. He was born and raised in the county and graduated from Wootton High School in 2018.

He has worked for Krispy Kreme for five years, starting a the Fallsgrove location in Rockville, where he became a full-time in employee after his high school graduation and served as an assistant general manager.

After just 9 months, he was promoted to general manager of the DuPont Circle location before being asked to open the newest location at 3100 14th Street in Columbia Heights last month.

Brian tells us his experience opening a new store has been “more than fun” and was excited to be able to open the store in February– Black History Month.

We wish Brian the best at Krispy Kreme and look forward to seeing him continue to succeed. Maybe he will bring MoCo a second Krispy Kreme location? We can only hope!

Congratulations, Brian!