Hugh McChord(1957-2026)

Hugh McChord was born in Boston, Massachusetts and spent the first half of his life on the East Coast which would help explain his continued love for the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins. His love of the theater began at Hingham High School where he was part of the Drama Club and a member of the Thespians. He continued his acting education by appearing in a number of independent and school film productions at Emerson College where he graduated in 1980 with a degree in Mass Communications. It was also there that he met a good friend who would be instrumental in furthering his eventual career in television, Joe Rocco. After graduation Joe had taken the job of Sports Anchor at KMPH in Fresno, California and it was Joe who convinced Hugh to move west and give local television news a shot. Shortly after moving in 1983, Hugh was hired as a staff news photographer. In 1985 Hugh moved up the ladder to Sacramento as initially a news editor and then within a couple of years, news photographer. It was in Sacramento that Hugh resumed his acting by enrolling in the Actors Workshop which resulted in an ELLY Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mick in the play "Night Baseball" directed by Ed Claudio. It was also in Sacramento that Hugh met Joe Carnahan who was looking for actors for his first movie, Blood Guts Bullets & Octane. Hugh landed the role of the hit man, Mr. Reich. The movie was eventually picked up by Lionsgate after being accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. Joe has since gone on to do a number of Hollywood blockbusters including Narc and Smokin' Aces. After that Hugh landed prominent roles in a number of independent movies including Fugitive Hunter in 2005, Elsa Letterseed in 2006 and Andre: Heart of the Giant in 2008. Hugh has also continued his camera work. Since leaving KXTV in 1997 Hugh was director of photography on the nationally syndicated news feature, The Legal Edge, which during its ten plus year run garnered two EMMY's for Hugh's camera work and for the show. In 2002 Hugh relocated to Los Angeles to work as a staff shooter on the show Celebrity Justice which ended production in 2005. Around the same time Hugh bought a complete camera package and after the show's end entered the freelance world full-time. During the next nine years, Hugh was the primary videographer covering everything entertainment related for Fox. This included movie premiere red carpet coverage as well as being assigned to the Fox primary camera position on all the major awards shows including the Oscars, EMMY's, Golden Globes, SAG's ... you name it. In 2014, Hugh and his family relocated to the Tampa, Florida area where Hugh became the NFL Network's primary cameraman for all of their Tampa Bay Buccaneers coverage. It was also in the Tampa area where Hugh met the love of his life, Karine, in 2004. In 2005, they welcomed their daughter, Jaz, into the world and then in 2009, her sister Hannah.