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Main Line Songwriter Wins Oscar for ‘La La Land'

Benj Pasek, 31, who grew up in Ardmore, was one of the co-writers behind “City of Stars,” which won Best Original Song at the 2017 Academy Awards.

One of the songwriters who just won an Academy Award for the modern day musical “La La Land” hails from Montgomery County.

Benj Pasek, 31, who grew up in Ardmore, was one of the co-writers behind “City of Stars,” which won Best Original Song at the 2017 Academy Awards.

Pasek attended Friends Central School in Wynnewood as a teen. NBC10 interviewed Pasek's drama teacher Terry Guerin as well as his mother Kathy Hirsh-Pasek in January after he won a Golden Globe for "City of Stars."

“I don’t know if I was nervous as much as I was so excited that he even had the opportunity to be acknowledged by his peers for the work that he did,” Pasek's mom said on his Golden Globe win. “How cool was that?”

During his speech at the Oscars, Pasek thanked his mother who he took with him to the show. 

"I want to thank my mom who is my date tonight," he said. "She let me quit the JCC soccer league to be in a musical. This is dedicated to all the kids who sing in the rain and all the moms who let them."

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