Heather Morris

Heather Elizabeth Morris is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She played the role of Brittany S. Pierce in the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee''.

Early life

Morris was born in Thousand Oaks, California, and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. She began dancing in early childhood. Morris competed at a young age in a variety of styles including jazz, tap, and contemporary. Her father died of cancer when she was 14 years old. After graduating from Desert Mountain High School, where she was homecoming queen, Morris spent a year at Arizona State University before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a dance career.

Career

Morris' first significant appearance was in 2006 on '' So You Think You Can Dance'' Season 2 where she made it through "Vegas Week" without being cut, but failed to make the final 20 by a vote of 3 to 2.

Not discouraged, Morris actively pursued a career in dancing. Her big break came in 2007 via Beyoncé. Morris was one of Beyoncé's backup dancers on The Beyoncé Experience world tour and, following that, worked again with Beyoncé on a mini "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" promotional tour that included 2008 performances on the American Music Awards, ''Saturday Night Live'', ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', ''Today'', and MTV's ''Total Request Live'' finale. She also danced backup for Beyoncé and Tina Turner at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008. She later appeared in a small role in the movie '' Fired Up'', where she met choreographer Zach Woodlee. Following that film, Woodlee brought Morris in to dance on other shows he was choreographing, including episodes of ''Eli Stone'' and '' Swingtown'', and the movie '' Bedtime Stories''; eventually, Morris landed a role as Brittany on ''Glee''.

In December 2010, Morris was named the Celebrity Style Ambassador for FLIRT! Cosmetics, an Estee Lauder cosmetics line. In 2010, Morris made the ''Maxim'' Hot 100 list, coming in at number 85. On the ''AfterEllen'' hot 100 list, she was ranked #2 behind her close friend Naya Rivera.

In 2011, Morris starred in a back-to-school commercial for Staples Canada that featured her dancing.

In the October 2011 issue of ''Fitness'' magazine, she stated that she had her breast implants removed. "Implants were something I thought I wanted when I was younger, and now I don't. It was hard being active with them, because my chest was always sore. It hurt a lot, and I didn't like always being in pain, so they had to go!" Her breast implant surgery was done sometime between her time on '' So You Think You Can Dance'' at age 18, and age 21 when she was a backup dancer for Beyoncé.

''Glee''

Morris was taking acting classes and actively pursuing an acting career when she was asked by Woodlee to teach the choreography for Beyoncé's " Single Ladies" dance to the ''Glee'' actors. At the same time, the show was looking for a third cheerleader, and Morris ended up landing the role of Brittany. Initially a background character who hardly ever spoke, the role grew as writers discovered Morris had a gift for delivering one-liners. Jarrett Wieselman of the ''New York Post'' opined that Morris had "emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now" and a ''LA Times'' writer mentioned having a "comedy crush on Morris, who plays the galactically dim Glee Club cheerleader Brittany".

When a promotional clip for the episode " Sectionals" indicated that Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez had slept together, Dorothy Snarker, writing for lesbian entertainment website ''AfterEllen'', praised the pairing, referring to them by the portmanteau "Brittana". Snarker called the two her "new favorite ''Glee'' pairing", commenting that: "While Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana) have had minimal screen time, they've made it count. Heather in particular has brought the laughs as the Cheerio least likely to get a Mensa invitation. Never mind Finn and Rachel — I'm on Team Brittana now."

Morris' role became more prominent during the final nine episodes of season one and, due to the overwhelmingly positive response to her character, was promoted to official series regular status during season two. She was at the center of the second episode, " Britney/Brittany" (a tribute to Britney Spears), where she made her singing debut covering Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" solo and dueting with Naya Rivera on " Me Against the Music". She later got many other singing and dancing solos. The second half of season two saw Morris' character engage in a lesbian storyline with Rivera's character. The arc and Rivera's and Morris' performances were met with critical acclaim. As on ''Glee'', Morris was best friends in real life with co-star Rivera, until Rivera's death in 2020.

In season 3, she and Rivera's characters continued their relationship as a couple. Morris had a leading role in the episode " Prom-asaurus". During the season finale, Brittany (played by Morris) revealed that she had an 0.0 GPA and that she would not be graduating.

During the 2011 Glee Tour, Morris performed Britney Spears' song "I'm a Slave 4 U". She also had a dance spotlight with castmate Harry Shum Jr. during Naya Rivera's performance of " Valerie", and was one of the dancers in the "Single Ladies" and "Safety Dance" numbers.

Morris co-wrote and appeared in a January 2011 video for the comedy website Funny or Die, "Nuthin' But A Glee Thang" a parody of "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg. Co-written with actresses Ashley Lendzion and Riki Lindhome, the video features appearances from ''Modern Family''s Sofia Vergara and Morris' ''Glee'' castmates Matthew Morrison, Cory Monteith, Harry Shum Jr., and Naya Rivera.

On June 28, 2013, it was reported that Morris would not be returning as a regular on ''Glee'' fifth season. However, Morris reprised her role for the show's hundredth episode and the final episode of the show's fifth season. Morris also appeared in five episodes in the show's sixth and final season, including the series finale.

''Dancing with the Stars'', ''The Masked Dancer''

On March 1, 2017, Morris was revealed as one of the contestants who would compete on season 24 of ''Dancing with the Stars'', causing massive criticism, with many citing her professional dancing experience as an unfair advantage. The producers defended their decision to cast Morris by saying that she does not have ballroom or partnering experience. She was paired with professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, though she danced with troupe member Alan Bersten starting on the second until the fifth week of the competition due to Maks suffering a calf muscle injury. Maks reunited with her to dance in the sixth week of the competition on April 24, 2017, but they were eliminated despite receiving the first perfect score of the season and topping the results board, causing fans to boo loudly.

On October 22, 2022, Morris was revealed to be the winner of the second and final season of ''The Masked Dancer''. She participated in the show under the character of "Scissors". Due to the show being cancelled in 2024, she was the last ever celebrity to be unmasked on the show, and closed the entire show, the final, and its final season by dancing unmasked to "Respect" by Aretha Franklin, which marked the show's final performance in whole.

''HEAT Faculty''

Morris joined the HEAT Convention and Competition Faculty in 2020. Morris teaches master classes and serves as a judge.

Personal life

Morris married Taylor Hubbell on May 16, 2015. They began dating when he was a college baseball player, having formerly attended the same high school in Arizona, though they did not know each other there. They began dating after Morris moved to Los Angeles and Hubbell contacted her on Myspace. In a 2011 interview with '' Fitness'', Morris said of Hubbell, "I want to marry him so bad. That's what I really care about. I want to marry Taylor and have kids with him. I love acting, but if it affects my relationship, then I won't continue doing it." After graduating from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, Hubbell began living with Morris in Los Angeles in early 2012. They have two sons.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Discography

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Heather
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from California
Actresses from Scottsdale, Arizona
American female dancers
American film actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
Dancers from California
Living people
Musicians from Scottsdale, Arizona
People from Thousand Oaks, California
Singers from Arizona
Singers from California
So You Think You Can Dance (American TV series) contestants
Year of birth missing (living people)