Lamorne Lionel Morris (born August 14, 1983) is an American actor and comedian. He has played the roles of Winston Bishop in the Fox sitcom ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox that aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around quirky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zo ...

'' (2011–2018), Daniel in '' Call Me Kat'', Darrin Morris in the

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

docudrama '' Valley of the Boom'' (2019), about the 90s tech boom, cartoonist Keef Knight in the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

comedy ''Woke'' (2020–2022), and North Dakota State Trooper Whitley "Witt" Farr in the fifth season of '' Fargo'', for which he won a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

. He has also had supporting roles in the films '' Barbershop: The Next Cut'' (2016), '' Game Night'' (2018)'','' '' Jumanji: The Next Level'' (2019), and ''Yesterday'' (2019).

Early life

Morris grew up on the South Side of Chicago. As a teenager he moved to the western suburb of Glen Ellyn, where he attended Glenbard South High School. Attorney and political candidate Qasim Rashid was a classmate of his. His mother worked for the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

. He also has a brother, Devon. Before he discovered acting, Morris was a class clown who would frequently be sent to detention. Morris graduated from the

College of DuPage College of DuPage is a Public college, public community colleges in the United States, community college with its main campus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates satellite campuses in Addison, Illinois, Addison, Carol St ...

in 2003 where he studied theatre and received the

Chris Farley Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. He was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' for fiv ...

Memorial Acting Scholarship. He also attended the Second City Training Center, and was a member of Second City's Outreach And Diversity Ensemble. While studying at Second City, Morris worked as a server at Ed Debevic's, a retro-themed diner where the servers act rude to the diners.

Career

Morris appeared in commercials for State Farm Insurance,

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

, Twix,

Miller Lite Miller Lite is a 4.2% ABV reduced calorie light American lager beer produced by Molson Coors. It was introduced in 1973 in limited markets by the Miller Brewing Company (then owned by Philip Morris, Inc.) and began being distributed nationa ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7UP worldwide) or Seven Up is an American brand of Lemon-lime drink, lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed ...

, Edge,

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, Chili's,

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

, Ford, and Hornitos Tequila. In 2019, he became the spokesperson for the Canadian-based

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (, ), abbreviated as BMO (pronounced ), is a Canadian multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank, making it Canada ...

and the Chicago-based Bank of Montreal subsidiary BMO Harris Bank. Morris started out as an on-air personality for BET, hosting ''HotWyred'', an interactive tech and gaming show as well as the daily music and entertainment news show '' BET Now'' in addition to other appearances. Morris also hosted the game show ''BrainRush'' on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

as part of CN Real. Morris's breakthrough came when he was cast as Winston Bishop in the comedy series ''

'' on Fox (2011–2018). Morris did not appear until the second episode - originally, Damon Wayans Jr. was a member of the cast, in the role of Coach. However, Wayans's other comedy series, '' Happy Endings'', had already been picked up for a second season on rival network ABC. The producers of ''New Girl'' initially planned to recast Wayans's role, but later decided not to recast and instead wrote his character out in the second episode. Morris cowrote the season 4 episode "Par 5" and directed the final season episode in which Winston reconnects with his dad, played by J.B. Smoove. In November 2018 it was announced that Morris would be starring in a half-hour

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

, ''Woke'', based on cartoonist Keith Knight's autobiographical comic strip '' The K Chronicles'' on

. It ran for two seasons, released in 2020 and 2022, and was canceled in June 2022. Morris has also appeared in the films '' Barbershop: The Next Cut'' (2016), '' Game Night'' (2018)'','' '' The Christmas Chronicles'' (2018), '' Jumanji: The Next Level'' (2019), ''Yesterday'' (2019), ''Bloodshot'' (2020), and '' Desperados'' (2020). During the

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

, Morris co-created and starred in the scripted action-comedy podcast ''Unwanted'' for QCODE. The 8-episode series revolves around a pair of slackers who attempt to capture an escaped murderer hiding in their town for a million-dollar reward. In April 2021, it was announced that Morris would co-star in an Indie horror film titled ''Night Shift'', alongside Phoebe Tonkin and Madison Hu. The film will be directed by Paul and Benjamin China. He began cohosting ''Welcome to Our Show'', a ''New Girl'' rewatch podcast with co-stars Hannah Simone and

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel ( ; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in ''Mumford (film), Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known f ...

, distributed by

IHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

, in January 2022. In 2022, he was cast as North Dakota State Trooper Whitley "Witt" Farr in the fifth season of the FX

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

series '' Fargo'', which premiered in November 2023 and concluded in January 2024. For his performance he won the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Before 1975, supporting actors featured in a mini series or movie were included in categories such as c ...

. In July 2024, it was announced Morris was set to play

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal Robertson (July 5, 1943 – August 9, 2023) was a Canadian musician of Indigenous and Jewish ancestry. He was the lead guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band in the mid-late 1960s and early-mid 1970s. Robertson was also the ...

in the upcoming '' Spider-Noir'' television show on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

. Filming is set to begin in September 2024 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Personal life

Comedian

Garrett Morris Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast and was the first black cast member of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980. He ...

(no relation), whom Morris played in '' Saturday Night'', has had a big impact on his career path as an entertainer. Morris is a baseball, basketball, and bowling fan. He supports semi-retired professional bowler Pete Weber and the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

. Morris has also stated that every room in his house has something to do with basketball.

Filmography

Film

Television

Audio

Web

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Lamorne 1983 births 20th-century African-American male actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male actors African-American comedians African-American male comedians African-American television personalities American game show hosts American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors College of DuPage alumni Comedians from Chicago Living people Male actors from Chicago Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Glen Ellyn, Illinois Place of birth missing (living people)