Heather Elizabeth Morris (born February 1, 1987) is an American actress, dancer, singer and model, known for her role as the cheerleader Brittany S. Pierce in the musical comedy series Glee.
Early life
Morris was born in Thousand Oaks, California,[1] and was raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. She began dancing when she was 9.[2]
Morris competed at a young age in a variety of styles including jazz,
tap, and contemporary. Morris's father died of cancer when she was 14
years old. "It's something that is hard for me, because I'm sad about
it, but I don't dwell on it," she said during an interview workshop with
students in December 2009. "I know he's in a better place, instead of
suffering."[3][4][5]
After graduating from Desert Mountain High School, Morris decided to
enroll in a local university but realized she was in the wrong place and
moved to L.A. instead at age 19.[6]
Career
Morris' first significant appearance was in 2006 on So You Think You Can Dance Season 2 where she made the "green mile" or "Vegas Week" but failed to make the final 20 by a vote of 3-2.[7]
Not discouraged, Morris moved to Los Angeles and actively pursued a
career in dancing and was trained in jazz dance. Her big break came in
2007 via Beyoncé. Morris was one of Beyoncé's backup dancers on The Beyoncé Experience world tour and,[8] 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,[9] Saturday Night Live,[10] The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Today,[10] and MTV's Total Request Live finale. She also danced backup for Beyoncé and Tina Turner at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008.[11][12] 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, the movie Bedtime Stories, and eventually Glee.[13]
In December 2010 Morris was named the Celebrity Style Ambassador for FLIRT! Cosmetics, an Estee Lauder cosmetics line.[14] 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 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, Heather Morris stated that she has had her breast implants
removed. She was quoted saying "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!"[15] 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.[16]
Glee
Morris at the San Diego Comic-Con International, July 2010
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.[10] Initially a background character who hardly ever spoke, the role grew as writers discovered Morris had a gift for delivering one-liners.[17] Jarrett Wieselman of the New York Post opined that Morris has "emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now"[18] and the LA Times wrote of having a "comedy crush on Morris, who plays the galactically dim Glee Club cheerleader Brittany".[19]
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 After Ellen, praised the pairing, referring to them by the portmanteau "Brittana".[20] 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."[20]
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.[21] 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. Both the arc along with
Rivera's and Morris' performances were met with critical acclaim. As on
Glee, Morris is best friends in real life with co-star Rivera.[22]
In Season 3, she and Rivera's character continue with the lesbian
storyline, and others. For example she had a large role in the episode "Prom-asaurus". During the season finale she reveals that she had an 0.0 GPA and that she would not be graduating.
During the 2011 Glee Tour Heather 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 Funny or Die, "Nuthin' But A Glee Thang," a take-off of the Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg collaboration "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang". Co-written with actresses Ashley Lendzion and Riki Lindhome, the video features appearances from Modern Family's Sofia Vergara and Morris's Glee castmates Matthew Morrison, Cory Monteith, Harry Shum, Jr., and Naya Rivera.[23]
On June 28, 2013, it was reported that Morris would not be returning as regular on Glee's fifth season.[24]
Personal life
Morris is in a relationship with college baseball player Taylor Hubbell.[25] They attended the same high school in Arizona,[26] but did not know each other there.[27] They began dating after Morris moved to Los Angeles and Hubbell contacted her on Myspace.[28] 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."[25] After graduating from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, Hubbell began living with Morris in Los Angeles in early 2012.[29] Morris gave birth to their first child, son Elijah, on September 28, 2013.[26]
Filmography
Awards and nominations
She has also appeared in videos for Harland Williams and Moth. She has many commercials to her credit, including the Ford Bold Moves commercial where she pays for the dry cleaning of a man in the car behind hers, the State Farm Insurance commercial where she is "the girl from 4E", and the Corona commercial where she is the girl across the aisle.
