Early life
Morris was born in Thousand Oaks, California and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is of Scottish and Irish descent on her father's side. She began dancing at the age of one. Morris competed at a young age in a variety of styles including jazz, tap, and contemporary. Morris's father died 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. After graduating high school, Morris decided to enroll in a local university but realized she was in the wrong place so she moved to L.A. instead at age 19.
Career
Morris' first significant appearance was in 2006 on So You Think You Can Dance Season 2 where she made the "green mile" but failed to make the final 20 by a vote of 3-2.
Not discouraged, Morris moved to Los Angeles and 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 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, the movie Bedtime Stories, and eventually 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 has "emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now and the LA Times wrote of having a "...comedy crush on Morris, who plays the galactically dim Glee Club cheerleader Brittany".
At just 24 years of age, Morris is the youngest female Glee cast member, born a mere twenty days after Naya Rivera, her on and off screen best friend and second youngest female cast member. Only Kevin McHale (23) and Chris Colfer (21) are younger than the pair.
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". 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". 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.
In May 2010, she released a promotional video for Esquire, along with several nude photos in which she commented "No, I kind of thought [them being leaked] might happen. I understand completely where it came from. For me, I think [the pictures] are beautiful. It's not something I'm ashamed of. Everybody should do tasteful beautiful nudes — so when you get older you're gonna be like, 'Oh that's when my body looked so great!'"
In December 2010, Morris was named the Celebrity Style Ambassador for FLIRT! Cosmetics, an Estee Lauder cosmetics line.
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.
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.
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.
Filmography
Morris in March 2011
Music Video appearances↓
Year Artist Song Title Notes
2008 An-Ya Nightlife Dancer
2008 The White Tie Affair Allow Me To Introduce Myself...Mr. Right/Candle_(Sick_and_Tired)
2008 Hit the Lights Drop the Girl
Film appearances↓
Year Title Role Notes
2008 Bedtime Stories Dancer Uncredited, Cat dancer
2009 Fired Up! Fiona Part of the "Panther" cheer squad/Body double.
2011 Glee: The 3D Concert Movie Brittany Susan Pierce/Herself
2012 Ice Age: Continental Drift Gossip Girl Voice
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