Childhood & Early Life
Heather Morris was born in Thousand Oaks, California, USA, on February 1, 1987. Her father’s name was Randolf Bruce Morris and she lost him to cancer before her freshman year when she was only fourteen years old. She was raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, along with her sisters April and Crystal.
Growing up without her father changed how Heather viewed life and she went into depression. She turned away from social life and it was through her dance that she found the solace in life.
While living in Arizona, Heather was neighbors with the likes of professional dancers Brian Freidman, Lauren Gottlieb, and choreographer Brooke Lipton.
Heather started training for dancing when she was only nine years old and then participated in several dancing competitions. She is a trained dancer in jazz, contemporary, and tap dance.
She graduated from ‘Desert Mountain High School’ in Scottsdale, Arizona. Thereafter Heather went to ‘Arizona State University’ for two semesters to pursue a major in Journalism but gave it up for a career in dancing and acting.
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Career
Heather Morris began her dancing career at an early age. But it was only in 2006, that she received her first major break in the Season 2 of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. Although, she made it through the ‘Vegas Week’ into the ‘Green Mile’, she failed to make it to the top 20.
After her exit from ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, Morris started pursuing dancing more seriously and landed her first major break as part of Beyoncé’s dance crew on ‘The Beyoncé Experience Live’ (2007) global tour.
Her work with Beyoncé continued with appearances on the ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ (2008) tour. She also performed with Beyoncé on ‘Saturday Night Live’ when it was hosted by Paul Rudd on November 15, 2008. Her performances also included the ‘2008 American Music Awards’, ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, and ‘MTV's Total Request Live’.
One of Heather’s major performances was on February 10, 2008, at the ‘50th Annual Grammy Awards’ as a backup dancer to Beyoncé and Tina Turner. It was around this time that she landed her first acting role as a dancer on the movie ‘Bedtime Stories’.
In 2008, Heather made several appearances on TV shows like ‘Swingtown’ and ‘Eli Stone’. The next year in 2009, she was cast in the lead role of Fiona in the American teen comedy movie ‘Fired Up!’. It was unsuccessful at the box office but opened up a number of avenues for the actress.
2009 turned out to be a breakthrough year for Heather Morris. Her choreographer in ‘Fired Up!’, Zach Woodlee, asked her to teach the actors of TV series ‘Glee’, the steps of Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’. While doing so she got cast as the third cheerleader in the role of Brittany S. Pierce.
Heather played the role of Brittany S. Pierce, an oversexed and less educated cheerleader on ‘Glee’ from 2009 until 2015. Her first appearance was on September 9, 2009, in the episode ‘Showmance’. She initially had a background role but the response to her character was overwhelmingly positive.
Her character in ‘Glee’ became famous for delivering one-liners like “I don't brush my teeth, I rinse my mouth out with soda after I eat. I was pretty sure Dr. Pepper was a dentist” and “Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?”.
Heather’s character gained even more popularity and she became a lead in the second season after getting into a lesbian relationship with Naya Rivera’s character Santana Lopez’. They eventually married in the episode ‘A Wedding’.
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One of Heather’s strongest performances in ‘Glee’ was covering the Britney Spear’s song ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’ which also marked her singing debut. Her final appearance was in the series finale ‘Dreams Come True’, which aired on March 20, 2015.
Besides ‘Glee’, Heather Morris also made several appearances on TV series like ‘How I Met Your Mother’ (2010) and also guest-hosted ‘Punk’d’ in 2012.
Heather also made some critically acclaimed performances in movies in 2011. She acted in movies like ‘A Sense of Humor’, ‘Andy Made a Friend’, and ‘Post’. The same year she also wrote and debuted as a director and producer with ‘The Elevator’.
In 2012, she was cast as Bella in the short film ‘Courage to Create’ and voiced the lead role of Katie in the animated blockbuster ‘Ice Age: Continental Drift’. 2013 found the actress getting her second major hit with crime movie ‘Spring Breakers’.
In 2015, Heather was seen in some unsuccessful movies like ‘Horrible Parents’ and ‘Most Likely to Die’. Unfortunately, 2016 didn’t bring a change and she made some unsuccessful outings in movies like ‘Folk Hero & Funny Guy’ and ‘Romantically Speaking’.
The actress has enjoyed more success on TV than in movies. In 2015, she appeared on the shows ‘Comedy Bang! Bang!’ and ‘Go-Go Boy Interrupted’. Heather also participated in the comedy improvisation show, ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ and was praised for her comedic skills.
In 2017, Heather Morris participated in the reality dancing TV show ‘Dancing with the Stars’. In spite of receiving the perfect score on the episode ‘Boy Bands vs. Girl Groups’ which aired on April 24, 2017, she was voted off in a shocking outcome.
In 2017, she acted in TV shows like ‘Glow’, ‘Mondays’ and appeared on the TV movie ‘Psycho Wedding Crasher’.
Awards & Achievements
In the 2010 ‘Golden Derby Awards’, Heather Morris along with the cast of ‘Glee’ was nominated for ‘Ensemble of the Year’. The same year she won with the same cast, the award for ‘Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series’ at the ‘Screen Actors Guild Awards’.
Heather has also been nominated three more times at 2011, 2012 and 2013 ‘Screen Actors Guild Awards’ for ‘Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series’ for her performance in ‘Glee’.
She was also nominated for the ‘Choice TV: Female Scene Stealer’ award at the 2013 ‘Teen Choice Award’.
Personal Life & Legacy
Heather Morris is married to Taylor Hubbell. She met him when he was playing college baseball. Although they went to the same high school, they only met when she moved to Los Angeles.
The couple started dating after Taylor contacted Heather via Myspace. In 2011, while giving an interview the actress stated her intention to marry him. Taylor graduated from the ‘University of Louisiana’, Lafayette and started living with Heather in 2012. On September 28, 2013, the couple welcomed their first son, Elijah Hubbell.
They got married on May 16, 2015, in California and on February 11, 2016, they welcomed their second son, Owen, into the world. The family lives in Los Angeles.
The actress is also involved with social work. She loves crocheting and makes blankets along with her own mum, for expecting mothers.
In 2017, she along with her best friend, Naya Rivera, and director, John Peter Kousakis, participated in a protest in New York City, against protests by Jewish and Latino communities against Linda Sarsour.
