Heather Morris

Heather Elizabeth Morris was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks and was raised in Scottsdale, AZ. The future star was introduced to the world of dance when she was only a year old, making her onscreen debut on the second season of the Fox reality competition series, "So You Think You Can Dance" (Fox, 2005-). Morris failed to qualify in the Top 20, but did pursue her love of dance by moving to L.A. After several auditions, Morris landed a spot as a backup dancer on "The Beyoncé Experience" tour in 2007, followed by a whirlwind promotional tour with the pop star, including performances on "The Today Show" (NBC, 1952-) and "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975-). During the prominent media appearances, Morris joined Beyoncé on the "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" dance number, inspired by the choreography of Bob Fosse.Morris met choreographer Zach Woodlee while working on the comedy feature "Fired Up!" where she had a small role. Woodlee took Morris under his wing and helped her get cast as a background dancer in episodes of the short-lived series "Eli Stone" (ABC, 2008-09) and "Swingtown" (CBS, 2008). In 2009, Woodlee began choreographing for the award-winning Fox series "Glee," which focused on a group of teenage outsiders who come together to sing and dance in their high school's glee club. Woodlee brought Morris to the set to teach the cast the "Single Ladies" dance routine for an episode, and she ended up landing a supporting role as the ditzy cheerleader Brittany. Even though her character was originally introduced as a villain who infiltrated the glee club, Morris' deadpan delivery of one-liners, including the memorable quotes "Dolphins are just gay sharks" and "When I pulled my hamstring, I went to a misogynist," boosted her popularity with "Glee" viewers. Morris delivered even more laughs as well as her sassy dance moves during the successful "Glee Live!" concert tour in 2010, which featured the cast performing the show's musical numbers and skits. That same year, Fox announced Morris and fellow cast member Naya Rivera, who played Brittany's partner-in-crime Santana, would be promoted to series regulars on the second season of "Glee." Fans were also delighted to hear that the show had a Brittany-centric episode that featured the songs of pop princess Britney Spears.