New York Post calls her that. Super talks to Heather Morris—our beloved Brittany—about her passion for acting and why she can’t stop smiling“THIS IS HORRIBLE,” SAID THE blonde dancer from Arizona, as she waited for the results of her “So You Think You Can Dance?” audition. This video, which you can easily find on YouTube, shows her in tears just minutes later. The results were not good.
“There is a reason behind everything. Ur better off now. Happy 4 u,” one YouTube user wrote in the video’s comments section.
And she is better off.
Since her elimination from “So You Think You Can Dance?” Heather Elizabeth Morris has gone around the world on tour with Beyonce as one of her principal dancers. She has appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” the “2008 American Music Awards” and “Ellen” alongside Beyonce, dancing to the hit song “Single Ladies.”
But dancing with Beyonce isn’t the reason Heather has countless fans around the world now. “Glee” is.
Heather plays Brittany, the clueless but lovable cheerleader who is also in the glee club. Not exactly the brightest bulb on the pyramid, Brittany doesn’t know her right hand from her left, finds recipes confusing, thinks the square root of four is rainbows, and that a ballad is a male duck.
Heather as Brittany is hilarious, so hilarious that she manages to steal the spotlight from the lead characters, so hilarious that the New York Post has called her “Glee’s” “secret weapon.”
Heather seems unfazed by the attention. “You can’t dwell on it,” she said. But she admits that she is loving her life now. “I’m always happy and I can’t get the smile off my face.”
Super spoke to Heather on the phone the day after the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where the cast of “Glee” won the award for Best Comedy Series Ensemble. “I’m telling you, I was shocked,” she said.
When did you discover your love for dancing?
Since I was one. I’ve been doing it my whole life. I went to college and started living a normal life. All of a sudden, I was like, this isn’t what I want to do, I want to move to LA and be a professional dancer.
What was your training? How did you learn to dance so well?
I was a competition dancer. I did jazz, tap, contemporary dancing, everything.
You were part of Beyonce’s 2007 World Tour? How did you get that job?
It was crazy. I was auditioning for this movie and one of Beyonce’s choreographers was running the audition. Tina, the choreographer, called and said, “You were dancing next to Beyonce’s old dancer and she doesn’t want to be on tour. Would you like to come audition?” I worked my butt off in the audition and I looked just like her old dancers.
Does that mean you were with Beyonce in her concert in the Philippines?
I was, yeah!
What do you remember from your visit here?
I remember everybody was so nice and smiley.
Have you spoken to Beyonce since “Glee” started airing?
I haven’t, no. I want to, really bad, I wish I could call her up and be like, “Hey, do you watch the show?”
What made you decide to start acting as well?
My whole life, I had the secret passion for acting. I watch movies and I think, I wanna do that so bad but I was so shy. I’m not a shy person but with acting, I don’t know if I was too scared. I was already out here working as a dancer. I was happy but I wanted something more. In 2008, November or December, I was doing all the Single Ladies stuff. I was like, you know what, I don’t want to stay here and dance my whole life. I need to do what I really wanna do. I e-mailed my agent, I e-mailed Beyonce. I let everybody know that I was going to do minimal dancing but I wanted to try acting a hundred percent.
Is it true you got your role in “Glee” after being hired to teach the cast members how to dance to Single Ladies?
It was a little bit of both. I met Ryan Murphy to kind of audition but also while I was in there, to help the kids. He was watching me because they needed a third cheerleader. Zach (Woodlee, “Glee” choreographer - Ed.) was there luckily and he was pushing my name.
A lot of people have said that you shouldn’t feel bad about not making the cut in “So You Think You Can Dance” because if you did, you might have missed out on “Glee”—do you feel the same way?
Oh totally. Everything happens for a reason. I wasn’t, like, Debbie Downer after. You have to keep that attitude. After I didn’t get it, I went home and reevaluated things and I said, who cares, I’m gonna do something else.
What was your first day on the “Glee” set like?
I was nervous and scared and I was like, I cannot believe I’m here. We did the scene where we had the celibacy club meeting. That was fun.
I read somewhere that you didn’t have to sing to audition. How well can you sing?
I can sing well. I did choir when I was in middle school and a bit in high school and I love to sing. I’m not a soloist but I know I can sing. I’m not Amber or Lea Michele, but I can sing.
But will we hear Brittany sing solo anytime soon?
I hope so … Even if it’s not solo, just as long as I get to have something fun and just sing a little bit.
If you can choose one song you can sing on the show, which would it be?
Oh no. (laughs) That’s a hard one. I don’t know. I don’t care what I sing. I will sing anything.
What do you sing in the shower?
(Laughs) I sing “Glee” songs, no joke. Just from being on the show and listening to the songs every day … Lately in the shower I’ve been singing “Maybe This Time.”
That’s cool.
I can’t get it out of my head. (laughs)
How similar are you to Brittany?
Well, we all know that life imitates art and vice versa so I would say (laughs) a lot of people know that I have Brittany moments. I’m not a dumb girl but I can say some pretty stupid things sometimes. It makes the character me. (laughs)
How do you feel about the New York Post calling you “Glee”’s secret weapon?
I was flabbergasted. Stuff like that, I don’t even know if it’s scary, if it’s cool. It’s such a crazy feeling. I hear it and I wanna scream and then I’m like, okay let’s go work.
Who is your favorite character and why?
Aww come on, don’t make me choose. They’re all so good. I apologize to all the other cast members but I just love Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester. She’s amazing.
What’s your favorite “Glee” song so far?
Umm … (exhales loudly). There’s too many. I don’t know. I really can’t decide. One of our fondest memories is “Somebody To Love.” It means a lot to us because we performed it when we became a glee club with the 12 of us. It’s sentimental and so cute. (laughs)
Did you expect “Glee” to become this big?
I didn’t expect anything. I had no idea. You have to trick yourself to not know that it’s that big. I can’t—I don’t want to know. I want to keep it like when we first started. I never even expected that we would get nominated for a SAG and a Golden Globe.
And you guys won.
Yeah. Last night, at the SAG awards, I was surprised. I’m telling you, I was shocked that we won that award. I was like, hoooly crap. It was nuts. And my dress got caught on three chairs. I knocked over three chairs on my way up to the stage. (laughs)
Do you have a favorite episode?
Wheels. I think it’s one of the most outstanding stories. We had a lot of fun doing the wheelchair number.
Why do you think “Glee” has become such a world phenomenon?
You can’t explain it. It relates to every single person in the entire world. And we’re such a positive group. We’re always so close. Everyone—from the lighting crew, production, everybody behind the show, craft services, we’re all close to them. I don’t know, it’s like the energy that’s there just reaches out to everybody else. It’s probably why.
Who are you closest to on the set? Which of the actors do you hang out with?
Umm … everybody? We’re together 24/7. But probably Naya (Rivera, who plays Santana - Ed.). We’re like our characters—we’re always together. We relate a lot to each other.
How has “Glee” changed your life?
Aww come on, I met Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep last night! A month ago, I would never even have thought that would happen. I’m always happy and I can’t get the smile off my face. “Glee” pushed me in the direction I wanted to go. I took the chance, I wanted to act and all of a sudden, it just all came together.
What are things like on the set for you guys? Did things change after the break?
I think people were fearful of that. I think people were skeptical. But when we came back, it was the same thing. There’s no difference. Everybody’s pushing each other really well on the set too—in a good way. Some people ask us about healthy competition and no, we don’t really compete. But we are all having so much fun and we’re like having positive competition all day long.
Have you guys finished filming your Madonna episode?
We have not finished, no. I’m not sure when we’re gonna be done because there’s tons and tons of dances. There’s so many of them.
Is it true that Jennifer Lopez is coming on board?
I don’t know. People keep asking me that and if I knew that answer … but no, we don’t know. We know as much as everybody else does.
A lot of the other “Glee” cast members are really active on Twitter. Are you on Twitter as well?
I’m not and everybody’s bugging me to be on it, I feel so bad. (laughs)
But you are on YouTube right?
YouTube, a lot. I’m a fan of art so I like to go stalk people and watch their videos. I love it. People send me videos and go, “Watch this” and I do. Everybody makes their art that way.
Is there anything about the upcoming episodes you can tell us?
Oh girl! (laughs) I can tell you that me and Naya still have many scenes together and that we’re always gonna be together.
Do you ever get bored of Brittany’s cheerleading uniform?
Of course I don’t get bored. I love the cheerleading uniform. I just put it on every day and go, gotta go to work! We get to wear other outfits for performances, that’s always cool.
Who is your dream “Glee” guest star?
My roommate. She’s hysterical. She’s a funny girl.
What do you love most about being on “Glee?”
That’s a hard question. Everything. I think that’s the hardest thing to say. I love everything about “Glee.” There’s nothing I don’t like. Everything’s perfect.
I read that you taught a dance workshop in Buffalo, New York. What was that like?
It was a really really big surprise for me. It ended up being so much more amazing than I could have asked for. The kids think I’m the character from the show. I tried to remember what it would have been like if I met somebody from “Saved By The Bell.” I’m still learning. I’m trying to understand how people react, how people think I’m Brittany.
We watched the video of you visiting the home dance studio of a little Briana who has cystic fibrosis for Make A Wish. What can you tell us about that?
I can tell you that she and I are now adoptive sisters. We text all the time. I love that girl. She has inspired me. She has to exercise and do dancing and gymnastics every day because she has to for health reasons but she doesn’t do it because she has to, she does it because it’s what she loves the most. That’s the most inspiring thing ever.
If you weren’t part of “Glee” what do you think you’d be doing now?
I’d still be in acting classes. I went back to acting classes on our break.
How do you relax?
Well today, I stayed in bed and I did nothing. (laughs) I went on YouTube and I watched old videos.
What are you passionate about aside from dancing?
I’m 100 percent passionate about acting. I’m very passionate about my family. I want to spend every second with them.
Do you still get to spend a lot of time with your family?
My sister’s here. She flew out and I brought my mom to the SAG awards. And my sister did my hair for the SAG awards. They do come back and forth, my mom has a house here. We get to hang out a lot.
What else are you busy with aside from “Glee?”
I am making my first short film. We wrote a script and it’s something we get to work on on the weekends. We’re gonna do little film festivals. I want to keep working on other things. I want to keep making art, keep the spirit alive.
Who are you working on it with?
My roommate, her name’s Ashley Lendzion. She’s an actor as well. Our friend Ryan Sanson is producing it. He hired a director named Tim Burton, not the same Tim Burton that’s famous (laughs).
What are your plans? What else do you wanna do?
I wanna do a movie like “Nine” or “Moulin Rouge.” I just wanna do an epic or a musical theater movie like that. Every movie like that is just so beautiful and I’ve always wanted to be a part of a movie like that.
How can your fans get more of Heather?
I put a lot of stuff on YouTube, I try to put things people will enjoy. It’s my biggest outlet to keep in touch with people. I deleted my Facebook cause I just wasn’t having fun with it anymore, I was too busy.
Do you have a message for your fans in the Philippines?
I love the Philippines. I’m so happy to hear that everybody’s such a big fan. It’s very humbling. I’ve never gotten a bad message from anybody in the Philippines. Everybody’s just awesome.
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