Lamorne Morris

Early life

Morris grew up on the South Side of Chicago. As a teenager he moved to the western suburb of Glen Ellyn, where he attended Glenbard South High School. Attorney and political candidate Qasim Rashid was a classmate of his. His mother worked for the United States Postal Service. He also has a brother, Devon. Before he discovered acting, Morris was a class clown who would frequently be sent to detention.

Morris graduated from the College of DuPage in 2003 where he studied theatre and received the Chris Farley Memorial Acting Scholarship. He also attended the Second City Training Center, and was a member of Second City's Outreach And Diversity Ensemble. While studying at Second City, Morris worked as a server at Ed Debevic's, a retro-themed diner where the servers act rude to the diners.

Career

Morris appeared in commercials for State Farm Insurance, Taco Bell, Twix, Miller Lite, Las Vegas, 7 Up, Edge, Sears, Microsoft Windows, Chili's, McDonald's, Ford, and Hornitos Tequila. In 2019, he became the spokesperson for the Canadian-based Bank of Montreal and the Chicago-based Bank of Montreal subsidiary BMO Harris Bank.

Morris started out as an on-air personality for BET, hosting HotWyred, an interactive tech and gaming show as well as the daily music and entertainment news show BET Now in addition to other appearances. Morris also hosted the game show BrainRush on Cartoon Network as part of CN Real.

Morris's breakthrough came when he was cast as Winston Bishop in the comedy series New Girl on Fox (2011–2018). Morris did not appear until the second episode - originally, Damon Wayans Jr. was a member of the cast, in the role of Coach. However, Wayans's other comedy series, Happy Endings, had already been picked up for a second season on rival network ABC. The producers of New Girl initially planned to recast Wayans's role, but later decided not to recast and instead wrote his character out in the second episode. Morris cowrote the season 4 episode "Par 5" and directed the final season episode in which Winston reconnects with his dad, played by J.B. Smoove.

In November 2018 it was announced that Morris would be starring in a half-hour sitcom, Woke, based on cartoonist Keith Knight's autobiographical comic strip The K Chronicles on Hulu. It ran for two seasons, released in 2020 and 2022, and was canceled in June 2022.

Morris has also appeared in the films Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016), Game Night (2018), The Christmas Chronicles (2018), Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), Yesterday (2019), Bloodshot (2020), and Desperados (2020).

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Morris co-created and starred in the scripted action-comedy podcast Unwanted for QCODE. The 8-episode series revolves around a pair of slackers who attempt to capture an escaped murderer hiding in their town for a million-dollar reward.

In April 2021, it was announced that Morris would co-star in an Indie horror film titled Night Shift, alongside Phoebe Tonkin and Madison Hu. The film will be directed by Paul and Benjamin China.

He began cohosting Welcome to Our Show, a New Girl rewatch podcast with co-stars Hannah Simone and Zooey Deschanel, distributed by IHeartRadio, in January 2022. In 2022, he was cast as North Dakota State Trooper Whitley "Witt" Farr in the fifth season of the FX black comedy-crime drama anthology series Fargo, which premiered in November 2023 and concluded in January 2024. For his performance he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

In July 2024, it was announced Morris was set to play Robbie Robertson in the upcoming Spider-Noir television show on Amazon Prime Video. Filming is set to begin in September 2024 in Los Angeles.

Personal life

Comedian Garrett Morris (no relation), whom Morris played in Saturday Night, has had a big impact on his career path as an entertainer. Morris is a baseball, basketball, and bowling fan. He supports semi-retired professional bowler Pete Weber and the Chicago White Sox. Morris has also stated that every room in his house has something to do with basketball.

Filmography

Film

Television

Audio

Web

References

References

1. (January 15, 2024). "Lamorne Morris Reveals the Most Surprising Part of Parenting a 3 Year-Old | the Drew Barrymore Show".
2. "Lamorne Morris reluctantly becomes 'Woke' in an exclusive trailer for the new Hulu series".
3. "Tevevison Academy Emmys Nominations and Awards Lamorne Morris".
4. "Lamorne Morris (@lamorne) on Instagram | Ghostarchive".
5. Swartz, Tracy. (April 3, 2019). "'New Girl' alum and Chicago-area native Lamorne Morris talks BMO pitchman status, Jussie Smollett and Kurt Russell's 'biggest movie'".
6. Tedder, Michael. (September 9, 2020). "Lamorne Morris Is Waking Up".
7. "New Girl's Lamorne Morris Shows Off His L.A. Bachelor Pad — Complete with a Sweet Tribute to his Co-stars!".
8. (April 26, 2018). "A 'New' Man: Lamorne Morris".
9. "Lamorne Morris - TV Guide".
10. Wright, Emily. (September 5, 2013). "Recap: 'New Girl' star Lamorne Morris chats about the show, more".
11. Goldberg, Lesley. (July 8, 2011). "'New Girl': Lamorne Morris Replaces Damon Wayans Jr. in Fox Comedy". The Hollywood Reporter.
12. Andreeva, Nellie. (May 13, 2011). "ABC Renews 'Happy Endings', Fox's 'New Girl' To Recast Damon Wayans Jr.".
13. Holbrook, Damian. (May 8, 2018). "Lamorne Morris Talks Directing J.B. Smoove on 'New Girl' — Plus, a Sneak Peek! (VIDEO)".
14. (November 2, 2018). "Lamorne Morris Will Play Cartoonist Keith Knight in 'Woke' Comedy for Hulu".
15. (June 24, 2022). "'Woke' Canceled at Hulu After Two Seasons".
16. "First Listen! New Girl's Lamorne Morris Made an Action-Comedy for Your Ears".
17. N'Duka, Amanda. (April 15, 2021). "Phoebe Tonkin, Lamorne Morris & Madison Hu To Star In Horror Indie 'Night Shift' From Defiant Studios".
18. (January 13, 2022). "iHeartRadio Announces "Welcome to Our Show," A "New Girl" Rewatch Podcast Hosted by Zooey Deschanel, Hannah Simone, and Lamorne Morris".
19. "Lamorne Morris of 'Fargo' is going to his first Emmy Awards. We followed him as he got ready". Los Angeles Times.
20. (July 9, 2024). "Spider-Man Noir Series at Amazon, MGM+ Casts Lamorne Morris as Robbie Robertson".
21. (May 23, 2024). "Nicolas Cage's Spider-Man Series 'Noir' Begins Filming in LA in September".
22. Penrice, Ronda Racha. (2024-10-11). "Lamorne Morris grew up idolizing the first Black ‘SNL’ star. Now, he’s playing him in a movie.".
23. (March 25, 2020). "Go Inside Lamorne Morris' Grown-Up Fun House {{!}} PeopleTV".
24. Kit, Borys. (November 14, 2025). "Nick Jonas, Rhys Darby, Danny DeVito Returning for Sony's New 'Jumanji' Movie (Exclusive)".
25. Canfield, David. (August 12, 2024). "Lamorne Morris Levels Up: 'I Want to Be Morgan Freeman'".
26. Spangler, Todd. (2021-10-13). "Glen Powell Starring in Audible’s ‘10 Days’ Basketball Drama Podcast From Executive Producer Steve Nash".
27. "10 Days {{!}} Basketball Drama Podcast by Aaron Tracy, Starring Glen Powell".