Check out our interview with actress, dancer and digital content creator Gabby Morrison who is best know for her roles in Girls’ Night with Madi Monroe, playing a lead role in Brat’s popular series Attaway General alongside Dixie DAmelio, and Rooney’s Last Roll.
The multifaceted TikTok star with over 3.7M+ followers shares her authentic self via her trending videos on beauty tips, her travels, personal style, & funny, relatable day in the life videos with her boyfriend and family. Along with partnering with large brands such as Macys, The Farmers Dog, Function of Beauty, Gabby is currently the face of GHD’s global launch.
Follow Gabby on IG @gabby.morr & TikTok @gabbymorr
Hi Gabby, please tell us a little about you?
Hi! I am a 21 year old black content creator from Florida. I have been posting on social media since 2018 when I decided to start posting just so I could dance more and then ended up falling in love with content creation and sharing my life with my new friends/supporters. I’ve been posting on almost every social media platform every single day since then!
Describe yourself in 3 words?
Welcoming, dancer, and romantic
How did you get started into acting?
I got into acting when I was offered to be in an influencer series in Los Angeles. I was bit nervous but I made my first ever self-tape and ended up booking it! This was the first time I had ever acted and I had the best time ever however everyone in the cast was also an influencer and not an actor. I still got my first set experience and I got to see what it was like to work as an actress for 3 weeks! I absolutely fell in love with everything that was happening and getting to develop my first ever character role “Kit”!
How has this changed your life?
This changed my life because this was the first time in my social media career that I had been on a real set! After this experience I filmed on a lot more sets but I feel like this first experience really was eye opening to see how many people work on a set and what the behind the scenes of overall production were. This was also the first time I was not working alone anymore, as someone who does all of the production for my videos on my own and film by myself every day, I loved the environment of working with a crew and being part of something so big with so many parts and people. It reminded me a little of being in a dance company again. I realized how much I missed this environment and as soon as I could after COVID I decided that I really want to do this and started taking classes to improve my acting skills and dive into the beautiful art.
What is the best and worst part of being an actress?
The best part of acting for me is being free from some social burdens I feel. I love being able to become a character unlike myself so I can do things I normally wouldn’t do or say in fear of judgment. You have to get out of your comfort zone and feel how someone else would feel and if you wouldn’t do something they are doing, you need to feel comfortable doing that thing.
The worst part of acting is definitely being uncomfortable. I have social anxiety and for me it’s very hard to embarrass myself or let loose and do weird things around people I do not know and even around people I do know sometimes. The fear of being judged is hard to get past but the FIRST thing they do in acting class is make you uncomfortable on purpose. Let loose and make a weird noise and scream. This is really hard for me sometimes but honestly it definitely is for the best for me and my anxiety. I think it’s slowly been bettering me and helping me not care quite as much about how random people are looking at me.
How do you prepare for a role?
I do character development. I have a whole template that I use to ask myself all the questions that could make a person who they are or dictate the way they act. Where are they from, What’s their full name, When’s their birthday, What’s their Zodiac sign, Are their parents divorced, ETC. After I answer these questions, I feel like I can tell how they would respond and why they would respond a certain way to a situation and that is really the most important part to my preparation!
Tell us about your work in popular hits “Girls’ Night with Madi Monroe,” Brat’s popular series “Attaway General” and “Rooney’s Last Roll?”
I’ll start with Attaway General! This was my first ever role, I played “Kit” and I was definitely confused at first since I had not taken classes yet, but it was such a fun and great experience because I was working alongside some of the friends I had made through social media! We were almost all new to acting, so we were all navigating it together. I developed Kit by thinking about my genius friends and how one of them acted a little socially different. Super eager and incredibly smart but sometimes just like Kit, they would have moments of social awkwardness due to their goals and intentions.
I then was Kit again in “Rooney’s Last Roll” and after being Kit for Attaway’s first season, I feel like I really knew her and how she thinks. Her sass and how passionate she is about her job also shines through to this shorter series! I got to work beside Indiana who is such an amazing actress and our worlds colliding within the Brat universe was so fun.
In “Girl’s Night with Madi Monroe” I got to be myself! I was actually fresh out of a breakup and I feel like this series was at the perfect time in my life as well as the other girls. We were going through a lot and being able to be there for each other and hash it out felt so good. Madi and Dev are two of my closest friends out in Los Angeles and I’ve known them for years, so filming this felt like filming what we’ve been doing since I moved out here!
What other projects you have been part of?
I also filmed a Snapchat show called “Endless Summer”, which was a show about my past relationship and our issues through moving together near the end of the pandemic. I’ve worked on lots of commercial and brand projects as well!
What kind of roles do you like or would like to play and why?
My dream is to be casted for a dance role. I’ve danced for my entire life. I trained in all genres and my strong suit is definitely ballet and modern. So, if I was casted for a role where I could dance in any genre that’d be a dream come true. I also would love to be cast for a romance role. I have always been a hopeless romantic and it’s not even a flex but I have been in a relationship almost consistently since I was 14. Long distance multiple times and also high school romance. Romantic interest definitely is something I feel I know a lot about and I’d love to explore in film romance.
What is the most rewarding part of your work?
So far, the most rewarding part of my work has been the experience overall. With acting I’ve been extremely lucky to have experienced so much on set time and being in front of the camera crew has been a blessing. The more experience I have, the better I will be able to be in the long run.
Now that I have done the work in class and learned way more, I am so excited to get back in front of the camera hopefully soon!
What’s your advice for the newer actors?
What’s been helping me as a new actress is getting into classes in person or online. Also, watching as many movies and reading as many scripts as possible. My advice to people who are doing what I’m doing is similar to my advice regarding social media. The end goal is never what you should focus on. Never to rush your journey of learning the art just to be able to be on the big screens. Your love for the art should come first and the journey and joy of learning and developing characters should be #1 and if it is the rest will follow because that is what acting is. Acting is not just about landing a huge role.
How and when did you started dancing?
I started dancing when I was 3 years old. I have always loved to dance growing up and I always had good musicality even before my dancing was any good.
Any advice for aspiring dancers?
My advice for aspiring dancers is to focus on your foundation of technique first. This is what made me a versatile dancer. It may be the most boring genre to you but the technique you learn will show in every other genre you attempt to do.
What do you love most about dancing?
Dancing is in my heart and soul. What I love most about dancing is that I can feel it in the music. It comes to me like thoughts in my head when music plays. I don’t have to overthink it and if I get the chance to let my body free like in the room by myself, I am the happiest I can be.
What type of dance do you like best?
My favorite genre of dance is Ballet. I had amazing ballet instructors growing up and I have very long legs and lines. I also have a love for classical music, especially for piano. I love how graceful and magical ballet can look even though it is so painful. The art of making ballet look easy is the real struggle and it’s something most people do not realize is so hard until they try it.
What’s your advice for the newer influencers?
Post what makes you happy and what interests you while keeping in mind what sets you apart. Never get discouraged by likes or views because that’s definitely not what will make people come back and watch. What’s going to make them watch is you living your life the way you live it and simply sharing. Not living to post.
When it comes to content itself, my advice is quality. You definitely don’t want to post something that’s hard to watch or understand. You want to post something pleasing to the eye no matter what type of content it is!
What mindsets helped making you so successful and popular?
Consistency was definitely one of them and the way I did that was by turning anything I found interesting into a video. Especially during the Pandemic, I feel like my every move was an idea I could use for content. Using that mentality paid off and made my socials so versatile and consistent. My audience was not expecting a specific type of video, so they were open to experiencing anything I wanted to share with them!
When you started your Social Media accounts, did you expect such a success?
Absolutely not! I started purely for fun and to be able to dance more outside of the studio. These TikTok trends gave me new dances to learn and challenged me! I always say that I had no expectation for my socials to pop off and still feel like that mindset of posting for fun was what made people enjoy watching my content!
As a popular entrepreneur and influencer you are followed by so many people. How do you feel about that pressure of doing always the right thing, and encourage people to follow their dreams?
Sometimes the pressure of doing the right thing can get to me especially while I’m getting older and still have a younger audience. I want to make sure that I don’t promote more mature things to my younger audience and encourage them to do things they shouldn’t be doing. However, I am an adult now and my life is a little different. I learned to stay genuine to myself and my life because when I start to censor myself, I start to have creative mental blocks. Being authentic to myself is the best way for me to consistently post. So many young people have told me that they look up to me and want to emulate what I’ve accomplished. It honestly inspires me to keep going and inspire more young girls and especially young black girls. I realized that there weren’t many older black women in the black community that I could look up to, even when it came to the Disney Princesses. So, I hope I can be one of those women for these younger girls and inspire them as much as they inspire me.
Now tell us about the huge TikTok success and what are you doing to keep it going and growing even more?
My TikTok success has been such a blessing. Social media will always change and evolve, so every day I put in the work to be active, present, and on top of trends. In the end, I just love making content and posting, so I’ll always want to post what I’m up to! I can’t always be concerned about growth because people will come and go from my socials as they please, but you never know if I might post something about my life that interests them and pull them back in! Posting, whether you are starting out or whether you’ve been in the game for a while, should be about sharing whatever you feel like sharing and staying authentic to yourself!
What do you think is the secret to have a successful TikTok account?
There definitely is no secret but an easy way to blow up is to hop on the trends as soon as they happen! It gives you a way bigger chance of blowing up especially if your video is high quality or you do the trend really well! Just scroll on the “For You” page and save the sounds that are trending.
Now let’s talk about your skin body care line called “Lagoon?”
Lagoon is your body’s new haven for sensitive-skin-safe hydration. Our products feature ingredients that help restore moisture to dry, irritated skin and give you that natural, dewy glow we all strive for. With transparency a key pillar of our brand, you can always feel comfortable using Lagoon even on your most sensitive days.
What is different from your products to other ones in the market?
Lagoons products are curated specifically for extremely sensitive skin by someone who has dealt with sensitive skin. I’ve tried many products over the years, and I wanted to create a product that can be the go-to for everyone with sensitive skin.
What are the challenges you face in a very competitive market?
One of the challenges I face is competing with the larger more accessible skin care companies as a small business. It is very difficult to navigate reaching further than just my social audience but I’m working hard to reach target audiences outside just my following and share my products with everyone!
Where we can buy the products?
You can buy the products on Beaubble.com/Lagoon. We are selling by drop model so we only make product by order so that we do not have waste.
What would you say are the greatest lessons you learned so far in this business?
I’ve learned so much about what goes into creating a business. My team and I have worked so hard on so many different parts and we have come together with something I can be proud of. It’s so important to create something you’re passionate about and believe in. And it’s even more important to surround yourself with people who believe in the same goal.
How would your best friend describe you?
I think my best friend would describe me as hard working and very caring. She knows I would do anything for her and she’s like my sister even though I only met her 2 years ago. She has also been with me through my whole social media journey and we’ve been pushing each other to put in the effort and be consistent.
If you are a book, what would be the title of the book and why?
On Your Toes by Gabrielle Morrison. I would call it this because of my love for dance but also because there have been so many crazy, dramatic situations that have kept me on my toes. I’ve stayed balanced, on my toes through all of it and survived all of it with no excuses.
What advice would you give to your younger self and why?
I would tell my younger self to take her dreams seriously. I was always breezing through life and never taking anything as seriously as I should have. For example, if I had taken my love of dance and dream to become a dancer a bit more seriously and made sure my parents took it seriously, too, I would’ve done so much better. I took my talents for dance for granted. I had so much fun and I loved it (and still do!) but I wish I would have devoted myself more.
What’s next for Gabby Morrison in 2022?
In 2022, Lagoon is up next. But at the same time, I am going to be taking my acting career super seriously. Acting takes time but I am giving it my all. Also, I am very excited to attend New York Fashion Week this year!
What is your favorite healthy food?
My favorite healthy foods are definitely fruit. I’m obsessed with fruit. I feel like I could only eat fruit forever. After that I love fajita bowls.
And your favorite cheat food?
I love burgers. Definitely a burger from Shake Shack.
What is your own definition of happiness?
I feel like happiness is when you wouldn’t want to be anyone else or anywhere else than who you are and where you are in a single moment. I’ll never forget how happy I am in times like that – where I’m embracing a situation and living it fully to its final breath.
If you could meet someone living or dead, who would it be and why?
I wish I could meet Gabrielle Union. I want to speak with her about her acting career and other endeavors and how she feels as a black woman who has accomplished so much. I just feel like I relate to her and look up to her so much. I know we would have so much to talk about!
Best advice ever given?
That your time to shine will come. Don’t stress yourself trying to get somewhere because that stress will stunt your capabilities. This is my advice I’m currently living by.
Do you support any charity?
I support many charities including anti-gun violence, Black Lives Matter, and LGBTQ charities. I’ve been loving the It Gets Better Project and Everytown for Gun Safety.
Where do you see yourself and your career in 5 years from now?
I see myself staring in a TV show or movie. Also continuing to update my supporters via social media and bringing them with me through every step of my journey. They are the reason I have the means to take on new ventures and I want them to be beside me every step of the way. Also, I don’t think I can live without dance, so continuing to dance and maybe teach!
Favorite song? Why?
My favorite song right now is “Better” by Khalid. I love the vibe of this song and it just makes me feel grateful for whatever is going on in my life right now.
What do you think of Social Media?
There are so many pros and cons to Social Media, but I like to focus on the pros. For example, being able to share my life with people I’ve never met before! I have made so many lasting relationships from social media with people I otherwise would never have met in real life! I also think social media has done tremendous things for smaller businesses by giving them a platform to share without a huge advertising budget. It’s amazing too that it gives people a platform to bring awareness and normalize things we might not have known about before! I’ve learned so many new things from Social Media and gained so many new understandings.
Where we can follow you?
Follow me on socials at gabby.morr!
Book: Hunger Games Series
Quote: yesterday history tomorrow a mystery today is a gift that why they call it the present
Movie: All Disney Movies, Harry Potter Series, Everything Everything Everything
Tv Series: Being Mary Jane
Favorite Food: Shake Shack Burger or Teddy’s Red Tacos
Travel Destination: Jamaica
Sports Team: Miami Heat
