Zack Morris has been doing the work long enough that his recent run of high-profile roles feels less like a sudden breakout and more like the next logical step. Raised in Basildon, Essex, he first got pulled toward acting at seven after seeing Annie at the theatre, then started building reps the unglamorous way: weekend drama classes, early screen experience, and any stage opportunity he could get his hands on. That foundation quickly turned real. Through his teens, he appeared in multiple West End productions, including Joseph, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Oliver, and at 16, he earned the Marvin Humes Scholarship to attend the D&B Academy of Performing Arts.

By 17, he was already on one of the UK’s biggest stages for a young actor—EastEnders. Cast as Keegan Baker, Morris spent years inside the pace and pressure of continuing drama, where scenes move fast, and choices have to land cleanly, over and over again. Naturally, that stretch put him in front of a massive audience, but it also sharpened the kind of practical, hands-on craft you can only learn in motion. After leaving the series, he pivoted into features with the action thriller Jericho Ridge, then widened his reach again with Goosebumps for Disney+/Hulu, playing series’ lead Isaiah Howard in the teen horror hit inspired by R.L. Stine’s world.

Now based largely in Los Angeles, he is heading into 2026 with two major projects that signal a clear shift into bigger conversations. Most recently, he’s appeared in season two of HBO’s high-caliber medical drama The Pitt, and will follow it with Amazon MGM’s upcoming film The Bluff, directed by Frank E. Flowers and produced by the Russo Brothers, opposite Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Karl Urban. And for a hardworking actor like Morris, it reads like a turning point. The résumé is expanding, the rooms are getting larger, and the choices are feeling intentional.

You started acting when you were young and trained in a few different arenas. What did theatre teach you about presence that the camera did not, and what did the camera teach you that theatre never could?

Zack Morris: Theatre was my initial training ground. It was the building blocks for who I am as an artist. It brought me all the fundamentals I needed as a young actor, and I was lucky enough to be part of some great companies to learn from. As far as presence, I feel both mediums require it, but it’s just presented in different ways. Theatre naturally requires a lot more physicality and projection, whereas on screen, you can afford to be a bit more internal. But then there are, of course, cases on camera that require huge amounts of physicality and projection also, so it’s really just down to me as an actor to choose those moments and fine-tune each version of that presence for the medium. And as for what the camera taught me that theatre couldn’t, it’s that you don’t have to get it all right in one go. Don’t get me wrong, the occasional ‘one take wonder’ is amazing, but I do also really enjoy piecing a scene together and making new choices throughout the process of shooting. You can enter a scene thinking it will go one way, but then walk away from it being something completely unexpected, which is both beautiful and scary. But it’s that excitement that keeps drawing me back. It’s always new on camera, and it’s my job to be ready for that every time.

Your first feature, Jericho Ridge, drops you into a contained, high-stress situation. How did you approach tension and stillness on film compared to the bigger emotional beats of TV?

Zack Morris: I think first and foremost, it depends on the script and what the scene is asking for, as well as the director’s overall vision for each scene and each moment. As far as approaching stillness and tension, I think it was all down to just playing the truth of the moment. There were some lovely moments between my co-star, Nikki Amuka Bird, and me that didn’t feel like they needed to become shouting matches, but instead needed to be heartfelt and raw. I think it’s always less about how still can I make this, and more about how real can I make this.

Your recent work in Goosebumps balances character drama with fun, heightened genre rules. Was there a specific anchor for you when playing Isaiah—a trait, a relationship, a goal—that you kept returning to?

Zack Morris: One of the anchors I used for Isaiah and kept coming back to was his athlete’s mentality. He was an incredible Quarterback which would require a whole lot of talent, perseverance, passion, and leadership skills. Coming back to this mentality when being thrown in crazy situations like the show presented really helped to picture what Isaiah would think in that moment. He was also someone who had everything going for him. So when that was all taken away and stripped from him, who was he then? That was also really fun to play with.

Congrats on joining The Pitt this season—what was it about the project that immediately pulled you in?

Zack Morris: I think what pulled me in initially was simply how incredible and fascinating the show is. It’s constantly moving and pushing and pulling you in different directions. As a viewer, it’s just something you can’t take your eyes off. And of course, the role of Jackson really stood out to me. I really connected with his character, and I enjoyed piecing together his backstory. I felt confident that I could do his storyline justice.

What was the biggest adjustment you had to make on The Pitt, especially with how the show’s time and tension build in real time?

Zack Morris: The show, in its final form, is very fast-paced and constantly moving, but to achieve that, it takes precision and being very aware of continuity. We were shooting over weeks, but in the show, time has only moved by an hour max. This way of working was really cool to experience, especially on a show like The Pitt.

When you wrapped The Pitt, what stayed with you the most—something about your character, the pace of the set, or a moment that kept replaying in your head afterward?

Zack Morris: Working on The Pitt was truly an incredible experience and one I will cherish for a long time. Living in Jackson’s world for those few months was so eye-opening and made me look into myself in many ways. He’s experiencing a lot of new feelings all at once, and it’s all extremely overwhelming, scary, and confusing for him. Finding how those emotions rang true to myself forced me to reflect on my own mental health and how much we really need to look after ourselves. The Pitt doesn’t shy away from hard-hitting stories and truth, and that’s something that I really respect about the show.

In the upcoming film The Bluff, you are entering a big studio period world with other major collaborators like the Russo brothers. What kind of prep do you enjoy most for period work: movement, dialect, research, or building a private backstory?

Zack Morris: The prep I enjoy the most in any project is the private backstory and research. This can be more heightened when working on a period piece because you want it to be as accurate as possible to the time. For example, Weston speaks with an RP accent, yet he lives in the Cayman Islands, so understanding how that was his reality was really fun to work on. Building a character that feels real and true to the place they’re from, whilst adding a slice of myself, is something I always find so exciting and spend hours doing. My main thing in any role is ‘how real can I make this feel?’ and that’ll always help in getting the truest performance.

Looking at 2026 and beyond, what is the role or personality that you have not been offered yet that would scare you in a good way, and why is that the one you want?

Zack Morris: To pinpoint my next role on a specific character type is quite hard. You never really know what comes around the corner until it does. Something that has always really impressed me is when actors quite literally change their physical appearance depending on the role they’re portraying. I always make sure I train and stay fit, but to work towards a specific physicality of a character that would require me to train in a sport I may not have tried before or change my physical appearance feels like a really cool journey to go on. This takes prep to the next level, and I can’t wait to get my teeth into something like that. But aside from that, ultimately, I just want to tell stories that really mean a lot to me and play roles that force me to think outside the box and create something that excites me every time I’m on set. Gritty, hard-hitting, scary, or funny, I’m here for it all.