“Being an amputee affects your emotional state, and also how you react and experience things” Zyra Gorecki

She was born on July 4, 2002 in Michigan, United States. Daughter of Steve Gorecki and Barb Gorecki. She has a sister, Bailee.

Her accident changed everything

At the age of fourteen, during a felling, a log crushed his left foot and his leg had to be amputated below the knee. “I had my leg amputated at 13, and I decided at 14 I wanted to do something inspirational, right. And so I went out, I got an agent, and I was like, “I want to do modeling.” That’s what I wanted. And she said, “Actually, you have the personality of an actor. So we’re gonna send you on some acting stuff.” And I was like, “I don’t want to do that. I hate acting. I can’t act. No, thank you.” “Let’s just get you in front of some casting directors, and you’ll get into modeling, then it’ll be good.” I was like, “Fine.” So I would go on these things, and I would hate it. I hated acting to begin with. And it was horrible, and I did not want to do it. And I would get violently ill before every single one. And it was a mess. 

And then I got a gig on Chicago Fire. And it just kind of went from there. And I never really got crazy into modeling. I mean, I’ve done certain things, especially after La Brea, I’ve done different photoshoots and whatnot. I did a runway show in Chicago.

She worked for the modeling agency Bravo Talent Management Modeling.

Physical health and mental health, you cannot take care of one and not the other.

It is a really hard thing to do to convince other people that you’re not okay. Because everybody in this world seems to think that you have to be okay all the time, you have to be ridiculously happy all the time. And that’s not true. You don’t have to, you don’t have to be happy all the time. You just have to be at peace. You have to be content. That’s what the goal is. And it’s freaking hard. And you have to ask for help to achieve that. And you have to learn how to cope with things. And, you know, if it gets to be too much, go see a doctor, go see whoever it is that will help, go to the gym, if that helps you learn how to dance, learn anything that can help you because that’s your own life in your hands.

Work on Television

Her first appeared on television in a 2016 episode of the NBC series Chicago Fire.

The Kelly Clarkson Show (2019).

After learning from a fellow actor at Camp No Limits, (a camp that educates children with limb loss), that they were looking for an actress for the NBC series La Brea, she auditioned and was chosen.

In the series, which premiered on September 28, 2021, she played the role of teenager Izzy Harris, who lost her left leg in a car accident while being driven home by a neighbor, and whose life is turned upside down when her mother and her brother falls down a massive sinkhole in the middle of Los Angeles into an apocalyptic world.

This portrayal made her one of the first actresses with different limbs to land a series regular role.

She supports Amputee Blade Runners, a non-profit organization that helps provide free running prostheses to amputees.