Ethan Phillips

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

Ethan Phillips (born 8 February 1955; age 70) is the actor best known to Star Trek fans for playing the part of Neelix through all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager. He also played two different Ferengi characters, one on Star Trek: The Next Generation and another on Star Trek: Enterprise, and made an uncredited cameo as a holographic mâitre d' in Star Trek: First Contact.

Early life and career[]

Phillips was born and raised in Long Island, New York. Phillips graduated with a degree in English Literature from Boston University and a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from Cornell University. He began his on-screen acting career playing Pete John Downey on the hit television series Benson. Although the series began airing in 1979, Phillips did not join the series until the following year. Also joining the series in that year was René Auberjonois.

Phillips and Auberjonois co-starred together on Benson until 1985, when Phillips left the series. While still acting on the show, Phillips made his feature film debut with a small role in Ragtime (1981, starring Phillips' future Voyager co-star Brad Dourif, with Robert Joy).

After leaving Benson, Phillips began to make a major transition towards films. He had a supporting role in Critters (1986, with Scott Grimes), and the following year, he appeared in Burglar, starring Whoopi Goldberg. He appeared in three films in 1989: Lean on Me (also featuring Tony Todd and Mike Starr), Bloodhounds of Broadway (co-starring Googy Gress, Stephen McHattie and Alan Ruck), and Glory (with Bob Gunton, Cliff DeYoung, Richard Riehle and Mark Margolis).

Phillips continued to appear on television, however. In 1987, he co-starred with Lance LeGault and Raphael Sbarge in the pilot episode of Werewolf. He also appeared on a number of other TV shows throughout the late 1980s, including an episode of The Twilight Zone with Christopher Carroll.

Early 1990s[]

Phillips' film and on television credits expanded steadily throughout the early 1990s, prior to his joining the cast of Star Trek: Voyager. He played an agent with the department of immigration in Green Card (1990, starring Bebe Neuwirth). In 1993, he co-starred in The Man Without a Face (with Zach Grenier), which was followed by an appearance in the 1994 film The Shadow.

Phillips had a supporting role in Wagons East (1994, with Robert Picardo, Ed Lauter and Charles Rocket). Both Phillips and Picardo began starring together on Star Trek: Voyager later that year. Coincidentally, Picardo originally auditioned for Phillips' role of Neelix on Voyager before being cast as The Doctor. d in the cast.

Among the television projects Phillips worked on before joining the cast of Voyager were the TV movie Condition: Critical, co-starring Anne Haney, and guest appearances on such shows as L.A. Law (1990 & 1993, starring Corbin Bernsen, with Diana Muldaur), Law & Order, NYPD Blue (1993, starring Sharon Lawrence, with Wendie Malick, Jack Kehler and Alan Scarfe), and The Good Guys (2010, with Ray Wise).

The Voyager years[]

Ethan Phillips in makeup chair — Neelix' makeup is applied to Phillips

As Voyager continued its journey, Phillips took on other roles. In 1995, he co-starred with Next Generation star Patrick Stewart and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine guest actor Steven Weber in Jeffrey. Two years later, he appeared in the comedy For Richer or Poorer, starring Kirstie Alley. In 1998, he starred in the short film The Battery, written and directed by his Voyager co-star Robert Duncan McNeill. He also starred in McNeill's 9mm of Love, another short film which co-starred Liz Vassey and was made in 2000. That same year, Phillips starred with Alan Ruck in Endsville.

Phillips also appeared in the acclaimed 1998 TV mini-series From the Earth to the Moon, as did fellow Star Trek alumni David Andrews, David Clennon, Ronny Cox, Clint Howard, Daniel Hugh Kelly, John Carroll Lynch, Deborah May, Andy Milder, Holmes R. Osborne, Mark Rolston, Stephen Root and Alan Ruck. Other television series Phillips appeared on during Voyager's run include Maybe This Time (1995, starring Amy Hill, with Michael Ensign), Chicago Hope (1998, starring Roxanne Hart and Jayne Brook, with Gregory Itzin), and Homeboys in Outer Space (with David L. Lander and James Doohan).

After Voyager[]

Television[]

Following Star Trek: Voyager's end in 2001, Phillips again began making frequent television guest appearances. Among the shows he appeared on were Providence (with Concetta Tomei), Touched by an Angel (with Scott Thompson), JAG (with Steven Culp), and Las Vegas (with Nikki Cox). He also appeared in an unsold pilot entitled The Danny Comden Project, directed by Robert Duncan McNeill. In October 2006, Phillips made three guest appearances on Boston Legal. On this series, Phillips played the father of the boy accused of killing the wife of a judge played by Deep Space Nine's Armin Shimerman. Besides series regulars William Shatner and René Auberjonois, Trek guest actor Ron Canada also appeared in the episode.

Phillips has also guest-starred on such series as Eli Stone (with Bill Smitrovich), Bones (with Geoff Meed), Bryan Fuller's Pushing Daisies (with Stephen Root), and Chuck (which Robert Duncan McNeill produced). In 2018, Phillips guest-starred in two episodes of Better Call Saul (starring Jonathan Banks, Patrick Fabian, Mark Margolis and Michael McKean, and featuring Raymond Cruz, Ann Cusack, and Ed Begley, Jr. in supporting roles).

Film[]

Phillips played the title character of the 2003 short film Living in Walter's World, co-starring Armin Shimerman. Phillips played the role of "Mr. Gorn" in the short Roddenberry on Patrol. This short film, directed by and co-starring Phillips' fellow Voyager actor Tim Russ, offers a comedic look at how Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek and also featured Robert Beltran, Richard Herd, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Robert O'Reilly, Robert Picardo and George Takei. In 2008, Phillips was again directed by Tim Russ for the independent comedy A Night at the Silent Movie Theater, which also starred Tony Todd. He also appeared in Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, again directed by and co-starring Tim Russ, which also featured Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Alan Ruck, J.G. Hertzler, Chase Masterson and Gary Graham.

In addition, Phillips' voice can be heard on the Nickelodeon films The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002, also featuring the voices of Brock Peters, Keith Szarabajka and Alfre Woodard) and Rugrats Go Wild! (2003, also with the voice of Tony Jay). He has lent his voice to a number of Star Wars video games, as well. Phillips also continues to make occasional appearances in films, such as Bad Santa (2003, with Lauren Tom and Matt Walsh) and The Island (2005, written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and co-starring Glenn Morshower, Randy Oglesby, and Noa Tishby). He later appeared with Michael Pataki in Trim (2010) .