Image: Wikimedia CommonsEthan Phillips
American actor
Ethan Phillips, born on 8 February 1955, is an American actor, playwright and longtime New York stage performer. Television audiences know him best for two long runs: Pete Downey, the press man on the sitcom Benson, and Neelix, the Talaxian cook and morale officer of Star Trek: Voyager (1995 to 2001). Raised on Long Island and trained at Boston University and Cornell, he has worked steadily in theatre on and off Broadway while building a film career of more than 50 features, including Critters and Inside Llewyn Davis.
Ethan Phillips appears in 6 films and 1 TV series in The Rerun, from 1986 to 2013. Most of that work is in comedy, drama and sci-fi.
Known for
- Star Trek: Voyager (1995), Neelix. One of his two best-known television roles, played across the run of the series.
- Benson (1979), Pete Downey. He played the PR man on the sitcom from 1979 to 1986.
- Critters (1986). A film role he followed with the sequel Critters 3.
- Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). One of his later film roles.
- The Island (2005). A film credit from the mid 2000s.
Career
Phillips started off-Broadway in the late 1970s, playing Utrillo in the premiere of Modigliani in 1979, and has kept one foot on stage ever since: Terrence McNally’s Lips Together, Teeth Apart, David Mamet’s November on Broadway, and All the Way, which moved to Broadway and won the Tony for Best Play. He joined Benson in 1980 and stayed for five seasons, and his play Penguin Blues was developed at the Sundance playwrights’ lab.
His Star Trek career began in 1990 with a guest role as a Ferengi doctor on The Next Generation; Neelix followed for all seven seasons of Voyager. He co-wrote The Star Trek Cookbook (1999). Film work runs from Ragtime and Critters (1986) to Bad Santa, the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis and Woody Allen’s Irrational Man, and later television includes Girls, Better Call Saul and HBO’s Avenue 5.
Where to start
- Star Trek: Voyager (1995): seven seasons as Neelix, the crew’s chatty, unlikely heart.
- Critters (1986): a small-town creature comedy from the decade’s cheerful B-movie boom.
- The Island (2005): a supporting turn in Michael Bay’s clone thriller.
- Inside Llewyn Davis (2013): a memorable small part in the Coens’ folk-scene portrait.
Shows
Movies
Quick answers
- What movies and TV shows has Ethan Phillips been in?
- Ethan Phillips appears in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), The Island (2005), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), Jeffrey (1995), Green Card (1990), Glory (1989) and Critters (1986) on The Remote.
- When was Ethan Phillips born?
- Ethan Phillips was born on 8 February 1955.
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