Lou Diamond Phillips Bio
Louis Diamond Phillips (born February 17, 1962) is an American actor, director, and writer whose career has spanned more than four decades across film, television, and the stage. He first captured wide public attention with his starring role as the rock and roll pioneer Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama La Bamba (1987). He quickly followed that breakthrough with the critically acclaimed Stand and Deliver (1988) and the Western Young Guns (1988), establishing himself as a leading man of the late 1980s.
Beyond his film work, Phillips is recognized for his long-running television role as Henry Standing Bear on the A&E and Netflix series Longmire (2012-2017), as well as for his Tony Award nominated Broadway turn in The King and I (1996). He has continued to act, direct, and write across multiple formats, including voice work, screenplays, and a debut science fiction novel.
Early Life and Background
Lou Diamond Phillips was born Louis Diamond Upchurch at the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in Olongapo City, Philippines. He is the son of Lucita Umayam Aranas, who is Filipina, and Gerald Amon Upchurch, a Marine KC-130 crew chief of Scots-Irish and Cherokee descent. Phillips has publicly stated that he has Native American heritage through his father’s line, and he has remained closely tied to Indigenous communities throughout his life.
Phillips’s father died when he was about one year old, after which his mother remarried and the family adopted the surname Phillips. He was raised in Texas and graduated from Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi in 1980. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Path to Acting
Phillips discovered his love of performance during his school years in Texas and continued to develop his craft through the drama program at the University of Texas at Arlington. After completing his degree, he began pursuing professional roles in the mid-1980s, taking early television parts and stage work to build his resume.
His earliest professional screen credit came in 1984, and he soon earned guest spots on shows that helped him hone his on-camera presence. One such appearance was the Miami Vice episode titled Red Tape, which aired on March 13, 1987, in which he portrayed Detective Bobby Diaz shortly before his film career exploded.
Lou Diamond Phillips Career
Early Career (1984-1987)
Lou Diamond Phillips began his professional career in 1984, taking on small television roles and stage appearances while he developed his craft. His steady early work paid off when he was cast as Ritchie Valens in La Bamba (1987), the biographical drama about the young Mexican American rock star whose life was cut short in 1959. The film was a major commercial and critical success and announced Phillips as a leading man.
Around the same period, Phillips appeared in the Miami Vice episode Red Tape, demonstrating his ability to handle dramatic material on the small screen. These early roles set the stage for a remarkable run of high profile projects that defined his late 1980s work.
Breakthrough (1987-1990)
Phillips’s defining moment arrived with La Bamba (1987), in which he portrayed Ritchie Valens opposite Esai Morales and Elizabeth Peña. The film cemented his reputation and remains one of the signature works of his career. He quickly followed it with Stand and Deliver (1988), the inner-city drama in which he played Angel David Guzman, a cholo gangster inspired by his math teacher, played by Edward James Olmos. For that performance, Phillips won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male and earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.
In the same year, he co-starred with Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland in the Western Young Guns (1988), playing the historical outlaw José Chávez y Chávez. He returned to the role in Young Guns II (1990), during which he suffered a serious on-set injury when his horse was spooked by gunfire, resulting in his arm being broken in four places.
Notable Works and Milestones
Among Phillips’s most recognized works are La Bamba, Stand and Deliver, and the Young Guns films of the late 1980s, as well as later films including Courage Under Fire (1996), The Big Hit (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Che (2008), and The 33 (2015). His long-running television role as Henry Standing Bear on Longmire (2012-2017) became another signature of his career, and his 1996 Broadway debut as King Mongkut in The King and I earned him a Tony Award nomination.
Lou Diamond Phillips Award Nominations
Lou Diamond Phillips has earned nominations from major industry bodies across film, television, and stage. Among his most prominent nominations are the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Stand and Deliver (1988) and the Tony Award for his Broadway performance in The King and I (1996), along with a Drama Desk Award nomination for the same role.
Lou Diamond Phillips Awards Won
Lou Diamond Phillips has collected several notable honors during his career. He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for Stand and Deliver (1988) and earned a Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut in The King and I (1996). He also won the second season of the NBC reality series I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2012 and was named the winner of the Food Network’s Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off in January 2012.
Lou Diamond Phillips Family
Lou Diamond Phillips is the son of Gerald Amon Upchurch and Lucita Umayam Aranas. His mother is Filipina, and his late father was an American Marine of Scots-Irish and Cherokee descent. After his father’s death, his mother remarried, and the family adopted the surname Phillips. Phillips has spoken publicly about his Native American heritage and his close ties to Indigenous communities.
Personal Life
Lou Diamond Phillips married assistant director Julie Cypher on September 17, 1987, and they divorced on August 5, 1990. He was briefly engaged to actress Jennifer Tilly after meeting her on the set of Shadow of the Wolf in 1992. He married makeup artist Kelly Preston in 1994, and the couple had three daughters before separating in 2003, with their divorce finalized in July 2007.
Phillips began dating makeup artist Yvonne Boismier in 2004, and the two married in August 2007. Their daughter, Indigo, was born in October 2007, and Boismier later illustrated Phillips’s debut science fiction novel. He is also a longtime recreational poker player who has cashed in events including the 2009 World Series of Poker.
