Trivia

Was nominated for Broadway's 1996 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for playing one of the title roles, the King, in a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The King and I".

Named by his father for highly decorated Gunnery Sergeant Leland "Lou" Diamond, USMC, who enlisted in the Marines at age 27 in 1917, and saw action in both world wars. To this day, "Lou" Diamond is considered one of the finest Marines of all time, and is known as "Mr. Leatherneck".

Lou's father, Gerald Amon Upchurch, was an American, from Georgia, and had English and Scots-Irish ancestry. Lou's mother, Lucita Umayam Araña, was Filipino, from Candelaria.

Contributed Native American vocals on Jon Bon Jovi's solo album Demasiado joven para morir (1990) soundtrack.

Attended and graduated from Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The surname Phillips came from his stepfather.

Lou and his wife, Yvonne, became the parents of a girl, Indigo Sanara, on October 9, 2007.

Worked at Whataburger as a teen, becoming a shift leader during his term of employment.

Has three daughters with second wife Kelly Phillips: twins Grace and Isabella (born 5 October 1997) and Lili Jordan (born 26 September 1999).

In May 2011, Phillips accepted the GI Spirit Award from Brandon Millet and Laura Law-Millet, who are founders of the the GI Film Festival. The award is presented to actors embodying "the spirit of an American GI in their creative and philanthropic work." Prior recipients of the award include Jon Voight, Gary Sinise, Karri Turner and Ricky Schroder.

Met his wife, Yvonne, while shooting a Radio Shack commercial in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The role of Ritchie Valens in La bamba (1987) went to then 25-year-old unknown Lou Diamond Phillips who put on 15lbs to have a chubbier face and learned how to sing and play the guitar after he had passed the audition. During the filming, Lou married his own 'Donna' Julie Cyphers who was a production assistant on La Bamba (1987).

He plays with the group "The Pipefitters with Lou Diamond Phillips".

He began acting in theater at the Stage West in Fort Worth, Texas. He enjoys doing theater.

Loves playing poker and has held games at his Los Angeles home for nearly two decades for his friends and others.

Received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Mentor was actor/director Adam Roarke. They resided in Arlington, Texas and Phillips helped manage Roarke's Film Actors Lab. Phillips was also a graduate.

Dubbed an "Honorary Latino" by Remezcla, a website targeting Latino Millennials.

He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": La bamba (1987) and Con ganas de triunfar (1988).

Turned down his role in Supernova (2000) a few times before eventually accepting the role.

Was once engaged to actress and poker player Jennifer Tilly.

Good friends with Kiefer Sutherland, Bill Allen, Miguel Ferrer and the late Brandon Lee.

As guest star, he appeared in 14 police-detective procedural dramas/thrillers: La ley y el orden: Unidad de Víctimas Especiales (1999), 24 (2001), The Handler (2003), Num3ros (2005), Mentes criminales (2005), Psych (2006), Chuck (2007), Blue Bloods (2010), Hawaii 5.0 (2010), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013), Ironside (2013), NCIS: New Orleans (2014), Blindspot (2015) and Training Day (2017). The episodes where he appeared (in chronological order) are: 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. (2002), 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. (2002), Jar of Spiders (2003), Sniper Zero (2005), Toxin (2005), Fault (2006), Spree (2006), Two Daughters (2006), Pandora's Box (2007), Psy vs. Psy (2007), High Exposure (2008), Angels and Devils (2009), Ultimatum (2009), Cause and Effect (2010), Chuck Versus the Cat Squad (2011), Hidden Agenda (2013), Sent on Tour (2015), Authentic Flirt (2015), Sunset (2017), Ka Laina Ma Ke One (2017), The Big House Pt. 1 (2017), The Big House Pt. 2 (2017), Submerged (2018), Checkmate, Part I (2018), Checkmate, Part II (2018), Playing with Fire (2018), By Hook or by Crook (2018), Common Enemies (2019) Iunne Ennui (2020) and Where the Truth Lies (2020). As regular cast, he appeared in two series: Longmire (2012) and Prodigal Son (2019).

Auditioned for the role of Richard Lestrange in La laguna azul (1980), which went to Christopher Atkins.

Attended the same college as Ray Corasani, Jonny Cruz and Kim Matula.

He endorsed the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris for her presidential campaign. (2024)