Bijou Phillips
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"I've always been a performer. My family is in show business. Putting on a show has always been my thing. Even in school I used to say to people, 'One day you're going to be sitting there in your parents' house drinking Natural Lights and smoking your shag weed and you'll see me on MTV.'"---Bijou Phillips quoted in Details, January 1997.
"I like watching shows from when I was younger, like 'Full House'. I'm also a big fan of Celine Dion. I like what the world likes, because I want to feel like I can fit in." --Phillips to Time Out New York, April 15-22, 1999
Biography
A fixture on the New York party scene before she was old enough to drive, Bijou Phillips was a wild child personified. Born into rock royalty, she made gossip-page headlines by the time she was 13, thanks to her hard-core partying, excessive drinking, and heavy drug use. As a prepubescent teen, she appeared in controversial ad campaigns clad in nothing but her underwear. Phillips' life was seemingly spinning out of control until she turned her life around and began to focus on an acting career. Her breakout role was in the independent film "Black and White" (1999), a compelling drama about racism. She also appeared in the critically acclaimed drama "Almost Famous" (2000), as a teen groupie to an up-and-coming 1970s rock band. In spite of her family's highly publicized personal tragedies, which included shocking allegations of an incestuous relationship between her father, legendary singer John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas and her half-sister, actress Mackenzie Phillips, Phillips continued to act and tackle roles that showcased her talents and passion for her chosen career.
Bijou Lilly Phillips was born on April 1, 1980 in Greenwich, CT to father John Phillips, founder of the 1960s folk-rock group, The Mamas and the Papas, and mother Geneviève Waïte, a South African model and actress. Phillips' family also included her brother Tamerlane, and three half-siblings, Jeffrey Phillips, actress Mackenzie Phillips, and singer Chynna Phillips. Raised mostly by her father - who was knee-deep in a heroin addiction which would later lead to an arrest for trafficking - Phillips spent the earlier part of her childhood in Malibu, CA, where she was surrounded by sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. Any semblance of childhood ended when she moved to New York City and began modeling at age 13, gracing the covers of Interview magazine and Italian Vogue. Phillips also appeared in a controversial Calvin Klein ad campaign as one of the pouty adolescents clad only in their white underwear. At 14, Phillips dropped out of school, left home, and moved into her own apartment. Due to the lack of adult supervision, Phillips led a life of excessive partying. Her reckless behavior at such a young age was tabloid fodder for years, and included stories about Phillips' failed relationship with Cher's son, Elijah Blue Allman, and how she allegedly half-sliced a man's finger with a cigar cutter in a New York bar. Phillips was also linked to actors Elijah Wood and Leonardo DiCaprio, and dated Beatle offspring Sean Lennon for several years.
At age 17, it appeared as though Phillips had put her wild days behind her and had decided to embrace her musical legacy. In 1999, she released the indie-rock album I'd Rather Eat Glass, which received mostly negative reviews. Phillips was more successful as an actress. She garnered glowing reviews for her performance as a hip-hop obsessed teen in the drama "Black and White" (1999) opposite Robert Downey, Jr., Jared Leto, and Elijah Wood. In 2000, Phillips had a small but memorable part as a groupie in director Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous," starring Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, and Frances McDormand. She went on to star in a number of independent films such as the sexually charged drama "Bully" (2001), the thriller "Octane" (2003), and co-starred in "Havoc" (2005) opposite Anne Hathaway. Phillips also starred in the biopic "What We Do is Secret" (2007), about the punk legend Darby Crash and his band, the Germs.
Her notorious family once again made headlines after her half-sister, Mackenzie Phillips, best known for her role of Julie Cooper on the Seventies sitcom "One Day at a Time" (CBS, 1975-1984), revealed in her earth-shattering memoir High on Arrival (2009) that she had a long-term sexual relationship with her rock legend father, who was by then deceased. Following Mackenzie's shocking revelation, Phillips and her other half-sister, Chynna, both admitted that they already knew about Mackenzie's situation. In a statement, Phillips said that she was 13 years old when Mackenzie admitted that she had a consensual and drug-induced physical relationship with their father. In 2009, Phillips - who by now was a certifiable survivor of her extended family's decadent and often dysfunctional lifestyle - became engaged to "That '70s Show" (Fox, 1998-2006) star Danny Masterson, whom she met in 2006 at a poker tournament in Las Vegas, NV. The couple co-starred in several independent films such as "Wake" (2009) and "The Bridge to Nowhere" (2009). In 2010, Phillips appeared in several episodes of the comedy "Raising Hope" (ABC, 2010-14).
By Candy Cuenco
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Costume-Wardrobe (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Music (Special)
Life Events
1993
At age 13, began work as a model, appearing on the cover of <i>Interview</i> magazine
1995
Appeared as part of a controversial Calvin Klein ad campaign featuring underage models in suggestive poses at age 15
1995
Taught by father to play the guitar
1999
Had a brief cameo in the independent film "Sugar Town"
1999
Released her debut album <i>I'd Rather Eat Glass</i> and toured as part of the Lilith Fair music festival
2000
Received positive reviews for her portrayal of a young Upper East Side child of privilege who has appropriated African-American hip-hop lingo and lifestyle in James Toback's "Black and White"
2000
Had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous"
2000
Posed for and featured on the cover of <i>Playboy</i> magazine (April)
2001
Appeared in the independent drama, "Tart"
2001
Portrayed a teenage party girl in Larry Clark's "Bully"
2004
Cast opposite Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger in "The Door in the Floor"
2005
Portrayed Lorna Doom opposite Shane West in "What We Do Is Secret," about late '70s seminal punk band The Germs
2005
Starred opposite Anne Hathaway in Stephen Gaghan's "Havoc"
2007
Cast in Eli Roth's "Hostel: Part II," the sequel to the 2006 film about a torture ring in Europe
2008
Starred opposite Sam Rockwell in the black comedy "Choke"
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
"I've always been a performer. My family is in show business. Putting on a show has always been my thing. Even in school I used to say to people, 'One day you're going to be sitting there in your parents' house drinking Natural Lights and smoking your shag weed and you'll see me on MTV.'"---Bijou Phillips quoted in Details, January 1997.
"I like watching shows from when I was younger, like 'Full House'. I'm also a big fan of Celine Dion. I like what the world likes, because I want to feel like I can fit in." --Phillips to Time Out New York, April 15-22, 1999
"Music is real; it's something you can touch and feel. It moves you--the bass literally shakes you and rocks you from the inside. Music makes your soul feel amazing while you're performing it. It's not air, it's not wind, it's not anything like that. It's solid. It's thick. It's like summertime in New York." --Bijou Phillips quoted in Interview, May 1999
Phillips on her wild party past: "I don't regret anything that I did. If I had stayed home and gone to school and done the normal Brady thing, I would have been a total idiot. My whole thing is that I was stupid, but I was 14 and everybody's stupid at that age, so it's fine." --to Details, May 1999
Mackenzie Phillips on her younger half-sister: "Bijou may be thought of as this young privileged kid from a wealthy family, which is not right. We were like poor little rich kids. We may have lived in big mansions, but they were dirty and everything was broken. And the fact that Bijou can put a sentence together and look beautiful is a miracle. She has more strength than anyone would ever see just looking at her." --quoted in US Weekly, March 27, 2000
Father John Phillips on his hands-off parenting: "As a little girl, she wasn't a wild child at all until about the last six months before she went to work for Calvin Klein. She started having a lot of parties and running around. She was pretty crazy then. I was mercifully spared the New York years because I was in California. But I certainly knew the press coverage." --quoted in US Weekly, MArch 27, 2000
Phillips on the provocative opening scene of "Black and White": "What? I'm having a threesome in Central Park with a black man. I loved doing it. I wanted to put that scene out there in the world. I want people to deal with that. I want people to adjust to that." --quoted in Daily News, April 7, 2000
