Phillips was born February 17, 1962, at the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines, the son of Lucita Umayam Aranas and Gerald Amon Upchurch (1935–1963), a Marine KC-130 crew chief. His mother, a native of Candelaria, Zambales, is Filipina. His father was an American of Scots-Irish and Cherokee descent.

In 1988, Phillips starred on the cowboy hit film Young Guns with Kiefer Sutherland, and both returned on the 1990 sequel. Phillips and Sutherland became good friends and have appeared on several films together like Renegades, Teresa's Tattoo (also with Sean Astin and C.

Since the "Longmire" finale in 2017, Phillips has more than doubled the amount of voice acting on his resume. On Disney's "The Lion Guard," a "Lion King" spinoff series, he provided the voice for Surak; he also had a recurring role on the children's show "Elena of Avalor" and did a guest spot on "Family Guy."

Lou Diamond Phillips, who was born in the Philippines, describes his ethnic background as Filipino, Hawaiian, Chinese, Hispanic, Scotch-Irish, and Cherokee Indian. Ritchie Valens made three hit records during the eight months that catapulted him to fame before he died at age 17. Mr.