Derek Phillips

Derek Phillips’s Journey from Stage to Virtual Worlds

Miami-born on April 18, 1976, Derek Phillips built his craft the hard way – through years of regional theater across the United States before a single camera ever rolled on him. A graduate of Baylor University with a BFA in acting, he cut his teeth on productions like The Winter’s Tale at Baltimore Center Stage, Of Mice and Men at the Dallas Theater Center, and The Glass Menagerie at the Virginia Stage Company. That stage foundation would become the bedrock of everything that followed, from soap opera work on Guiding Light and As the World Turns to one of television’s most celebrated ensemble dramas.

Beyond his stage work, Phillips co-founded Second Thought Theatre in Dallas, where he served as associate producer, assistant director, and resident actor – a commitment to ensemble storytelling that would directly inform how he approaches character work in the booth.

Billy Riggins and the Friday Night Lights Breakthrough

Sixty episodes as Billy Riggins on NBC’s Friday Night Lights (2006-2011) put Phillips on the map. The role demanded emotional range and raw authenticity – a working-class Texas brother navigating responsibility and loyalty – and Phillips delivered something that stuck with viewers long after the show ended. The performance earned him guest spots across Grey’s Anatomy, The Closer, Longmire, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Chicago P.D., among others. He later co-hosted a Friday Night Lights rewatch podcast, Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, alongside Stacey Oristano, cementing the show’s lasting hold on both its cast and fans.

The Last of Us, Fallout 4, and the Voice Work That Redefined His Career

The pivot to voice acting began in 2012 with Dishonored, where Phillips voiced Lord Treavor Pendleton. From there, his game credits expanded rapidly – Elder Maxson in Fallout 4, Mark Jefferson in Life Is Strange, Randall in The Walking Dead: Michonne, and additional voices across The Last of Us and Rise of the Tomb Raider. The role that generated the most attention was Jerry Anderson in The Last of Us Part II (2020), a performance requiring both voice and full motion capture. Phillips reprised the role in The Last of Us Part I (2022). His game portfolio extended further into Mortal Kombat 1 as Reiko, Call of Duty: Vanguard and Black Ops 6, and Concord as Lennox. In 2026, he added Hasebe in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties to his credits.

Blood of Zeus and Animation

When Netflix’s Blood of Zeus launched in October 2020, Phillips took on the lead role of Heron – a demigod son of Zeus navigating war between gods and monsters. The performance carried across all 24 episodes through the show’s run from 2020 to 2025, making it his most sustained animated role to date. He also voiced Nightwing, Deadwing, and Aquaman in DC’s animated film Injustice (2021), and appeared in Creature Commandos (2024) and the Amazon anthology Secret Level (2024).