Jessica Phillips

Jessica Phillips, born November 3, 1971, in Nashville, Tennessee, is an American actress whose career has spanned Broadway, television, and regional theater. The eldest daughter of religious historian and writer Dr. Gary Phillips and Alice Phillips, she grew up in Sutton, Massachusetts. Phillips trained as a competitive dancer before shifting her focus to acting, studying the Linklater Technique as a teenager and eventually working directly under its creator, Kristin Linklater. She completed her secondary education at Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduating in 1989, and went on to earn a BFA in musical theatre from Emerson College in 1994, where she studied under director Leo Nickole.

Her professional career began immediately after college, when her first audition resulted in a role as Mrs. Walker in the touring company of The Who's Tommy. In 1999, Phillips returned to Nashville for five years, during which she appeared in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and worked as a demo singer in radio. Her Broadway career, which spans from 1997 to 2018, includes productions such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Jesus Christ Superstar, Next to Normal, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Leap of Faith. She appeared in all three versions of The Scarlet Pimpernel, playing Marguerite, and took on the role of Diana in Next to Normal, Marion in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Marla in Leap of Faith. Throughout her stage career, Phillips has shared the stage with performers including Billy Porter, Estelle Parsons, Marc Kudisch, Leslie Odom Jr., and Alice Ripley, and performed at the grand re-opening of Radio City Music Hall, hosted by Billy Crystal.

Beyond Broadway, Phillips originated the role of Ellen in the world premiere of Unknown Soldier at the Williamstown Theater Festival in 2015 and played Michele Serling in Deathless by Zack Zadek at Goodspeed Musicals in 2017. On television, she guest starred in Unforgettable, Royal Pains, and Elementary, and between 2013 and 2016 recurred as attorney Pippa Cox across seven episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC. NBC submitted her for consideration for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series at the 2016 Emmy Awards, though she did not advance to the final round.

Outside of acting, Phillips performed in the country duo 10th & Carlisle alongside Tad Wilson, a former cast member who later became her husband. The two married on July 15, 2017, and separated in 2021. Phillips has two sons, Jonah and Malcolm, from a prior marriage to Nicholas Rohlfing. She came out publicly as queer in February 2022. In April 2024, Phillips became engaged to Chelsea Nachman, a Broadway publicist, after three years together.