Wendy Phillips

• Name — Wendy Phillips • Born — 2 January 1952 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1975–present • Children — 1

Phillips was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Wendell K. Phillips, was an actor who performed primarily in theaters in New York. Her mother, Jean Shelton, was an actress. Her parents separated after her father was unable to obtain jobs because he was blacklisted for being a member of the Communist Party. Phillips lived with her grandmother in Atlanta for two years. Shelton and the couple's five children moved to Berkeley, California, after the separation. She worked as a legal secretary, and Phillips recalled, "At one point, she was on welfare and food stamps." Shelton also had a relationship with actor Robert Ross; Phillips said that neither he nor her father provided child support. The family's situation improved when Shelton began teaching acting classes, an effort that eventually developed into a school with 200 students. Phillips initially veered away from the family's acting tradition to study pre-law at the University of California at Berkeley. She found legal preparation less appealing than "great summations", however, so she went into acting as a profession.

Phillips made her screen debut in the 1975 NBC Movie of the Week, Death Be Not Proud. Two years later, Phillips made her big screen debut in the drama film Fraternity Row. On television, she starred alongside Mitchell Ryan in the CBS drama series, Executive Suite from 1976 to 1977, and later on the NBC series The Eddie Capra Mysteries (1978–79). She later guest-starred on Lou Grant, Trapper John, M.D., Taxi, St. Elsewhere, The Twilight Zone, and Murder, She Wrote During the 1980s, Phillips appeared in films Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) and Midnight Run (1988), as well as a number of made-for-television movies, notably Paper Dolls (1982), the NBC miniseries A Year in the Life (1986), and its sequel series from 1987 to 1988. In 1989, she was a regular cast member in the ABC sitcom The Robert Guillaume Show, and from 1989 to 1990 starred as David Selby's character's last wife, Lauren Daniels, during the final season of CBS prime time soap opera, Falcon Crest. In 1991, she played title character's ex-wife in the biographical film Bugsy. From 1991 to 1993, Phillips starred in the ABC award-winning drama series, Homefront. She later played Gerald McRaney's wife, Claire Greene, on the CBS series Touched by an Angel (1994–98) and Promised Land (1996–99). The following years, Phillips guest-starred on Charmed, ER, The Closer, Shameless, and had recurring roles on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006) and Big Love (2006–2011). Phillips has been teaching scene study and acting for the camera privately since 2001, and in later years she has been an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Phillips married actor Scott Paulin, and they have a daughter.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1975 — Death Be Not Proud — Mary Wilson — TV movie • 1975 — One of Our Own — Debbie Hinshaw — TV movie • 1976–1977 — Executive Suite — Stacey Walling — 18 episodes • 1978–1979 — The — Lacey Brown — 10 episodes • 1979 — Paris — Dina Novotny — Episode: "Pawn" • 1979 — Lou Grant — Nell Wheeler — Episode: "Frame-Up" • 1979 — The — Sandy — Episode: "Girlfriends" • 1980 — B. J. and the Bear — Officer Tracy McBain — Episode: "The 18-Wheel Rip-Off" • 1980 — The — Lisa Del Monte — TV movie • 1981 — CHiPs — Joanne — Episode: "The Killer Indy" • 1982 — Trapper John, M.D. — Laura Johnson — Episode: "42" • 1982 — Taxi — Heather — Episode: "The Road Not Taken: Part 1" • 1982 — Paper Dolls — TV movie • 1984 — Partners in Crime — Shirley Hamner — Episode: "The Hottest Guy in Town" • 1984 — Shattered Vows — TV movie • 1984 — St. Elsewhere — Diane Hassett — Episode: "Fade to White" • 1984 — The — Mrs. Roberts — Episode: "Thanksgiving Day" • 1985 — The — Mom — Episode: "The Uncle Devil Show" • 1986 — Amazing Stories — Barbara Lynn — Episode: "The Sitter" • 1986 — Fuzzbucket — Mom — TV movie • 1986 — A — Anne Gardner-Maxwell — TV miniseries • 1987 — Matlock — Paula Campbell — Episode: "The Court-Martial: Part 1" Episode: "The Court-Martial: Part 2" • 1987 — Murder, She Wrote — Nancy Dalton — Episode: "Murder, She Spoke" • 1987 — Baby Girl Scott — TV movie • 1987–1988 — A — Anne Gardner-Maxwell — 22 episodes • 1989 — The — Sarah Grant — TV movie • 1989 — The — Ann Sherr — 12 episodes • 1989–1990 — Falcon Crest — Lauren Sharpe Daniels Channing — 20 episodes • 1990 — Appearances — Marie Danzig — TV movie • 1990 — Lifestories — Mrs. Hawkins — Episode: "The Hawkins Family" • 1991–1993 — Homefront — Anne Metcalf — 42 episodes • 1994 — MacShayne: Winner Takes All — Hannah Foss — TV movie • 1994 — MacShayne: The Final Roll of the Dice — Hannah Foss — TV movie • 1994 — The — Lisa Hull — Episode: "The Plague" • 1994 — Diagnosis: Murder — Dr. Karen Fielder — Episode: "Murder Most Vial" • 1994 — Touched by an Angel — Ruth Ann Russell — Episode: "The Southbound Bus" • 1995 — The — Emily Sherman — Episode: "The Johnny Club" • 1995 — Picket Fences — Janine Barrett — Episode: "The Song of Rome" • 1995 — Fast Company — Paula Stone — TV movie • 1996 — Heroine of Hell — Margaret — TV movie • 1996 — Savannah — Lucille Richards — 9 episodes • 1996 — The — Babs Honeywell — TV movie • 1996 — A — Luanne Utley — TV movie • 1996 — ABC Afterschool Specials — Karen — Episode: "Too Soon for Jeff" • 1996–1998 — Touched by an Angel — Claire Greene — 6 episodes • 1996–1999 — Promised Land — 67 episodes • 2000 — Family Law — Ruth Crowley — Episode: "Are You My Father?" • 2000 — The — TV movie • 2000 — Strong Medicine — Michelle Freid — Episode: "Brainchild" • 2001 — Charmed — Sister Agnes — Episode: "Charmed Again: Part 2" • 2002 — For the People — Alice Benedict — Episode "Pilot" • 2002 — MDs — Mrs. Farrell — Episode: "Cruel and Unusual" • 2003 — Presidio Med — Louise Altman — Episode: "Breathless" • 2003 — Joan of Arcadia — Brenda Jameson — Episode: "Touch Move" • 2003 — ER — Mrs. Lambright — Episode: "Missing" • 2004 — Life on Liberty Street — Lucy Zane — TV movie • 2005-2006 — Ghost Whisperer — Diane Shields — 2 Episodes: "Homecoming" + "The Vanishing" • 2006 — Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip — Shelley Green — 4 episodes • 2006–2011 — Big Love — Peg Embry — 15 episodes • 2008 — The — Patricia Simmons — Episode: "Speed Bump" • 2009 — Bones — Abby Chevaleer — Episode: "The Goop on the Girl" • 2018 — SEAL Team — Linda Hayes — Episodes: "The Worst of Conditions", "All That Matters" • 2020 — The George Lucas Talk Show — Herself — Stu-D2 1138 on the Binary Sunset Sith (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip marathon)

Wendy Phillips is established in Library of Congress under no2008072921. Recorded as television actor.