He came to fame in the late 1990s, after starring in a string of beefcake roles in films like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54.

Phillippe, who is married to actress Reese Witherspoon, was in the ensemble cast of the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Crash, playing the role of a young cop struggling with racism.

A talented actor, Phillippe has never been afraid of taking off-beat roles for actors in his generation, such as in the movies Little Boy Blue and Igby Goes Down.

Phillippe (IPA pronunciation: [fɪlɪ'pi]) was born in New Castle, Delaware to Richard Phillippe (a chemical technician for DuPont) and Susan (who ran a day care center in the family's house); he has three sisters, Kirsten, Lindsay and Katelyn. Phillippe attended New Castle Baptist Academy, where he played basketball and soccer, as well as earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do; he was also the Yearbook Editor in his senior year. At 15, he became interested in an acting career, inspired by a neighbor's suggestion. A casting agent spotted Phillippe in a barbershop two years later, and began sending him to auditions in New York.

Phillippe's acting career began with an appearance in ABC daytime drama One Life to Live from 1992 to 1993. His character Billy Douglas was the first gay person in a daily soap opera, causing quite a stir. After leaving the show, he moved to Los Angeles, where he appeared in a number of small parts in various television shows and movies, including White Squall (1996).

Phillippe was cast in the 1997 horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, which co-starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film was a success in October of that year, and led to Phillippe gaining wider renown and being cast in a few more high-profile films, including 54 in 1998 and 1999's Cruel Intentions, a modern retelling of the Choderlos de Laclos' novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The latter film, which also starred Phillippe's future wife, Reese Witherspoon, as well as his I Know What You Did Last Summer co-star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, was a success among its intended teenage audience, cementing Phillippe's ability to play characters that require sex appeal.

In the years following, Phillippe appeared in the crime comedy The Way of the Gun, starred as a famed software engineer in the thriller Antitrust, and co-starred in Robert Altman's critically-acclaimed Gosford Park, which featured several of Britain's most respected actors. Subsequently, Phillippe had supporting parts in the films Igby Goes Down (2002) and Crash (2005) which won the Oscar for "Best Picture". His 2003 film, The I Inside, premiered on cable.

Phillippe and his long-time friends Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, and David E. Siegal run a production company called Lucid Films. Phillippe is becoming more actively involved in his films as a producer.

Phillippe recently completed filming on a number of films to be released in 2006 or 2007; Chaos, in which he plays a police officer; Five Fingers, a drama set in Morocco; Breach, which chronicles the true story of FBI agent Eric O'Neill, and Flags of our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood and following the journey of the men who lifted the flag at the battle of Iwo Jima.

In 1997, Phillippe attended a party given for actress Reese Witherspoon's 21st birthday. Upon meeting Witherspoon, Phillippe was immediately mesmerized and spent all night talking to the young actress, with Witherspoon reportedly telling Phillippe "you must be my birthday present".[1] The following morning, Phillippe left California to film I Know What You Did Last Summer, and began a long-distance courtship with Witherspoon by mail, e-mail, and telephone. When Phillippe returned to Los Angeles, the couple continued dating and became engaged in December 1998. The following year, the pair starred in Cruel Intentions together.

Phillippe and Witherspoon married in the summer of 1999, in a small ceremony on a plantation near North Charleston, South Carolina. On September 9 of that year, the couple had a daughter named Ava Elizabeth, after Phillippe's grandmother. Their son, Deacon (named after Phillippe's distant relative, Deacon Phillippe, a baseball player) was born on October 23, 2003. The family resides in a gated community in Brentwood, California.

When he is not spending time with his wife or children, Phillippe enjoys photography, cartooning, and writing.

In September 2005, Witherspoon and their children were celebrating daughter Ava's sixth birthday at Disney's California Adventure theme park when they were approached by paparazzi photographer Todd Wallace. After Witherspoon declined posing for photos at close range, police say Wallace became enraged and pushed a child out of the way, while hitting another with his camera, in his efforts to photograph the actress. Wallace also allegedly shoved two theme park employees when they attempted to restrain him, and cursed at Witherspoon, causing several children to burst into tears. As a result of the altercation, Wallace was arrested and faced misdemeanor charges.

Before the case went to trial, Wallace was found dead in his apartment in Brentwood. Police are currently investigating the cause of death. It is not known whether Phillippe is implicated.

    * The same year Phillippe's movie Crash won the Oscar for Best Picture, his wife Reese Witherspoon won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the Johnny Cash bio-pic Walk The Line.