Lou Diamond Phillips Boasts More Comic Book Roles Than You Likely Realized
Generations ago, the community of actors to have played comic book characters on screen was a pretty small one. Now, thanks to movies and TV shows based on comic books having become the backbone of the industry, more and more high-profile performers join their ranks every day. And that includes some actors that fans might not associate with the world of comic book adaptations out-of-hand. Like, for instance, Lou Diamond Phillips.
Phillips is probably best known for his roles in the "Young Guns" movies or as Henry Standing Bear in "Longmire," but he's played more comic book characters over the course of his long career than you might guess. Outside of an episode of "Tales from the Crypt," Phillips has not acted in any live-action comic book adaptations to speak of. But as a semi-prolific voice actor, he's brought life to comic book characters in several different animated projects. The actor's first jump into the comic book character world came with the "X-Men Legends" games, in which he voiced the X-Men's resident technology expert, Forge.
The first "X-Men Legends" game came out in 2004, followed by "X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse" the following year. For a while, Forge was the actor's only comic book role, but two more animated projects bolstered his credentials in this area significantly.
Phillips voice a legendary DC Comics superhero in an animated film
If you've enjoyed the English dub of the animated Netflix series "Trese," you have heard Lou Diamond Phillips in another of his comic book voice acting roles, as Mayor Sancho Santamaria. "Trese" is based on the comic book series of the same name by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo, meriting its inclusion here.
"Trese" Season 1 hit Netflix in 2021, and the following year, Phillips voiced one of the DC universe's most fearsome heroes. Phillips took on the role of Spectre in "DC Showcase: Constantine – The House of Mystery." This voice role serves as Phillips' last comic book character to date.
Lou Diamond Phillips's IMDb page doesn't show any upcoming comic book projects, but hopefully, if he has any interest in the field, he'll be able to add some more roles to this list in the future. And perhaps a part in a live-action comic book movie or TV series could be possible, as well.