Phillips was raised in Garden City, New York. He received a bachelor\'s degree in English literature from Boston University and a Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University. He plays the tenor saxophone in the Alan Wasserman Jazz Band.\n', '

Ethan Phillips received an MFA from Cornell University. He began his show business career in New York City, performing off-Broadway at theaters including Direct Theater, winning the Best of the Actors’ Festival there in 1977; the Wonderhorse Theater, in the premier of Christopher Durang\'s The Nature and Purpose of the Universe; and at Playwrights Horizons in a revival of Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Tennessee Williams, who helped shape the latter production, wrote a new monologue for Phillips, which Williams personally dictated to him when it was realized that leading lady Jill Eikenberry needed more time for a dress change.\n', '

In 1979–80, Phillips appeared as Utrillo in the premier of Dennis McIntyre\'s Modigliani at the Astor Place Theater. It ran for 208 performances.\n', '

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