After the breakup of the Mamas & the Papas and her divorce from John Phillips, she successfully transitioned into acting, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance as Billie Frechette in the critically acclaimed crime biopic Dillinger (1973). She went on to appear in numerous films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including Ken Russell\'s Valentino (1977), playing Natacha Rambova; Bloodline (1979); and Scissors (1991). She was also a main cast member on the series Knots Landing from 1987 to 1993. Phillips released one solo album, Victim of Romance (1977). She is the mother of Chynna Phillips.\n', '

Phillips was born Holly Michelle Gilliam in Long Beach, California, the second child of Joyce Leon (née Poole), an accountant, and Gardner Burnett Gilliam, a merchant mariner. She has one older sister. When Phillips was five years old her mother died of a brain aneurysm. Between the ages of six and twelve, Phillips was raised in Mexico City, Mexico, where her father was studying sociology on the GI Bill at Mexico City College. While there, she attended Mexican schools, and learned to speak Spanish. At age thirteen, Phillips returned to the United States with her father and sister, settling again in Long Beach, where she attended high school. In high school, Phillips played several sports, and studied piano, guitar, and cello.\n', '

Standing at 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m) Phillips relocated to San Francisco hoping to work as a model. There, she met John Phillips while he was touring California with his band the Journeymen. He divorced his first wife and married Michelle on December 31, 1962, when she was eighteen years old. In 1968, she gave birth to their daughter, Chynna Phillips, who later became vocalist of the 1990s pop trio Wilson Phillips.\n', '

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