Marishka Phillips

Marishka S. Phillips is a Broadway actress, accomplished director, and thespian guru, Marishka S. Phillips is an actor’s actor with an extraordinary wealth of talent.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Marishka began performing at age of eight, and by the time she was thirteen, was cast in the European tour of Raisin, a musical version of the popular play A Raisin In The Sun. Upon graduating from Springfield Gardens High School, Mariskha honed in on her skills at the prestigious Alvin Ailey School of Dance, the Broadway Dance Center, and Fordham University, where she studied theater arts.

Marishka’s big break came at the age of nineteen when the budding actress landed a feature role in the Broadway musical, Uptown: It’s Hot.[1] Directed by the legendary Maurice Hines, Marishka found her niche on stage, and would go on to star in a host of other musicals, including Bubblin’ Brown Sugar, FAME: The Musical,[2] The Wiz,[3] and The Me Nobody Knows.

During a quick stint in Los Angeles, in 1991, Marishka made the move to television, scoring bit parts on the last two seasons of The Cosby Show and it’s spin-off A Different World,[4] but by 1997, Marishka found herself back on stage, and spent the next ten years touring Europe in big budget plays and musicals. Covering over eight countries, Marishka performed various roles in productions such as Tribute to the Blues Brothers, Ludwig: The Musical, and Teatro Palazzo. In between stage work, in 2002, Marishka released a musical recording on Hinterland Records entitled The Hike, and in 2007, released At The Waterfront on Mole Listening Pearls.

Under the mentorship of renowned acting coach, Susan Batson, Marishka returned to New York and continued studying the art of acting. In 2005, Marishka obtained the lead in an all-female cast of Othello, but by 2006, Marishka earned the lead in Absolute Fight at the NY Fringe Festival, and received an Audelco nomination for her role in Woody King’s production of Sweet Mama String Bean, as a young Ethel Waters. The talented actress would go on to star in Stage & Screen, a play directed by Tony Award winner Hinton Battle.

As an actress, singer, and dancer, Marishka is bona fide triple threat, and has performed and toured with Sean P.Diddy Combs, Christian Castro, and CeCe Winans, just to name a few.

As an acting coach, in 2011, Marishka founded the Marishka Phillips Theatrical Preparatory. Having coached and trained some of the Hollywood’s biggest names, including Deborah Cox, Kerry Washington, Terri Vaughn, Rafael Sadiiq, Tasha Smith and Elizabeth Rohm, Marishka’s ingenious acting method combines the traditional art of story telling through a spiritual connection.

As a director, Marishka studied at the Los Angeles Community College, and has directed two highly revered off-Broadway productions: Box [5] produced by Stuart Films LLC, and Precious written and produced by Damian Bailey. On screen, she made her directorial debut with Love Always, Eartha, a short film that takes an in-depth look at the life of Eartha Kitt in 1955.[6]

Marishka lives and resides in New York City, and is also an official New York Casting Director.