Biography
Raised in Seattle by two artists, Phillip Solheim grew up between camera lights and choir pews. His father, David, a news producer, put him on screen before he'd lost his first tooth, while his mother, Laurie, taught him harmony from the church rows. By thirteen, Downbeat Magazine had named him Jr. High Jazz Vocalist of the Year, and he'd joined Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre Rising Star Project - an early home for his love of story and performance. Selected by Tony nominee Lara Teeter to train at Webster University's Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts, Phillip developed a foundation in both classical and contemporary performance. Professional collaborations with the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Variety Theatre, and The Muny deepened his range and discipline. On stage, he's played characters defined by contradiction - Claude in Hair, Moritz in Spring Awakening, and the infamous H.H. Holmes in Deadly, a new musical directed by Broadway's Caesar Samayoa - each exploring the tension between innocence and danger, belonging and rebellion. Recent screen work includes leading roles in Lines (dir. Sara Werner, written by Liesl Wilke), which premiered at Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theatre during the 2024 Beverly Hills Film Festival, and Masc (dir. Jason Eldridge, Decoded Studio), winner of Best LGBTQ+ Narrative Short at the Denver Underground Film Festival and an official selection at the Chelsea Film Festival. Phillip once trained for U.S. Nationals in sprint kayaking, a discipline that taught him how to find stillness inside momentum - a quality that threads through his work on screen. Now based in Los Angeles and New York, he continues honing his craft with Martha Gehman, co-Artistic Director of The Actors Studio New York, and in Zak Barnett's Masterclass. [October 2025]
