Lou Diamond Phillips is a Filipino-American actor and film director. He was born on February 17, 1962, at the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines. His father, Gerald Amon Upchurch, was an American of Scotch-Irish and one-quarter Cherokee descent, and his mother, Lucita Umayam Araña, was Filipino. After his fathers death, he was adopted by his stepfather and his surname was changed to Phillips. He was raised in Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama.