Bio

PHILIPPE (né Blanchard) is a Montreal-born American actor, screenplay writer and New York theater artist (dramaturg, director and independent producer). He is the 2010 recipient of the Theater for the New City’s Crysalis Award for his play, Tsunami à la Québécoise.

Working in several Manhattan “downtown” venues, his work has been described as a “miraculous mirage,” “powerful” and “extremely enjoyable” as well as “fierce, passionate and outrageous.”  Inside New York has described his acting as “standout” and OffOffOnline has said that he could be “imposing, cruel, suave, disarmingly charming and decidedly theatrical.”  He has been profiled by Let Us Nerd and The Examiner.

Early Years: Sound Engineer and Acting Training
After working for ten years as a live concert soundman, recording engineer and post-production sound editor for TV shows, he moves to New York City where he attends the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute (1999-2003), receiving his acting training from teachers Irma Sandrey, Robert Castle, Mauricio Bustamante, Hope Arthur, Joyce Sarandon and Dan Grimaldi. He then follows renowned Artistic Director Robert Castle at his newly established International Theater New York Company for two more years. He starts working as an actor and Method Acting coach immediately upon completing his training.

Theater and Translation-Adaptation
Artistically supported and encouraged by Caffe Cino legendary Off-Off Broadway Director Ted Mornel, Philippe begins to write in 2003.  Drawing first from his Quebecois roots, he translates and adapts Denys Arcand's Decline of the American Empire with Arcand’s permission, and then produces it at the Gene Frankel Theater (October 2004).  He also plays the role of Mario in that play.  His own award-winning Tsunami à la Québécoise, written in 2005, is produced at Theater for the New City in 2010.

In 2011, he translates Montreal playwright Etienne Lepage’s L'enclos de L'elephant (The Elephant Pen), which is produced by Theater for the New City in June 2016.  And in 2012, after seeing another of Lepage’s work, Rouge Gueule, first translated by playwright Chantal Bilodeau and read at the LARK, he creates his own, harder and more Americanized adaptation and translation of the same work.  That version, produced in April 2013 by Theater for the New City, becomes the much-acclaimed play Bite your Tongue.

Philippe has also translated three American plays to be produced in French-speaking Quebec: Lanford Wilson’s Burn This (2009), Sheila Callaghan’s That Pretty Pretty; Or, The Rape Play (2016) and Charles L. Mee’s Big Love (2016).  In 2021, he completes a Master’s Degree in Translation and Intercultural Theater Semiotics at UQAM – University of Quebec at Montreal’s École Supérieure de Théâtre.  In 2024, he publishes his first book translation, The Little Red Book from author Michel Dorais, PhD.

Film & Television
Sitting in the writers room since the earliest days (2008) of the late New York Director Shawn Regruto's TriBeCa Writers Group, Philippe has studied screenplay writing techniques extensively, and read, helped re-write and given notes on hundreds of screenplays and other writing projects.  He has also written his own, several short films and three feature screenplays, all in development.

In 2014, he Story-Edited and Script-Doctored Director Ari Taub’s most recent feature film, 79-Parts.  For that work, he was granted his first “above-the-line” writing credit (as Philippe Keb Blanchard).  The film won “Best Film Audience Choice” at the SoHo International Film Festival.

His current projects center around writing and pitching original screenplays (both feature films and TV series), as well as the adaptation of existing foreign material for the US market.

Misc.
He is best friends with his ex-wife, with whom he has a daughter.

Union Affiliation

• SAG-AFTRA (USA and Europe)
  
• UdA (Canada)

Body type

Philippe is a very tall, athletic man (6’5”) at approximately 200 pounds, which makes him look more “tall/slender” than “large”.  He also has broad shoulders and long arms, even as his chest is probably around 43.  For that reason, he tends to buy his clothes a little larger, otherwise the sleeves are often too short.  For reference, he buys Abercrombie & Fitch “Muscle XXL” shirts, which fit him perfectly.