Phil Morris (actor)

Phil Morris
Morris at the 2009 New York Comic Con
Born	(1959-04-04) April 4, 1959 (age 57) Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1966–present

Phillip Morris (born April 4, 1959) is an American television, voice, and film actor. He played Jackie Chiles in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld and John Jones in The CW superhero drama Smallville. He last starred as Delroy Jones in Love That Girl!.

Morris was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and is the son of actor Greg Morris and Leona Morris (née Keyes). He also is the younger brother of actress Iona Morris. Morris is a practitioner of Wing Chun under Sifu Hawkins Cheung.

Morris's first acting role was as a child when he appeared in the 1966 Star Trek episode "Miri". Star Trek was, at the time, shot at the same studio that produced Mission: Impossible, where his father was working. He made his feature film debut in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock in a small role and later guest-starred on Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.

In the mid-1980s, he portrayed law student (later attorney) Tyrone Jackson on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless. During a major storyline, his character used heavy theatrical make-up to appear Caucasian, in order to go undercover to expose an organized crime organization. In the 1990s, Morris played a recurring character, the Johnnie Cochran-inspired defense attorney Jackie Chiles, on the comedy Seinfeld and co-starred in the TV remake of Mission: Impossible as tech wizard Grant Collier (son of Barney Collier, who was played in the original series by Morris's real-life father Greg Morris). He also said in an interview that he grew up watching the original Mission: Impossible, with series' lead Peter Graves, and the young Morris also grew up with his acting mentor's real-life children, as well. The friendship continued, until his acting mentor's own loss, on March 14, 2010, when Morris was very devastated by the death of Graves. Morris voiced the supporting role of Dr. Sweet in Disney's 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire as well as its 2003 sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return. He played one of Will Smith's college professors on the NBC show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and played Dr. Clay Spencer on the then-UPN television show Girlfriends.