Phillips was a 20th century Human film actor. Tom Paris considered Phillips to be one of the greatest actors of Earth's 20th century. His USS Voyager crewmate, Neelix, had watched some of the man's work and also considered him to be a brilliant actor. (VOY reference: Star Trek Cookbook) This is probably an in-joke referring to actor Ethan Phillips, who portayed Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager, and co-wrote the Star Trek Cookbook.