Actor booked on assault charges

Janet Susan R. Nepales

Philippine News Online

LOS ANGELES – Filipino American actor Lou Diamond Phillips, who was booked last Friday, August 11, in Van Nuys jail for allegedly physically abusing his live-in girlfriend, was released around 11:45 am without posting bail which was set at $50,000.

According to Phillips’ representative, Erik Bright, in published reports in Reuters and Los Angeles Times, “There have been no charges pressed and it was a misunderstanding.”

Jonathan Diamond, a city attorney’s spokesman, was also quoted as saying, “Our office reviewed the case and referred it to the city attorney’s hearing program. The parties will come in and sit with one of our attorneys, who will try to mediate the situation. Charges could be filed down the road, but we’re trying to resolve this through the hearing program.”

Phillips, who is best known for his roles in “La Bamba” and “Stand and Deliver,” was arrested by Los Angeles police officers at 2 a.m. on Friday, August 11, at a home in the Northridge section of Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley.

According to LAPD Officer Sandra Escalante, the Northridge, CA Police Department received a call at 1:28 am. They arrived in the actor’s home in the 8800 block of Shashone Avenue in Northridge, gathered evidence and arrested Phillips. He allegedly got into a verbal altercation with his live-in girlfriend, makeup artist Yvonne Boismier, which eventually escalated into physical abuse. Phillips was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. The police said the deadly weapon was bodily force.

LAPD officer Martha Garcia revealed that the police responded to a domestic violence call and immediately booked the actor into custody. Phillips just turned 44 last February 17.

Born in Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines, Phillips, who also has Spanish/Irish, Chinese, Hawaiian and Cherokee ancestry, was arrested on suspicion of co-habitant abuse. The officer did not know whether the girlfriend, Boismier, sustained any injuries or whether she was taken to the hospital.

Boismier was the makeup artist for the 2006 sci-fi movie “Bloodlines” where Phillips also appeared in.

Phillips was also married to director Julie Cypher from 1986 to 1990 and to makeup artist Kelly Preston from 1994 to 2005. He has three children with Kelly, namely twins Grace and Isabella, 8, and daughter Lili, 6.

Phillips, who won a Golden Globe for his performance in the film “Stand and Deliver,” was also being considered for the lead part of a movie on the life of Filipino painter Juan Luna that Maricel Lopez Pagulayan of “Superman Returns” and “X Men” was planning to do. According to Pagulayan when we interviewed her, “I know Lou always wants to do things about Filipinos, our heritage and culture so I would like to get him for that role.”

He also starred opposite Emilio Chavez, Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland in the 1998 Western film, “Young Guns.”

Phillips, a University of Texas at Arlington grad with a BFA in Drama and a Stage West alum, has also made appearances on television including “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “24.”

He currently finished filming the movies “Fingerprints” (set for release in 2007) and “Death Toll” (set for release this year).