Trip Phoenix (Mestizo/Métis) was born in Montréal, Québec. In his youth, he started to draw comics and later he taught himself playing the guitar. Also, he was studying theater at school. Over his early years he was playing with rock bands in Montréal in school shows and after in clubs. He put together his own band and went to New York City to sign a big record contract with an American major label (BMG).
His rock group released and toured the album in 1992 to rave reviews in America, but shortly thereafter, their label was dismantled after internal shifts at BMG. He went on to record and touring with independent bands as well working as a session guitarist and singer in New York City. While there, he also gained experience on the business side of the music business as a personal assistant to the President of an independent Music PR firm, a follow spot operator and stagehand, an independent PR consultant, as well as a Producer of benefit concerts for a number of non-profit organizations involved with Native American causes.
Relocating to Toronto in 2002, he began working as an actor and a performer in film and television, appearing in the features Bulletproof Monk (with Chow Yun Fat), How To Lose a Guy In Ten Days (Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughy), Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Lindsay Lohan), New York Minute (The Olson Twins), and several TV shows like Monk (Tony Shaloub), Blue Murder, Street Time and the Gavin Crawford Show, that year. At the same time, he resumed playing guitar and singing with a variety of Toronto acts.
In 2007, in his spare time, Trip was also busy working as a fundraiser representative for The National Ballet Of Canada, and DJing at local clubs in downtown Toronto.
Since then, he has played and toured the US and Canada with Toronto based acts Crash Kelly (with featured performances at South By Southwest 2005 in Austin, Texas) and other groups and has effortlessly shared the stage with such diverse acts as The Church, Gavin Friday, The Doughboys, Sons of Freedom, The Fleshtones, Asia, Jackson Browne, Brother Cane, Corrosion of Conformity, Catherine Wheel, Testament(Chuck Billy), Kris Kristofferson, Ulali (Pura Fe), John Trudell, Derek Miller, Kashtin and in 2009 was hired as a bass player to tour Western Canada with The Mudmen.
In July of 2009, Trip suffered a stroke which left him without speech and use of the right side of his body. Over the next year he attended many different rehabilitation programs and has fought hard to regain his life.
Last year, he started learning clowning with Helen Donnelly at Second City and
in the Fall, he took Sketchy and Fesso’s Crash Course in Vaudeville, and later completed their second level course (Smash Course in Vaudeville) with Dave McKay and Jeff Krahn at the Centre of Gravity, the home of Zero Gravity Circus. After that, he performed in the Grotesque X-Mas Lunacy Cabaret as a bouffon, as well as a Lunacy dancer in the shows.
This winter and spring, he continued his clowning studies with Helen Donnelly in “Discover Your Clown. Also, he has performed at The Red Nose Revue recently as Boo Boo The Bear.
He is a member of NCCT, LIFT, ANDVPA, SOCAN, ACTRA, Actra Fraternal, and ACCT (Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television).
Persistence, determination and a whole new perspective on life have helped him get back on his feet in order to share his artistic talents with others. With utmost passion, he looks forward to pursuing a creative and fulfilling life.
