[1] After spending three years studying at Leeds University, Phillips secured a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
[2] After graduating from drama school, Phillips returned to Leeds to appear as Abigail Williams in The Crucible at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
By this time she had already filmed her scenes for the BBC's adaptation of Wolf Hall in which she played Jane Seymour,[3] a role she had been offered whilst still studying at Guildhall.
[4] There was mild controversy following the initial airing of Wolf Hall after some historians described Phillips as 'too pretty' to play Henry VIII's third wife.
An August 2018 announcement indicated that Phillips would be among the new cast to join the original actors in the feature film Downton Abbey which started principal photography at about the same time.