Phillip Rhee was raised in San Francisco. He is a martial artist, actor, director and producer who has created, produced and starred in six films, including the Best of the Best film series. Film has become a cult classic around the world and has spawned three sequels, Best of the best II, Best of the Best III and Best of the Best IV. Rhee began studying martial arts at the age of four. He holds ranks of 6th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a 3rd degree black belt in Hap Ki Do and a 1st degree black belt in Kendo.

Rhee decided at an early age to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, who was one of Korea's most prominent film directors. However, because Rhee realized that few opportunities existed for Asian American lead actors in traditional Hollywood films, he began creating, writing, and producing his own films. Rhee jokes that in his first picture, "we needed a convertible car, which was not budgeted, so we just took a car and sawed off the top. . . we just did what we needed to do to make the picture."Armed with his camera and a script, he shot his first film on a shoestring budget. Today, his trademark brand of action films are distributed around the world by Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Miramax/Dimension Films. "Currently, Rhee is starring in "The legend of Jason Lee" which is a true story of a little boy who fled from Hawaii to San Francisco in the 1920s and became a big mob boss that had ties with Al Capone. Rhee's ambition is to build an entertainment empire utilizing the talents from Asia and America in both films, television and music.