Joseph Phillips joined the Miami City Ballet as a soloist, before that he danced in the San Francisco Ballet for four years. He won the Gold Medal at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi (2002), the Gold Medal at the First Prague International Ballet Competition (2002), Gold Medal at the Youth American Grand Prix, NY, (2002) and the Jury Prize at the International Ballet Competition in Helsinki, Finland (2001). He began his dance training in Columbia, South Carolina when he was ten years old studying with Anita Ashley and the Carolina Ballet. He attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts studying with master teacher and coach, Stanislav Issaev. He attended the North Carolina School of the Arts on full scholarship and studied extensively with Warren Conover. He was also coached by Gyula Pandi for competitions while at the school. Hailed by the press as “Ballet’s Golden Boy,” he is a frequent guest artist at national and international festivals and with companies throughout the globe from Japan and Mexico to Czech Republic and most recently at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. He also lit the torch to open the VIII United States of America International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi this past year.

He has danced the leading roles in many ballets of the classical repertoire including "Tarantella," “Coppelia,” ”Stars and Stripes,” “Symphony 13”, “Sleeping Beauty” and in “pas de deux” such as “Don Quixote,” “Le Corsaire,”  “La Bayadere,” “Flames of Paris,” and “Diana and Acteon.”

Phillips has been guest artist with civic, regional and international ballet companies including the Carolina Ballet, Raleigh, North Carolina, the Carolina Ballet, Columbia, South Carolina, the NBA Ballet Company, Tokyo, Japan.