Born to a Greek father and a South African-born Ukrainian Jewish mother, Philippakis lived in Greece until he was 4 years old when his family moved to South Africa. After living there for a year, his parents divorced. Every summer Philippakis would visit his father in Olympos on the Greek islandKarpathos. His father played a significant role in his life regarding music, teaching him traditional Greek songs. Philippakis was raised in the Greek Orthodox religion.
Education
Philippakis was educated at Magdalen College School. There he had met all of the requirements for an assisted place at Magdalen, where he had taken classes on French, literature, and art. While attending school, Philippakis faced many difficulties due to his father's absence; he would get into trouble with the teachers and was ill-tempered. This led to his being suspended twice. Philippakis then went on to study English Literature at St John's College, Oxford; he dropped out before completing his degree to focus on the band.
Career
Music
Foals
Philippakis formed FOALS in 2005 with friend and former Youthmovies frontman Andrew Mears after the break-up of his former band The Edmund Fitzgerald, which also featured his Foals bandmate, drummer Jack Bevan.
Other musical projects
In a BBC 6 hub session interview, Philippakis expressed his desire to write a 'ballet with beats'. In 2010, Philippakis appeared and was interviewed in Anyone Can Play Guitar. Philippakis produced the track "Wolf" on Trophy Wife's 2011 EP Bruxism. In January 2018, Philippakis began a monthly club night in south London called MILK. Special guests are kept secret until the night of the performance, making each night different. Every night at MILK is recorded and made available in limited numbers on vinyl for purchase at the following month's event. Philippakis said, “I want to make a club night that me & my friends would want to go to. Where the night acts like a sort of dream collider of different musicians in the hope of the surprising, the life affirming & the downright dirty."
Other
He performed as an actor in an adaptation of Marguerite Duras' Moderato Cantabile, directed by Alexander Zeldin.
