Kim Phillips: The Woman Behind Buffalo Bill Who Left No Paper Trail

Ted Levine has played some of the most disturbing figures in American film and television. He is Buffalo Bill — the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs who skins his victims and dances in his basement. He is Captain Stottlemeyer in Monk — the gruff, decent police captain who anchors eight seasons of a comedy-drama. He is the kind of actor whose face you recognize from a dozen different projects, always playing authority or menace with equal conviction.

The woman who has been with him through most of that career is named Kim Phillips. She has two children with him. She has appeared beside him at industry events. She has shared a life with one of the most character-distinctive actors in American film for at least two decades.

She has left almost no public record of any kind.

Not a birth certificate entry. Not a confirmed wedding date. Not a confirmed birthplace. Not a documented career beyond a single acting credit on IMDB for a 2007 film called Stealing Kisses. Not a social media presence that can be verified as hers.

The honest article about Kim Phillips is mostly an article about the limits of what is knowable — and about the specific errors that circulate when those limits are ignored.

Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Full name	Kim Phillips
Born	Not publicly confirmed (one source claims September 11, 1965; this is unverified — see below)
Birthplace	Not publicly confirmed (one source claims New York City; unverified)
Nationality	American
Partner	Ted Levine (actor; born May 29, 1957, Bellaire, Ohio)
Relationship status	Disputed — Wikipedia says “girlfriend”; Encyclopedia.com says “married”; most sources say “partner”
Relationship duration	At least two decades; exact start date unknown
Children	Melissa Levine (daughter); Mac Levine (son)
Children’s birth years	Not publicly confirmed
IMDB credit	Stealing Kisses (2007) — only confirmed acting credit
Other claimed credits	“The Wood” and “Love Jones” — appear in one AI-generated article only; unverified
Career	Not publicly confirmed beyond single IMDB credit
Social media	No verified public accounts
Net worth (est.)	Not publicly confirmed
Residence	Los Angeles area (inferred from Ted Levine’s career base)

The Relationship Status Problem — Addressed Immediately

This is the first substantive conflict in the public record and it needs to be named clearly.

Wikipedia’s article on Ted Levine describes Kim Phillips as his “partner” in the infobox and as his “girlfriend” in the article body. It cites a 1991 Chicago Reader article as the source.

Encyclopedia.com’s entry on Ted Levine — drawn from the Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television reference series — states: “Born December 21, 1957, in Bellaire, OH; married Kim Phillips; children: Melissa, Mac.”

Note: Encyclopedia.com also has his birth date wrong. Ted Levine was born on May 29, 1957 — confirmed by Wikipedia, IMDB, and multiple sources. The December 21 date in the Encyclopedia.com entry is an error. This matters because it raises a question about the reliability of that same source’s claim that they are “married.”

Multiple entertainment news sources — AmoMama, The Preston Magazine, MarriedBiography.com — describe them as married. Wikipedia uses “partner” and cites a primary source from 1991.

The honest answer is: the exact nature of their legal relationship has never been confirmed by either Ted Levine or Kim Phillips in any documented public statement. They may be married. They may be long-term partners who never formalized the relationship legally. The distinction is unknown.

This article uses “partner” as the neutral, verifiable term throughout.

The Fabricated Biography — What One Article Made Up

Before going further, one specific article needs to be identified and flagged.

A source titled “Ted Levine And Kim Phillips: An Enduring Hollywood Love Story” on futurestudent.charlestonsouthern.edu contains a detailed biography of Kim Phillips that includes:

• A birth date of September 11, 1965, in New York City
• Acting credits in “The Last Dragon” (1985) and “Lean on Me” (1989)
• A net worth of approximately $5 million

None of these claims appear in any other source. IMDB has no record of Kim Phillips appearing in The Last Dragon or Lean on Me. The September 11, 1965 birth date appears nowhere else. The net worth figure has no verifiable basis.

This article — hosted on what appears to be a Charleston Southern University subdomain but reads as AI-generated content — contains specific biographical claims that are not corroborated by any primary or secondary source. The claims should be disregarded entirely.

They are noted here because they have been recycled by subsequent articles as if they were established facts. They are not. They are fabrications.

What IMDB Actually Confirms About Kim Phillips

IMDB has a page for Kim Phillips. It lists one credit: Stealing Kisses (2007). The page identifies her as an actress. There is no further information — no biography, no birthdate, no additional credits.

That single IMDB entry is the only professionally documented fact about Kim Phillips as an individual in the entertainment industry’s own records. One film. One year.

Whether Stealing Kisses is a short film, a feature, or something else is not immediately clear from the IMDB entry alone. What is clear is that it represents the full extent of her documented acting career in any verifiable database.

Ted Levine — The Career Context

To understand why people search for Kim Phillips at all requires understanding who Ted Levine is.

He was born Frank Theodore Levine on May 29, 1957, in Bellaire, Ohio — a small steel town on the Ohio River near the West Virginia border. His parents, Milton Dmitri Levine and Charlotte Virginia Clark, were both medical doctors and members of Physicians for Social Responsibility. His father was of Russian-Jewish descent; his mother had Welsh and Native American ancestry. Ted has described himself, with evident affection for the contradiction, as “a hillbilly Jew.”

He grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. He attended the Windsor Mountain School in Lenox, Massachusetts — reportedly among its last graduating class — and then Marlboro College in Vermont. He performed in summer stock and regional theater in Vermont, Michigan, and West Virginia before settling in Chicago in the 1980s. He worked at the Remains Theatre, the Wisdom Bridge Theatre, the Goodman, and the Steppenwolf — serious ensemble theater companies that trained serious actors.

At Steppenwolf, he performed in Sam Shepard’s Buried Child in a production directed by Gary Sinise. This is the context from which Ted Levine emerged: not Hollywood, not television, but the Chicago theater world of the early 1980s — the same scene that produced John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Joan Allen, and a generation of American stage actors who would define serious dramatic work for the next thirty years.

He moved into television and film in the late 1980s. He played small roles. He built a resume. Then in 1991 he was cast as Jame Gumb — “Buffalo Bill” — in The Silence of the Lambs.

Buffalo Bill — The Role That Defined the Career

The Silence of the Lambs was released on February 14, 1991. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Jodie Foster, and Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins. It is the third film in history to win all five top Oscar categories.

Ted Levine’s performance as Buffalo Bill is the movie’s primary antagonist — the serial killer who murders larger women to harvest their skin. The role required physical transformation, psychological depth, and the specific ability to be terrifying without being merely cartoonish. Levine delivered something that has become a permanent part of American horror cinema: “It puts the lotion on its skin.”

The role made him immediately recognizable and immediately difficult to cast in anything else. He has spoken about the period after Silence as one in which he was consistently offered villain and psychopath roles — a typecast that took years to work through.

He played in Heat (1995) alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. He played a general in Wild Wild West (1999). He played Sergeant Tanner in The Fast and the Furious (2001). He played astronaut Alan Shepard in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon — one of his most sympathetic early roles, demonstrating the range that the Buffalo Bill typecast had obscured.

Then came Monk.

From 2002 to 2009, Ted Levine played Captain Leland Stottlemeyer across 125 episodes of USA Network’s Monk — the comedy-drama about a brilliant, obsessive-compulsive detective played by Tony Shalhoub. Stottlemeyer is the long-suffering police captain who both respects and is perpetually exasperated by Monk. It is a role that requires warmth, dry humor, and the ability to be the stable center of a show built around eccentricity. Levine played it for eight years.

It is the role most of his audience knows him by. Not Buffalo Bill. Stottlemeyer.

Kim Phillips was with Ted Levine through the Silence of the Lambs years, through the Heat years, through the Monk years, through The Alienist, through Big Sky, through the entire arc of a career that has run for more than three decades.

Melissa and Mac Levine — Two Children, No Confirmed Details

Ted Levine has two children with Kim Phillips. Their names are Melissa Levine and Mac Levine. Both carry the Levine surname.

Encyclopedia.com’s reference entry on Ted Levine confirms the names Melissa and Mac. Multiple entertainment sources confirm the same. IMDB confirms “a son and a daughter” without naming them.

Beyond names and the fact of their existence, nothing is confirmed. No birth years. No confirmed ages. No education, career, or personal details. Both have maintained the same privacy as their mother.

The “Married vs. Girlfriend” Question — One More Angle

The Chicago Reader article from February 28, 1991 — cited by Wikipedia as its source for describing Kim as Ted’s “girlfriend” — was written just before The Silence of the Lambs was released. In 1991, Kim Phillips was described as his girlfriend.

Encyclopedia.com describes them as married — but with a birth date error that undercuts confidence in that source’s precision.

Multiple websites describe them as having been together “for over 25 years” or “almost 20 years” depending on when the article was written, which places the start of their relationship in the mid-to-late 1990s. This conflicts with the 1991 Chicago Reader reference, which places her as his girlfriend at least as early as that year.

The most consistent reading of the available evidence: they have been together since at least 1991, possibly earlier. Whether they formalized the relationship through marriage at some point is not confirmed by any primary document in the public record.

What She Has Done — The Honest Inventory

Strip away everything unverified and here is what remains.

She has been Ted Levine’s partner for at least three decades. She has two children with him — Melissa and Mac. She appeared in Stealing Kisses in 2007, making her a working actress in at least one documented film. She has attended industry events with Ted Levine — enough to have been photographed and identified by name at red carpet appearances. She has maintained no verified social media presence.

That is the complete confirmed record.

Every other claim — the New York City birth, the September 1965 birth date, the credits in 1985 and 1989 films, the $5 million net worth — comes from a single fabricated source that has been recycled across the internet.

The honest profile of Kim Phillips is a short one. That is not a failure of research. It is a reflection of a woman who has made a sustained, successful choice to remain unknown.

The “Stealing Kisses” Credit — What Is Known

The 2007 film Stealing Kisses is the single verified professional credit for Kim Phillips in any entertainment database. It is listed on her IMDB page without additional detail about her role, the film’s distribution, or its reception.

No reviews of Stealing Kisses referencing Kim Phillips appear in any searchable archive. The film does not appear to have received wide theatrical or critical coverage. Whether it is a short film, a limited release feature, or an independent production that was not widely distributed is not confirmed in any available source.

It is her only professional entry in the record.

What Is Known vs. What Is Not

Confirmed or well-sourced:

• Name: Kim Phillips
• Partner/companion of Ted Levine for at least three decades (Chicago Reader, 1991, cites her as his girlfriend)
• Two children with Ted Levine: Melissa Levine (daughter) and Mac Levine (son)
• One IMDB acting credit: Stealing Kisses (2007)
• Has appeared at industry events with Ted Levine and been photographed and identified
• No verified social media accounts

Disputed:

• Legal relationship status — “girlfriend” (Wikipedia, 1991 source), “married” (Encyclopedia.com, source with documented errors), “partner” (most current sources)

Unverified / fabricated in one source only:

• Birth date September 11, 1965 — appears only in the Charleston Southern University subdomain article; not corroborated
• Birthplace New York City — same source only; not corroborated
• Credits in The Last Dragon (1985) and Lean on Me (1989) — not in IMDB; not corroborated anywhere
• Net worth $5 million — no verifiable basis
• Any claim that she worked as a producer on “The Wood” or “Love Jones” — appears in some recycled articles; not corroborated

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FAQ — 12 Real Questions

1. Who is Kim Phillips? 

She is the long-term partner of actor Ted Levine — best known for playing Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Stottlemeyer in Monk. She has two children with him: Melissa Levine and Mac Levine. She has one confirmed acting credit — Stealing Kisses (2007). Beyond these facts, almost nothing about her is publicly documented.

2. When and where was she born? 

Unknown. One article claims she was born on September 11, 1965, in New York City. This claim appears in a single source that contains multiple fabricated details and is not corroborated by any other source. Her actual birthdate and birthplace are not in the public record.

3. Are Ted Levine and Kim Phillips married? 

Disputed. Wikipedia describes her as his “girlfriend” citing a 1991 Chicago Reader article. Encyclopedia.com describes them as married. Most current entertainment sources use “partner” or “wife” without citing a source. No marriage date, no venue, no confirmation from either party exists in any public document. They have been together for at least three decades.

4. What has Kim Phillips done professionally?

 One confirmed acting credit: Stealing Kisses (2007), per her IMDB page. Multiple articles claim she worked as an actress and producer on films including “The Wood” and “Love Jones” — but these credits do not appear on her IMDB page and are unverified. The Stealing Kisses credit is the only documented professional entry.

5. How many children do they have?

 Two. A daughter named Melissa Levine and a son named Mac Levine. Both carry the Levine surname. Birth years and any further details about their lives are not publicly confirmed.

6. Who is Ted Levine? Born Frank Theodore Levine on May 29, 1957, in Bellaire, Ohio. He trained in Chicago’s serious theater scene — Remains, Wisdom Bridge, Goodman, Steppenwolf — before entering film and television. He is best known for playing Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer across 125 episodes of Monk (2002–2009). He has appeared in Heat, The Fast and the Furious, Shutter Island, American Gangster, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Alienist, and Big Sky.

7. Is there a fabricated biography of Kim Phillips circulating online? 

Yes. An article on a Charleston Southern University subdomain contains specific claims — a September 11, 1965 birth date, New York City birthplace, credits in The Last Dragon and Lean on Me, and a $5 million net worth — that are not corroborated by any other source and contradict IMDB’s record. These claims appear to be AI-generated content. They have been recycled by subsequent articles. They should be disregarded.

8. Does Kim Phillips have social media? 

No verified accounts. There is an Instagram account at @kimphillips190 that appears in search results, but it cannot be confirmed as belonging to Ted Levine’s partner. She has no verified, identified public social media presence.

9. What is her net worth? 

Not publicly confirmed. The $5 million figure circulating online comes from the fabricated source identified above. Ted Levine’s net worth is estimated at $4–8 million depending on the source. No verified financial information for Kim Phillips exists in the public record.

10. When did she and Ted Levine get together? 

Not confirmed precisely. A 1991 Chicago Reader article describing Ted Levine’s personal life references Kim Phillips as his girlfriend at that time — placing their relationship as active at least by early 1991, before The Silence of the Lambs was released. Some articles describe a relationship of “over 25 years” which, written in recent years, would also suggest a 1990s or earlier start.

11. Has she appeared at public events?

 Yes. She has been photographed with Ted Levine at industry events and identified by name. One documented appearance — at the Goats premiere at the Landmark Nuart Theatre on August 8, 2012 — is confirmed by Getty Images, which shows her alongside Ted Levine and David Duchovny. This is among the few documented images of her in the public record.

12. Why is so little known about her? 

Partly by her own choice — she has consistently declined media attention, interviews, and social media presence. Partly because Ted Levine has never publicly discussed his personal life in depth. And partly because the near-complete absence of verified information has created a vacuum that content-generating websites have filled with fabricated details. The real Kim Phillips is, by design, invisible. The fictional version — born in New York, September 1965, appearing in 1985 films — is a construction that has nothing to verify it.