Phillip Zarrilli is internationally known for training actors in psychophysical process through Asian martial/meditation arts, and as a director. He runs a private studio (Tyn-y-parc C.V.N. Kalari/Studio) in Wales, and conducts workshops throughout the world - including recent workshops or long-term residences at the Centre of Studies on Jerzy Grotowski (Poland), Seoul International Theatre Festival, International Workshop Festival (London), National Theatre of Greece, Theatre Training Initiative (London), Tainan-Jen Theatre Company (Taiwan), TTRP (Singapore), Gardzienice Theatre Association, Trinity College (Dublin), University of Minnesota (Minneapolis), and Passe Partout (Netherlands), among many others. His productions of Samuel Beckett's plays in Los Angeles (2000), Austria (2001), and Ireland (2004) have won critical acclaim and awards for 'best actress' and 'courageous production' in Los Angeles. In 2002 he collaborated with UK-based award-winning playwright, Kaite O'Reilly and Theatre ASOU (Austria) on a semi-devised performance, Speaking Stones, that opened in Austria in September, 2002, received its English premiere in Wroclaw, Poland on invitation of the Centre of Studies on Jerzy Grotowski in 2003, and was again performed in Aflenz, Austria in 2004. In 2004 he also directed Ota Shogo's The Water Station for TTRP at The Esplanade Theatres on the Bay in Singapore. During 2005-06 his most recent artistic work includes directing Genet's Die Zofen (The Maids) in Austria, performances of The Beckett Project on tour in the U.S. in March and September, and in Singapore (with TTRP at The Esplanade Theatre on the Bay) in August.

Zarrilli is also noted for his work with Indian dancers/choreographers.
In 2000 Walking Naked with bharatanatyam dancer/choreographer, Gitanjali Kolanad, opened in Chennai and toured internationally until 2004 with performances in Mumbai, London, Seoul, New York, Toronto, etc. In 2003 he adapted and directed the seventh century Sanskrit farce for the UK-based   bharatanatyam dance/theatre company, Sangalpam , with performances at the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall (Royal National Theatre, London), and throughout the UK. He is currently completing a new solo piece, The Flowering Tree, with Gitanjali Kolanad, scheduled to officially open in 2006.

Zarrilli is the first Westerner to seriously study kalarippayattu. He began his training in 1976 under the guidance of Gurukkal Govindankutty Nayar of the CVN Kalari, Thiruvananthapuram. Between 1976 and 1993 he lived in Kerala for a total of seven years - each trip devoted to undergoing intensive training in kalarippayattu. In 1988 he was gifted the traditional pitham (stool) representing mastery by Gurukkal Govindankutty Nayar. When the new CVN Kalari Sangham was founded in 2004, the Tyn-y-parc CVN Kalari in Llanarth, Ceredigion, Wales (UK) was certified as an official kalari of the Sangham under Zarrilli's guidance as gurukkal. Inaugurated in 2000, the Tyn-y-arc CVN Kalari is the first traditional earthen-floor kalari operating outside of Kerala. In addition to his primary long-term training under Gurukkal Govindankutty Nayar, Zarrilli also studied under C. Mohammed Sherif (Kerala Kalarippayattu Academy, Kannur) and Raju Asan (adi-murai). Zarrilli authored the first authoritative study of kalarippayatt, When the Body Becomes All Eyes: paradigms and practices of power in kalarippayattu published by Oxford University Press (1998/2000). A new edition of the book is in planning stages to be published with a DVD-Video of kalarippayattu practice.

Zarrilli also received beginning training in kathakali dance-drama in 1976-77 under the guidance of M.P. Sankaran Namboodiri at the Kerala Kalamandalam. It was his study of kathakali preliminary training processes that led Zarrilli to kalarippayattu - the source of kathakali's preliminary training exercises and massage.

The Llanarth Group was founded in 2000 when Zarrilli moved to the UK. Projects are international in scope and bring together a variety of artists to collaborate on particular production projects. The work is always informed by the application of psychophysical process through Asian martial/meditation arts as the basis for developing a common language and process of performance. The Llanarth Group is based at the Tyn-y-parc Kalari/Studio in Wales under the direction of Phillip Zarrilli.

In addition to his professional work, Zarrilli teaches psychophysical process as part of BA and MA/MFA Theatre Practice programmes at the University of Exeter, U.K. His numerous books include (editor) Acting (Re)Considered (2 nd edition, forthcoming), When the Body Becomes All Eyes (1998), Kathakali Dance-Drama: Where Gods and Demons Comes to Play (2000), and (editor) Martial Arts in Actor Training (1993). He is currently writing a new book with accompanying interactive DVD-Rom (by Peter Hulton) on his approach to training actors and performance, The Psychophysical Actor at Work: acting 'at the nerve ends' (London: Routledge Press, forthcoming).

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