The Americans: 10 Best Aliases Used By Philip Jennings, Ranked

Philip Jennings’ handler Gabriel once declared him “The greatest KGB agent to ever live!” He was probably right. Philip was an expert at obtaining classified information. He mostly did this by using disguises. What’s even more impressive is that Philip—the name he went with while living life as a normal citizen—wasn’t even his real name. His real (Russian) name was Mikhail.

So, he basically had mini-aliases within one major alias. His major disguise became part of him, as he fell in love with and married his spy partner Nadezhda aka Elizabeth. However, he never allowed things to get personal on any other occasion. Here are his best ever aliases on the show.

10 Jack

In Season 3, Philip posed as a consultant named Jack. His fake job? He assisted defense contractors to win bids on government projects. He met and had dinner with a woman named Lisa while with his fake girlfriend Michelle (who happened to be Elizabeth in disguise).

Lisa worked at the Northrop Corporation, an aircraft manufacturer that constructs stealth jets for the US military. She happened to have high-security clearance, so Philip tried to use her to get photographs of the jets at the facility. After much convincing, she agreed to help Jack and Michelle obtain the photos, which they sent to the Russian government.

9 Gus Alexander

After discovering that Agri-Corp was receiving millions of grain-eating insects from a lab in Oklahoma, Philip wanted to find out exactly what Agri-Corp’s agenda with the insects was. He thus targeted the company’s Vice President of Production and Distribution, Deirdre Kemp.

Philip presented himself to her as a businessman named Gus Alexander at a high-end gym. He tried to invite her for dinner but she refused, insisting that she didn’t like being approached by strangers. He eventually managed to woo her but she dumped him several days later. Philip must have hated this specific assignment.

8 Pete Emery

“Peter Emery” was an alias that Philip used briefly in the second season. He pretended to be a journalist working on a story about technological advancements in the US. He approached a university professor named Thane Rosenbloom, who was the head of the Computer Science department.

Peter grilled the professor about his groundbreaking projects in the development of the internet. After spending enough time with Rosenbloom, he got entry codes to the university’s computer lab where he managed to obtain secret information about the ARPANET—one of the earliest networks developed by the US military.

7 Captain Brad Eckhart

In the Season 5 premiere, Philip and Elizabeth pretended to be a couple whose jobs involved taking to the skies. Philip was a pilot named Brad Eckart while Elizabeth was a flight attendant named Dee. To make the lie believable, they also had a fake adopted Vietnamese son named Tuan.

The hardest working spies on TV made good use of their fake son Tuan. They tasked him with befriending the child of a couple that they wanted to spy on. The plan worked as the couple got invited for dinner and extracted the information they needed.

6 Justin Nezer

Philip was confident enough to impersonate the Deputy Chief Of Staff for the Vice President in Season One. His wife Elizabeth also posed as Kelly Mainstill, and together they sought information about Ronald Reagan’s attempted assassination.

They approached a nurse named Dana Simon, who was working at the hospital where Reagan was being treated. She was almost uncooperative but they flashed fake badges at her, causing her mood to change. Logically, a Vice President’s Chief Of Staff should know what’s going on with the president. He shouldn’t have to ask a nurse. Either way, she gave them the information they need.

5 Ted Davis

In Season 2, Philip was tasked with retrieving files about a radar-absorbent material that Russia needed in order to monitor and match America’s advanced stealth technology. His informant Fred told him about John Skeevers, a former engineer who was partly responsible for the development of the stealth technology.

Philip thus pretended to be a Vietnam War veteran named Ted Davis who claimed to have fought in the Battle of Hamburger Hill. He tracked the engineer to a pharmacy and befriended him by paying for his pills. Later, he visited the engineer at his home where he learned all about the technology.

4 Scott Birkeland

In Season One, Philip pretended to be a Swedish intelligence officer named Scott Birkel. He successfully seduced Annelise—the wife of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense.

Philip requested her to take photographs of the study in the home of the Undersecretary, which she did by using a camera strapped to her bra. Like Philip, Annalise was charming too, hence she mingled with a number of high-profile men. Sadly, one of her lovers killed her by strangling her in a hotel room.

3 John Rawlings

In Season 4, Philip Jennings and Elizabeth came up with a plan to trick Foster Medical Research Group’s director Don Seong into giving them a Level 4 security code needed to access lethal pathogens. Elizabeth used the alias “Patty” and managed to befriend his wife, Young-Hee.

Patty used Young-Hee to get to Don Seong. She then drugged him before making him believe that he had slept with her. She later told him she was pregnant, to which he suggested an abortion. Enter Philip’s part. He approached Seong as “John,” claiming that he was Patty’s brother and that she had committed suicide. He demanded money from Seong and when he left the office to get it, Philip’s men obtained the codes.

2 Jim Baxter

Between Season 3 to Season 6, Philip pretended to be a New York City lawyer and lobbyist named Jim Baxter. He used this alias to discredit all the claims by a Polish dissident named Andrzej Bielawski, who was planning to form an anti-Soviet Polish government while living in exile in the United States.

Baxter was sharp at all times. The only thing that gave him negative points was his serial killer wig. Anyway, he befriended a teenage girl whose dad worked at Langley and used her to get information. Despite the fact that he had been ordered to sleep with her, he refrained from doing so but still managed to get the information he needed.

1 Clark Westerfeld

Using this alias, Philip pretended to be an agent in the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). He used the alias on a couple of occasions from Season One to Season Four.

Philip used this alias to woo FBI counterintelligence secretary Martha. As soon as the two began dating, he made her reveal sensitive information to him. He also lied to her that his wife Elizabeth was his sister. And when Clark proposed to her, she agreed to put a bug in her boss Frank Gaad’s office.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1215 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

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