Lucy Lawless

**Lucille Frances Ryan** (born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress. When she was twenty years old, she got her first acting job in the TV program _Funny Business_. In 1994, she started in a small role on Hercules, where she became involved her current husband.  In 1995, she starred in her first television series, _Xena: Warrior Princess_, becoming in an international star in this role. In 1995, she divorced her first husband with whom she had been with since she was 18.

Lawless is also known for her role as _D'anna Biers_ in the TV series _Battlestar Galactica_ between 2005 and 2008. During a break in 1997 between filming seasons on Xena, Lawless made her onstage debut singing songs on Broadway as Rizzo in the remake of the musical play Grease.

Since her role as Xena, Lawless has pursued a new career in singing after being a contestant on _Celebrity Duets_. She sang at the Roxy in Hollywood in 2007, and has since performed regularly in concerts and released several CDs. She has a contralto singing range.

## Early life

She was born in Auckland on 29 March 1968. Lawless' mother, Julie, was teacher, and her father, Frank, was mayor. She has 6 brothers. She had bulimia and Depression.

Lawless began acting in secondary school, attending Marist College, New Zealand, in Mount Albert. She studied foreign languages at Auckland University for a year before dropping out and leaving for Europe with her boyfriend, Garth Lawless, to travel to Germany and Switzerland. The couple then moved to Australia, where she worked briefly as a gold miner.

## Career

Lawless wanted to act since she was five. She took her first acting class at the school. Lawless starred various national television commercials when she was a child. One of these was for McDonald's. She played an Amazon in the TV movie _Hercules and the Amazon Women_, in 1994, and Lisya in his Spin-off, the TV series _Hercules: The Legendary Journeys_ em 1995. In the same year, she plays Xena in three episodes, returning later.

In September, Xena won her own series, _Xena: Warrior Princess_, Lawless was the star in the program during 6 years. Lawless first appeared on Broadway in September 1997 in the _Grease play remake_, as the "bad girl" Rizzo character. She applied to play the squeaky-clean naive blond girl Sandra Dee, but she claimed the producers after Xena had typed her to playing only "bad girls." She said the Sandy character was very similar to her sheltered childhood, growing up in New Zealand with many protective older brothers.

Lawless has since appeared onstage in the _Vagina Monologues_ and as a television guest star in episodes of The Simpsons, The X-Files, Just Shoot Me!, Veronica Mars, Burn Notice, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. She was also featured in the short-lived television series Tarzan. Lawless has made cameo appearances in the movies EuroTrip, Spider-Man and Boogeyman. She returned to television in the TV movie Locusts! and its sequel Vampire Bats.

From 2005 to 2008, Lawless has had a recurring role in the television series Battlestar Galactica. She portrays D'Anna Biers, a reporter with the _Fleet News Service_ who works on a critical documentary about the crew of the Galactica and is later revealed to be a Cylon.

## Public image

In 1997, Lawless was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by _People_ magazine. Days earlier on 6 May 1997, Lawless inadvertently exposed a breast as she concluded a performance of the US national anthem at an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, California between the Mighty Ducks and Detroit Red Wings. Lawless was quoted in Newsweek as saying:

Lawless has enjoyed a particular cult status in the lesbian community. Some of the lesbian fan base sees Lawless as a lesbian icon. A group called The Marching Xenas has participated in many gay and lesbian pride parades.

Some fans felt that the sexual nature of Xena and the character Gabrielle's relationship was cemented by an interview given by Lucy Lawless to _Lesbian News_ magazine in 2003.  Lawless stated that after the series finale, where Gabrielle revives Xena with a mouth-to-mouth water transfer filmed to look like a full kiss, she had come to believe that Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was "definitely gay... there was always a 'well, she might be or she might not be' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me".

### Costume donation

In 2006, Lucy Lawless donated her personal Xena costume to the Museum of American History. In an interview the same year with _Smithsonian_ magazine, she was asked the question "Was the Warrior Princess outfit comfortable?" and she responded:

## Personal life

At the age of nineteen, Lawless became pregnant with Garth's child. In 1988, they married in Kalgoorlie, Australia. They returned to New Zealand and had a daughter, Daisy Lawless (born 15 July 1988), who also attended Marist College, New Zealand. The couple divorced in 1995. Lawless married _Xena_ executive producer Robert Tapert on 28 March 1998. Lawless and Tapert have two sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born 16 October 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born 7 May 2002), both born in Auckland.

### Movies

|Year|Title|Role|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1990|_Within the Law_|Verity||
|1990|__|Nurse 1|Short movie|
|1991|__|Joe's Girl||
|1996|_Peach_|Peach|Short movie|
|1997|_Hercules & Xena: Wizards of the Screen_|Xena|Short movie|
|1998|_Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie_|Xena|Voice role|
|2000|_Ginger Snaps_|Announcer on School's PA System|Uncredited|
|2002|_Spider-Man_|Punk Rock Girl|Cameo|
|2004|_EuroTrip_|Madame Vandersexxx||
|2005|_Boogeyman_|Mary Jensen||
|2006|__|Cheryl||
|2008|_Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight_|Goldmoon||
|2008|_Justice League: The New Frontier_|Wonder Woman|Voice role|
|2008|_Bedtime Stories_|Aspen||
|2009|_Bitch Slap_|Mother Superior||
|2010|_Lez Chat_|Construction Worker|Short movie|
|2018|_The Breaker Upperers_|Client||
|2019|_Mosley_|Bera|Voice role|
|2021|_The Spine of Night_|Tzod|Voice role|
|2022|_Minions: The Rise of Gru_|Nun-chuck|Voice role|

### Television

|Year|Title|Role|Notes||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1989|_Funny Business_|Various|Unknown episodes||||
|1990|_Shark in the Park_|Kim Hughes|Episode: "Double or Quits"||||
|1991|_For the Love of Mike_|Helen|Episode: "1.6"||||
|1992|__|Liddy Barton|Episode: "Fee Fie Foe Fum"||||
|1992-1994|_Marlin Bay_||TV series||||
|1993|__|Sarah McFee|Episode: "Riding the Volcano"||||
|1993|__|Jane Redmond|Television movie||||
|1993|_Typhon's People_|Mink Tertius|Television movie||||
|1994|_High Tide_|Undercover policewoman|Episode: "Shanghied"||||
|1994|_Hercules and the Amazon Women_|Lysia|Television movie||||
|1995|_High Tide_|Sharon List|Episode: "Dead in the Water"||||
|1995|rowspan=2|_Hercules: The Legendary Journeys_|Lyla|2 episodes|||
|1995–1998|rowspan=2|Xena|Recurring role, 6 episodes||||
|1995–2001|_Xena: Warrior Princess_|Lead role|||||
|1997|_Something So Right_|Herself|Cameo, Season 1 EP 23||||
|1998|_Saturday Night Live_|Herself/host/Various|Episode: "Lucy Lawless/Elliott Smith"||||
|1999|_The Simpsons_|Herself/Xena (voice)|Episode: "Treehouse of Horror X"||||
|2000|_Celebrity Deathmatch_|Herself (voice)|Episode: "The Return of Lucy Lawless"||||
|2001|_Just Shoot Me!_|Stacy|Episode: "The Auction"||||
|2001|__|Shannon McMahon|2 episodes||||
|2003|_Tarzan_|Kathleen Clayton|Recurring role, 7 episodes||||
|2003|_Warrior Women with Lucy Lawless_|Herself|5 episodes||||
|2004|_Less than Perfect_|Tracy Fletcher|Episode: "Ignoring Lydia"||||
|2005|_Two and a Half Men_|Pamela|Episode: "It Was 'Mame', Mom"||||
|2005|_Locusts_|Maddy Rierdon|Television movie||||
|2005|_Vampire Bats_|Maddy Rierdon|Television movie||||
|2005–2009|_Battlestar Galactica_|D'Anna Biers|Recurring role, 16 episodes||||
|2006|_Veronica Mars_|Agent Morris|Episode: "Donut Run"||||
|2007|_Burn Notice_|Evelyn|Episode: "False Flag"||||
|2007|_Curb Your Enthusiasm_|Herself|Episode: "The TiVo Guy"||||
|2007|_Football Wives_|Tanya Austin|Unsold TV pilot||||
|2008|_CSI: Miami_|Audrey Yates|Episode: "Cheating Death"||||
|2009|__|Sgt. Marybeth Duffy|2 episodes||||
|2009|_Flight of the Conchords_|Paula|Episode: "New Zealand Town"||||
|2009|_Angel of Death_|Vera|Episode: "Help"||||
|rowspan="2"|2009; 2022|_RuPaul's Drag Race_|rowspan="2"|Herself|rowspan="2"|Guest Judge|
|_RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under_|||||||
|2010|_Spartacus: Blood and Sand_|rowspan=2|Lucretia|Main role, 13 episodes|||
|2011|_Spartacus: Gods of the Arena_|Main role, 6 episodes|||||
|2011|_American Dad!_|Stacy (voice)|Episode: "A Piñata Named Desire"||||
|2011|_No Ordinary Family_|Helen Burton|4 episodes||||
|2012|_Spartacus: Vengeance_|Lucretia|Main role, 10 episodes||||
|2012–2014|_Parks and Recreation_|Diane Lewis|Recurring role, 10 episodes||||
|2013|_Top of the Lake_|Caroline Platt|2 episodes||||
|2014–2015|_Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._|Isabelle Hartley|2 episodes||||
|2014|_The Code_|Alex Wisham|Recurring role (season 1), 6 episodes||||
|2014|_Adventure Time_|General Tarsal (voice)|Episode: "Dentist"||||
|2015–2017|_Salem_|Countess Marburg|Recurring role, 15 episodes||||
|2015–2018|_Ash vs. Evil Dead_|Ruby Knowby|Main role, 27 episodes||||
|2016|_Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_|Hiidrala (voice)|Episode: "The Cosmic Ocean"||||
|2017|_The Changeover_|Miryam Carlisle|Television movie (Sci Fi New Zealand)||||
|2019–present|_My Life Is Murder_|Alexa Crowe|Main role||||
|2020|_Star Wars Resistance_|Aeosian Queen (voice)|2 episodes||||
|2020|_Big City Greens_|Mimi O'Malley (voice)|Episode: "Cricket's Tickets"||||
|2021|_Mr. Corman_|Cheryl|Episode: "Funeral"||||

### Video games

- _Hunted: The Demon's Forge_ (2011), as Seraphine
- _Evil Dead: The Game_ (2023), as Ruby Knowby

## Stage

- 1997: _Grease!_ – On Broadway, NY USA
- 2002: _The Vagina Monologues_ – Auckland, NZ
- 2005: _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_ – Seattle, USA
- 2011: BARE For Christchurch – Auckland, NZ
- 2013: Chicago The Musical – Hollywood Bowl, LA, USA
- 2013: Chicago The Musical – Auckland, NZ
- 2014–2015: Sleeping Beauty and Her Winter Knight – Pasadena, CA, USA
- 2017: Pleasuredome The Musical – Auckland, NZ

## Discography

- Albums
- _Come 2 Me_
- _Come to Mama: Lucy Lawless in Concert: The Roxy Theater in Hollywood_

- Concert DVDs
- _Come to Mama: Lucy Lawless in Concert: The Roxy Theater in Hollywood_
- _Gimme Some, Sugar: Lawless, NYC_
- _Lucy Lawless Live in Chicago: Still Got The Blues_
- _Lucy Lawless Live at The Roxy Theater: Ho Down_
- _Lucy Lawless Live in Concert: Welcome to the Pleasuredome_

- Other songs
- "Little Child" on _Unexpected Dreams – Songs From the Stars_
- "4 All of Us" with Pauly Fuemana (OMC)
- "Little Child" on _The Starship Christmas Album_ 2012 – Starship Foundation

## Honours

In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, Lawless was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to entertainment and the community.

## Awards and nominations

|Year|Award|Category|Production|Result|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1997|Saturn Award|Best Genre TV Actress|_Xena: Warrior Princess_||
|2010|Golden Nymph|Outstanding Actress – Drama Series|_Spartacus: Blood and Sand_||
|2010|Saturn Award|Best Supporting Actress on Television|_Spartacus: Blood and Sand_||
|2016|Fangoria Chainsaw Awards|Best Supporting Actress on Television|_Salem_||

## Other websites

- Lucy Lawless  at TV.com
- Fan Club at Internet
- Photos  at Frodisman.com
- Biography at Ussbrazil.com

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Lucy Lawless
- **image**: Lucy Lawless by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
- **caption**: Lawless at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con
- **birth name**: Lucille Frances Ryan
- **birth place**: Mount Albert, New Zealand, Mount Albert, Auckland,
New Zealand
- **occupation**: Actress
- **years active**: 1989–present
- **children**: 3