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Lucy Lawless (born Lucille Frances Ryan on March 29, 1968 in Mount Albert, New Zealand) is a New Zealand actress and singer best known for her role as Xena on the television series Xena: Warrior Princess from 1995 to 2001.

Lucy Lawless was the fifth of seven children born to Frank and Julie Ryan. She has five brothers and one sister. Lucy began acting in secondary school. At Auckland University, she studied foreign languages for a year. She dropped out and left for Europe with her boyfriend, Garth Lawless, to travel in Germany and Switzerland. The couple then moved to Australia, where Lucy worked briefly as a gold miner.

At 19, Lucy became pregnant. In 1988, Lucy and Garth married in Kalgoorlie, Australia. They returned to New Zealand, where their daughter, Daisy Lawless (born July 15, 1988), was born. The couple divorced in 1995. Lawless married Xena executive producer, Robert G. Tapert, on March 28, 1998. Lawless and Tapert have two sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born October 16, 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born May 7, 2002), both born in Auckland, New Zealand.

Filmography

Lawless had a guest role in New Zealand TV series Shark in the Park (1990), around the same time as future Xena actor Karl Urban.

In March 1995, Lawless was asked to play the role of a villainous warrior woman named Xena on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Vanessa Angel had originally been cast in the role, but fell ill and was unable to travel to New Zealand for shooting. Lawless had previously played two different minor characters on Hercules, so her hair was dyed dark brown to distinguish Xena from these earlier roles.

Xena underwent a change of heart over the course of several Hercules episodes, and decided to devote her life her to fighting for good to make up for her past misdeeds. The character was popular enough that a spin-off series was created for her. Xena: Warrior Princess debuted on 4 September 1995. The show was a hit, lasting six seasons, and Lawless became an international celebrity. She even appeared as a super-powered version of herself on The Simpsons.

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 suffered a wardrobe malfunction and inadvertently exposed one of her breasts 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 [1]. Lawless was quoted in Newsweek as saying "I was mortified. . . . It was quite a bit more exposure than I want".

Lawless has since appeared onstage in the Vagina Monologues, and as a television guest star in episodes of The X-Files, Just Shoot Me, The Bernie Mac Show, Two and a Half Men, and Veronica Mars. She was also featured in the short-lived television series Tarzan. Lawless has made cameo appearances in the movies EuroTrip, Spider-Man, and the horror film Boogeyman. She returned to television to battle bugs in TV movie Locusts!

From 2005, 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.

Lawless has gained a large cult following in the lesbian community, largely because of her role as Xena and Xena's ambiguously romantic relationship with sidekick Gabrielle. Although Lawless is heterosexual, she appreciates her gay and lesbian fans and has appeared at gay pride events such as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Lawless competed as one of the celebrity singers on the reality TV show Celebrity Duets, which premiered August 29, 2006, on the U.S. Fox channel. She finished runner-up to Alfonso Ribeiro.

Lawless moon

Lucy Lawless has also been referenced in astronomy. Astronomer Mike Brown nicknamed the newly discovered dwarf planet Eris "Xena", finding this name more convenient to use than the then-official designation "2003 UB313". When this object was determined to be larger than Pluto, it gained international attention and forced a year-long debate among astronomers as to the definition of planet.

The planet's nickname "Xena" was widely used in the press. So popular did the name become that, when the New Scientist magazine polled the public on their preferred final name for the tenth planet, "Xena" ranked no. 4. [2]. Lawless rang Mike Brown in December 2005 to thank him for his "senseless act of beauty," and claimed that she "never dared hope [the name] would stick." [3].

Although planet "Xena" is now officially known as "Eris", Brown made an indirect tribute to Lawless by naming Eris's moon Dysnomia after the Greek goddess of lawlessness. [4]

See also

• List of famous tall women

External links

• Lucy is Lawless
• AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Files
• Lucy Lawless webring - a directory of fan sites
• Lawless Ink - Official Lucy Lawless Fan Club
• Juicy Flawless - Gallery
• Lucy Lawless - TV.com

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