Lucy Lawless Biography
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Lucy Lawless (born Lucille Frances Ryan on March 29, 1968 in Auckland, New Zealand), is a Kiwi actress and singer best known for her role as Xena on the television series Xena: Warrior Princess from 1995 to 2001. She has also appeared on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Most recently she appeared on the television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand as Lucretia, Batiatus’ wife.
Lucy was born the fifth child of Frank and Julie Ryan. She found the joy of acting in secondary school. At Auckland University, she studied foreign languages for a year. She then left for Europe with her boyfriend, Garth Lawless, to travel around Germany and Switzerland. They went back and landed a job with a mining company in Australia.
In 1988, Lucy and Garth were married. They returned to New Zealand and had a daughter, Daisy. Lucy and Garth were divorced in 1995. She married the executive producer of Xena, Robert G. Tapert, in 1998. The couple have two sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born 2002). They all live in New Zealand.
Lucy Lawless had a guest role in 1990 on New Zealand TV series Shark in the Park, around the same time compatriot Karl Urban appeared. In March 1995, Vanessa Angel was supposed to play a new character, the villainess Xena, in an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but became sick and was unable to travel to New Zealand.
Lucy had previously played two different characters in Hercules, so the directors chose her as a replacement (though Lucy’s hair had to be dyed to distinquish her from the previous, unrelated characters). Under the 1.79 m (5’10 1/2″) Lucy, Xena’s character became popular and got her own her series, Xena: Warrior Princess which debuted on 4 September 1995. The show was a hit, lasting six seasons.
An example of the popularity of Xena: Warrior Princess is that Lawless is a universally recognized celebrity despite the fact that she has not had a major role outside of the television series. She was even portrayed as a character on The Simpsons (playing a super-powered, flying version of herself).
In 1997, Lawless would be named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People magazine. Days earlier on 6 May 1997, Lawless famously and inadvertently exposed her breasts (resulting from a wardrobe malfunction) while singing the US national anthem at an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, California between the Mighty Ducks and Detroit Red Wings. She later said (quoted in Newsweek): “I was mortified. . . . It was quite a bit more exposure than I want”.
She has since appeared in the Vagina Monologues, on the first two episodes of the ninth season of The X-Files, and in the short-lived (eight episodes) television series Tarzan. She has had brief appearances in the movies Eurotrip, Spider-Man, and the horror film Boogeyman. Her next role was on TV battling bugs in her new TV-movie Locusts!
From 2005, Lawless has 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 who – in secret – is revealed to be Number Three, one of twelve basic Cylon humanoid robot models that has infiltrated the ship to gather information.
As a blonde and using her native New Zealander accent, many fans of Battlestar Galactica have commented that they did not realize the actress was Lawless (which dispelled early fears that her appearance might be a blatant cameo) and in fact her character met with popular acceptance with the fans). Lawless appears in an episode later in the second season and, moreover, recurs in a 10-episode arc in the 20-episode long third season.
According to interviews, while reluctant to get too heavily involved in TV, she really liked the writing, plots twists, and overall handling of the series; moreover, series executive producer David Eick had originally worked with her on Xena.
Due to her character Xena’s ambiguous sexuality, Lucy Lawless gained a large cult following in the lesbian community. A new term, dykon, was coined to describe her status as a gay icon. Although she is heterosexual, Lucy Lawless has enhanced this reputation by appearing at gay pride events such as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
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, Less Than Perfect, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and bro’Town. She was also featured in the short-lived television series Tarzan. Lawless has made cameo appearances in the movies EuroTrip, Spider-Man, and Boogeyman (2005), and in the sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm. She returned to television in the TV movie Locusts! and its sequel, Vampire Bats.
Lawless became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2004 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, which entitled her to use the postnominal letters, MNZM.
From 2005 to 2009, Lawless had a recurring role in the television series Battlestar Galactica. She so appeared as D’Anna Biers, a reporter with the Fleet News Service who worked on a critical documentary about the crew of the Galactica and was later revealed to be a Cylon (Number Three).
Lawless’ appearance in a season 6 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm was as herself. She went on a date with Larry David, only, finally, to walk away after Larry made an inappropriate suggestion about his underwear and the potential for sex between them.
Lawless competed as one of the celebrity singers on the reality TV show Celebrity Duets in 2006, finishing as the runner-up to winner Alfonso Ribeiro. She has also performed as a voice actor in several animated features.
The lesbian community is interested in Lawless, largely because of Xena’s ambiguous relationship with traveling companion Gabrielle. Although Lawless is heterosexual, she has appeared at gay pride events such as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. In a 2003 interview with Lesbian News magazine, she said that she had come to see Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship as gay after viewing the series finale, though she has also stated on several occasions that she was undecided on the nature of the relationship while playing the role.
Lawless was to appear as one of the leads in the ensemble cast of the ABC television series, Football Wives, based on the popular British series Footballers’ Wives, in 2007. The series did not continue past the pilot episode, though the network did extend the options on its contracts with Lawless and the other actors slated to star in the series (Gabrielle Union, Kiele Sanchez, Ving Rhames and James Van Der Beek), which seemed to indicate the show was still under consideration.
Lawless returned to television on 10 November 2008 in a guest-starring role on the hit CBS television series, CSI: Miami, playing a madame with connections to a murder. She appeared in two episodes of the final season of The L Word, and also had a role in the Adam Sandler movie, Bedtime Stories, released Christmas 2008. Also in 2008, Lucy stars with her former Xena stuntwoman Zoë Bell in Sony (Crackle)’s new web series Angel of Death written by Ed Brubaker set to debut online in early 2009.
In 2009 Lawless guest-starred on the hit HBO series, Flight of the Conchords as Paula, assistant to the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Lawless co-starred in the Starz original series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The show is based on the life of Spartacus, the famous gladiator, and the slave revolt he led, and is produced by long-time Xena producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Lawless played the role of Lucretia, the wife of Lentulus Batiatus, who are both the owners of a gladiator ludus.
Lawless provided the voice of Goldmoon for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a direct-to-DVD animated movie based on the novel of the same name, as well as Wonder Woman in the direct-to-video animated movie Justice League: The New Frontier.
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