Early life

Lucille Frances "Lucy" Ryan was born in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert in New Zealand, the daughter of Julie Ryan, a teacher, and Frank Ryan, who was a banker and Mount Albert mayor. She has four brothers and one sister, and was the fifth of the six siblings herself, having described her family as "this big, sprawling Irish Catholic family."

Ryan appeared in her first musical at the age of 10, and began acting in secondary school. She attended Marist College, Auckland. At 18, like many young New Zealanders she went on her "overseas experience", traveling through Europe and Australia with future husband, Garth Lawless, and at 21 she won the 1989 Mrs New Zealand competition.

Lawless has admitted to suffering from bulimia as a child, but was able to overcome the illness.

Career

Her debut on television was two and a half seasons as a cast member of the New Zealand sketch comedy series "Funny Business" - after which she studied drama at the William Davis Centre for Actors Study in Vancouver.

In 1994, Lawless appeared in Hercules and the Amazon Women, a Pacific Renaissance Pictures made-for-television film that became the television pilot for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. In that episode, she played a man-hating Amazon named Lysia. She went on to play another character, Lyla, in the first season episode "As Darkness Falls."

Xena: Warrior Princess

Lawless received her best-known role when she was asked to play a villainous warrior woman named Xena in the episode "The Warrior Princess," which aired in March 1995 (R. J. Stewart, one of Pacific Renaissance Pictures's in-house writers, dramatised the teleplay from a story that Robert G. "Rob" Tapert commissioned John Schulian to write). The character proved to be very successful among fans of the show.

Vanessa Angel was originally cast in the role, but she fell ill and was unable to travel to New Zealand for shooting. To differentiate between Xena and the similar Lysia, Lawless' hair, previously an ash blonde, was dyed black. She also wore a much darker costume, which made her unrecognizable as the Lysia character. Lawless subsequently returned as Xena in two more episodes of the first season of Hercules, which portrayed her turn from villainess to a good, heroic character.

The character was popular enough that a spin-off series was created: Xena: Warrior Princess debuted on 4 September 1995. Xena: Warrior Princess, like its parent program, was a huge hit and achieved high ratings and cultural significance, lasting six seasons. The series brought Lawless an immense amount of attention and she became an international celebrity.

While taping an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in October 1996, Lawless suffered a fractured pelvis when the horse she was riding lost its footing in the studio parking lot. She made a complete recovery, but several episodes of the second season of Xena were rewritten to focus on background characters to minimize the time Lawless was needed on set.

Lesbian Icon

See also: Xena: Warrior Princess in popular culture

Lawless became a 'lesbian icon' because of Xena's ambiguous relationship with traveling companion Gabrielle. This reputation has become cemented after her "graphic lesbian sex scenes" in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. 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.

Other Work

Lawless first appeared on Broadway in September 1997 in the Grease revival, as the "bad girl" character, Betty Rizzo. She wanted to play the lead role of Sandy, and later stated her belief that the producers typecast her to play "bad girls" following her success as Xena. She said the Sandy character was very similar to her sheltered childhood, growing up in New Zealand with many protective older brothers.

From 2005 to 2009, she had a recurring role in the television series Battlestar Galactica. Lawless 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).

She 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. Lawless has also performed as a voice actor in several animated features. In 2007, Lawless guest-starred as herself in the cult HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. In a sub-plot of an episode entitled "The TiVo Guy," she met and flirted with Larry David.

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).

Lawless returned to television on 10 November 2008 in a guest-starring role on the hit CBS television series, CSI: Miami, playing a madam 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, Lawless appeared with her former Xena stuntwoman Zoë Bell in Sony (Crackle)'s new web series Angel of Death, written by Ed Brubaker, which debuted online in early 2009.

In 2009 Lawless guest-starred in the 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 was based on the life of Spartacus, the famous gladiator, and the slave revolt he led, and was produced by long-time Xena producers Sam Raimi and "Rob" Tapert, her own husband. Lawless played the role of Lucretia, the wife of Lentulus Batiatus, who were both the owners of a gladiator ludus, which also saw Lawless doing nude scenes for the first time. Lawless won the 2011 Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Lawless reprised her role as Lucretia in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which chronicled life in the Ludus before Spartacus's arrival, and she also returned for the sequel Spartacus: Vengeance.

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. From 2012 to 2014, Lawless had a recurring role on the NBC series Parks and Recreation as Diane, the love interest and eventual wife of Ron Swanson.

In 2014, she guest starred in Agents of Shield as Isabelle Hartley in the season two premiere, and reprised the role later in episode 15 of season two, 'One Door Closes.' In 2015, Lawless landed the recurring guest role of Countess Marburg in WGN America's Salem. She plays Countess Marburg, one of the last remaining survivors of the legendary line of ancient German witches. In March 2015, it was announced that she would be portraying the role of Ruby in Starz TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Singing career

Lawless, who has a background in musical theatre, played Betty Rizzo on Broadway in a production of Grease in 1997. Indeed, she continued to sing during the run of Xena, even contributing dirge music of her own composition; this made it into the episode "The Path Not Taken" as the dirge "Burial," which she sang for the first time in the episode. Two musically-oriented episodes, "The Bitter Suite" and "Lyre, Lyre, Heart's On Fire," also showcased not only her singing but also that of some of her castmates. (See also List of Xena: Warrior Princess episodes for details.)

Lucy was encouraged to pursue a career in singing after being a contestant on Celebrity Duets, which she finished as runner-up to Alfonso Ribeiro. She made her onstage debut at the Roxy in Hollywood on 13 January 2007, with a sold-out crowd for back-to-back concerts.

Charity

Lawless is a member of the board of trustees of the StarShip Foundation, the charity arm of the Starship Children's Health (hospital) which is part of the Auckland District Health Board. It is set up to provide additional equipment, support and help to staff, patients and families. She devotes much time and energy to fundraising for the organisation. She recently sat for the New Zealand television series The Sitting, an arts series where celebrity portraits are produced during an interview session, with the portraits later auctioned for charity.

Lawless attended the auction where her portrait fetched the top price, with the whole event raising $39,000 for Starship. Lawless has often raised money for concerts and events, donates part of her salary in favour of the institution, and has sold some Xena costumes to contribute funds. In mid February 2012, Lawless sang at New Zealander of the Year donating her appearance fee to the Starship Foundation.

Since 2006, 21 September marks "Lucy Lawless Feel the Love Day/Week." The day, organised by the Official Lucy Lawless Fan Club, begins a week of charitable acts and donations by fans in honour and support of Lawless.

Activism

In May 2009, Lawless became a "climate ambassador" for the Greenpeace "Sign On" campaign.

In February 2012, Lawless and six other Greenpeace activists boarded an oil drilling ship at Port Taranaki, New Zealand, and remained on it for 77 hours to stop it leaving for the Arctic where it was going to take part in oil exploration. She was subsequently arrested and charged with burglary, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years if convicted. She pleaded guilty on 14 June 2012 to trespass charges regarding the February incident. Lawless said she intends for now to remain involved with Greenpeace.

In February 2013, Lawless and the other six activists were each sentenced to pay a fine of NZ$651 (about US$547) and 120 hours of community service. The judge denied the $545,000 in reparations that Shell Todd Oil Services had sought from the activists. Following the sentencing, Lawless said: "I consider it a great victory that the court has struck down the reparation demand from Shell, which I think was absolutely ludicrous."

Astronomy

Astronomer Michael E. Brown nicknamed his newly discovered dwarf planet "Xena"—finding this name more convenient to use than the then-official designation, 2003 UB313. When this object was initially determined to be larger than Pluto, it gained international attention and forced a year-long debate among astronomers as to the definition of a planet (Observations made by New Horizons subsequently found Pluto to be marginally larger than Eris).

The object's nickname "Xena" was used in the press. New Scientist magazine polled the public on their preferred final name for the so-called tenth planet; "Xena" ranked number 4. Lawless rang Mike Brown in December 2005 to thank him for his "senseless act of beauty," and claimed that she "never dared hope would stick." Eventually, both it and Pluto were deemed not to be planets, and were instead classified as dwarf planets.

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

Personal life

In 1988 at the age of 19, Lucy became pregnant by boyfriend Garth Lawless, while working together in the Australian outback. They married in Kalgoorlie and returned to New Zealand where their daughter was born. They divorced in 1995.

In 1997, Lawless was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People Weekly Magazine. Days earlier, on 6 May 1997, Lawless had inadvertently exposed 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. Lawless was quoted in Newsweek as saying, "Obviously, I was mortified....It was quite a bit more exposure than I want."

On 28 March 1998, Lawless married Xena's executive producer, Pacific Renaissance Pictures CEO Robert G. "Rob" Tapert, on 28 March 1998. They have two sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born 16 October 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born 7 May 2002), who were both born in Auckland, New Zealand.

While filming in Ireland for the Discovery Channel in 2004, Lawless told Ireland on Sunday that her father's family originated in Quilty, County Clare, and her great grandfather arrived in New Zealand as a convict.

Awards and nominations

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.

Year	Award	Category	Production	Result
1997	Saturn Award	Best Genre TV Actress	Xena: Warrior Princess	Nominated
2010	Golden Nymph	Outstanding Actress - Drama Series	Spartacus: Blood and Sand	Nominated
2010	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actress on Television	Spartacus: Blood and Sand	Won
2016	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Supporting Actress on Television	Salem	Nominated

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Within the Law	Verity
1990	Bitter Song, AA Bitter Song	Nurse 1	Short film
1991	End of the Golden Weather, TheThe End of the Golden Weather	Joe's Girl
1993	Rainbow Warrior, TheThe Rainbow Warrior	Jane Redmond	Television movie
1993	Typhon's People	Mink Tertius	Television movie
1994	Hercules and the Amazon Women	Lysia	Television movie
1996	Peach	Peach	Short film
1997	Hercules & Xena: Wizards of the Screen	Xena	Short film
1998	Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie	Xena
2000	Ginger Snaps	Announcer on School's PA System	Uncredited
2002	Spider-Man	Punk Rock Girl
2004	EuroTrip	Madame Vandersexxx
2005	Boogeyman	Mary Jensen
2005	Locusts	Maddy Rierdon	Television movie
2005	Vampire Bats	Maddy Rierdon	Television movie
2006	Darkroom, TheThe Darkroom	Cheryl
2008	Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight	Goldmoon
2008	Justice League: The New Frontier	Wonder Woman
2008	Bedtime Stories	Aspen
2009	Bitch Slap	Mother Superior
2010	Lez Chat	Construction Worker	Short film

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	Ray Bradbury Theater, TheThe Ray Bradbury Theater	Liddy Barton	Episode: "Fee Fie Foe Fum"
1993	New Adventures of the Black Stallion, TheThe New Adventures of the Black Stallion	Sarah McFee	Episode: "Riding the Volcano"
1994	High Tide	Undercover policewoman	Episode: "Shanghied"
1995	High Tide	Sharon List	Episode: "Dead in the Water"
1995-1998	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Lyla	2 episodes
1995	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Xena	6 episodes
1995-2001	Xena: Warrior Princess	Xena	134 episodes Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television
1999	The Simpsons	Herself	Episode: "Treehouse of Horror X"
2000	Celebrity Deathmatch	Herself	Episode: "The Return of Lucy Lawless"
2001	Just Shoot Me!	Stacy	Episode: "The Auction"
2001	X-Files, TheThe X-Files	Shannon McMahon	2 episodes
2003	Tarzan	Kathleen Clayton	7 episodes
2004	Less than Perfect	Tracy Fletcher	Episode: "Ignoring Lydia"
2005	Two and a Half Men	Pamela	Episode: "It Was Mame, Mom"
2005-2009	Battlestar Galactica	D'Anna Biers / Number Three humanoid Cylon	16 episodes
2006	Veronica Mars	Agent Morris	Episode: "Donut Run"
2007	Burn Notice	Evelyn	Episode: "False Flag"
2007	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Lucy Lawless	Episode: "The TiVo Guy"
2007	Football Wives	Tanya Austin	Unsold TV pilot
2008	CSI: Miami	Audrey Yates	Episode: "Cheating Death"
2009	L Word, TheThe L Word	Sgt. Marybeth Duffy	2 episodes
2009	Flight of the Conchords	Paula	Episode: "New Zealand Town"
2009	Angel of Death	Vera	Episode: "Help"
2010	Spartacus: Blood and Sand	Lucretia	13 episodes Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television Nominated—Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
2011	Spartacus: Gods of the Arena	Lucretia	6 episodes
2011	American Dad!	Stacy	Episode: "A Piñata Named Desire"
2011	No Ordinary Family	Helen Burton	4 episodes
2012	Spartacus: Vengeance	Lucretia	10 episodes
2012-2014	Parks and Recreation	Diane Lewis	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	6 episodes
2014	Adventure Time	General Tarsal	Episode: "The Dentist"
2015	The Barefoot Bandits	Denenis Gobb (voice)	Episode: "Invasion of the Budgie Smuglers"
2015	Salem	Countess Marburg	11 episodes Nominated—Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television
2015-present	Ash vs. Evil Dead	Ruby Knowby	8 episodes
2016	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Hiidrala (voice)	Episode: "The Cosmic Ocean"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Hunted: The Demon's Forge	Seraphine

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

Concerts

• 13-14 January 2007 - The Roxy Theater; Los Angeles
• 31 May - 2 June 2007 - The Canal Room; New York City
• 5-6 October 2007 - Buddy Guy's Legends; Chicago
• 25-26 January 2008 - The Roxy Theater; Los Angeles
• 3-4 May 2008 - "Bad Girls in Heaven", Carling Academy Islington; London
• June 2008 - Live at CityWalk, Universal Studios; Hollywood
• 27 September 2008 - Live at the Herbst Theater; San Francisco
• 30-31 January 2009 - "The Pleasuredome", The Roxy Theater; Los Angeles

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" The Starship Christmas Album 2012 - Starship Foundation

[ Source: Wikipedia ]