Lucy Lawless



""I like the one who plays me. She's kinda sexy.""

- Xena, on Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless (born 1968, as Lucille Francis Ryan) is an actress, musician, and singer from New Zealand. She began as a singer, then as a jazz musician, and transitioned to acting in the 1990s. Her first major role was in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys pilot Hercules and the Amazon Women as Lysia the Amazon. She later played Lyla in the regular show, and then appeared in one episode, "The Warrior Princess," as...

...Xena. Xena proved so popular she got her own show, Xena: Warrior Princess, which made Lucy Lawless a star. Xena ran for six seasons, and Lucy Lawless continued to act in other roles. She appeared on the Broadway revival of Grease as Betty Rizzo. She made a cameo appearance on Spider-Man as a punk rock girl. But her next really big role would not be until the new Battlestar Galactica, where she played Intrepid Reporter D'Anna Biers, AKA Cylon Number Three.

Her current big role is in Spartacus: Blood and Sand as Lucretia, and she is also playing Helen Burton on No Ordinary Family. She lives with her husband (Xena creator Rob Tapert) and their two children, and also has two children from her previous marriage. The dwarf planet Eris (discovered in 2005) was originally nicknamed Xena (after Lawless's iconic role), and its moon Gabrielle for Xena's closest companion, and best friend. Eris was named Eris, and the moon was named Dysnomia, which is Greek for "lawlessness."

She was recently arrested with several other environmental activists after a 77-hour protest on an oil tower, to stop a drillship from departing its port.

Roles

 * Hercules and the Amazon Women as Lysia (1994)
 * Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as Lyla and Xena (1995)
 * Xena: Warrior Princess as Xena (1995-2001)
 * The X-Files as Shannon McMahon (2001)
 * Spider-Man (2002) as Punk Rock Girl
 * Battlestar Galactica as D'Anna "Number Three" Biers (2005-2009)
 * Spartacus: Blood and Sand as Lucretia (2010-present)

Tropes

 * Action Girl: Tends to play these.
 * Awesome McCoolname: But not by design; she just happened to marry a guy named Lawless. However, at the time of the marriage she was trying to break into acting, and she recounted in one interview that upon realizing her name was now 'Lucy Lawless', she worried no one would take her seriously.
 * Alliterative Name
 * Blue Eyes
 * Dye Hard: Her hair is naturally ash blonde, but she is best known as the dark-haired Xena, to the point that seeing her with her natural hair color is almost jarring.
 * Fake American: Most viewers have no idea she is from New Zealand.
 * Hell-Bent for Leather: On Galactica as Number Three. Not to mention her signature role of Xena.
 * Older Than They Look
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: Forced a few of these during her time starring on "Xena", most notably, Xena's body switching exploits with Callisto when Lawless broke her pelvis, and Xena's pregnancy when Lawless (duh) became pregnant.
 * Statuesque Stunner: At 5'9".