Lucille Frances Lawless ( née Ryan ; born 29 March 1968 ) is a New Zealand actress and singer. She is good known for her character as the title character in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess, but besides portrayed the News Reporter D’Anna Biers on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica serial and Lucretia in the television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand and associated series. Lawless had recurring roles as Diane Lewis-Swanson on the NBC situation comedy Parks and Recreation ( 2012–2015 ), and as Countess Palatine Ingrid Von Marburg on the WGN America supernatural series Salem ( 2015 ). She besides starred as Ruby on the Starz horror-comedy serial Ash vs Evil Dead ( 2015–2018 ).
Reading: Lucy Lawless – Wikipedia
early life [edit ]
Lucille Frances “ Lucy ” Ryan was born in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert to teacher Julie Ryan ( nee Haynes ) and Mount Albert ‘s mayor, banker Frank Ryan. [ 1 ] She is the fifth of six siblings ( four brothers and one baby ). She has described her family as “ this big, sprawling irish Catholic family ”, [ 2 ] and while filming in Ireland for the Discovery Channel in 2004, told Ireland on Sunday that her father ‘s family originated in Quilty, County Clare. [ 3 ] Ryan appeared in her first musical at age 10 [ 4 ] and began acting in junior-grade school. She attended Marist College, Auckland, and began studies at Auckland University in languages. [ 5 ] At 18, she went on her “ oversea experience “, travelling through Europe and Australia with her future conserve, Garth Lawless. [ 4 ] At 21, she won the 1989 Mrs New Zealand competition. [ 6 ] Lawless has said she suffered from bulimia as a child, but she was able to overcome the illness. [ 7 ]
career [edit ]
Her debut on television was 2½ seasons as a cast member in the New Zealand sketch-comedy serial Funny Business. After that, she studied drama at the William Davis Centre for Actors Study in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [ 4 ] In 1994, Lawless appeared in Hercules and the Amazon Women, a Pacific Renaissance Pictures made-for-television film that became the television pilot program 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 [edit ]
Lawless received her best-known function when she was asked to play a desperate warrior charwoman named Xena in the first season of Hercules. She first appeared in the sequence “ 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 report that Robert G. “ Rob ” Tapert commissioned John Schulian to write ). The character proved to be a fan front-runner. Vanessa Angel was in the first place cast in the function, but she fell ill and was unable to travel to New Zealand for shooting. To differentiate between Xena and the like Lysia, Lawless ‘ haircloth, previously an ash blond, was dyed black. She besides wore a much dark costume. Lawless returned as Xena in two more episodes of the first season of Hercules, which portrayed her turn from villainess to a dear, heroic character. The character was democratic adequate that a by-product series was created : Xena: Warrior Princess debuted on 4 September 1995. Xena: Warrior Princess, like its rear broadcast, was a huge stumble and achieved high ratings and cultural meaning, lasting six seasons. The series brought Lawless an huge 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 fracture pelvis when the sawhorse she was riding lost its footing in the studio cable car park. She made a complete convalescence, but several episodes of the second season of Xena were rewritten to focus on background characters to minimise the meter Lawless was needed on dress. [ 8 ]
LGBT rights icon [edit ]
Xena ‘s ambiguous romantic relationship with travelling companion Gabrielle ( Renee O’Connor ) [ 9 ] led to Lawless becoming a lesbian icon, a role of which she has said she is proud. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] She has said that during the years she was playing the function, she had been undecided on the nature of the relationship, [ 11 ] but in a 2003 interview with Lesbian News magazine, she said that after viewing the series finale, she had come to see Xena and Gabrielle ‘s kinship as decidedly gay, adding “ they ‘re married, man. ” [ 12 ] [ 13 ] This reputation became cement after her “ graphic lesbian sexual activity scenes ” in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] She has appeared at brave pride events such as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. [ 16 ] For her impregnable support of LGBT rights, including her populace confirm for same-sex marriage, [ 17 ] in 2017 Lawless was given the Star 100–Ally of the Year award at the australian LGBTI Awards ceremony. [ 18 ] [ 19 ]
early work [edit ]
Lawless beginning appeared on Broadway in September 1997 in the Grease revival, as the “ bad girlfriend ” character Betty Rizzo. She wanted to play the leave function of Sandy and late stated her belief that the producers typecast her to play “ badly girls ” following her success as Xena. She said the Sandy character was very exchangeable to her shelter childhood, growing up in New Zealand with many protective older brothers. [ 20 ] From 2005 to 2009, she had a recurring function in the television receiver series Battlestar Galactica. Lawless appeared as D’Anna Biers, a reporter with the Fleet News Service who worked on a critical objective about the crew of the Galactica and was by and by revealed to be Humanoid Cylon model Number Three. lawless competed as one of the celebrity singers on the Fox reality television show Celebrity Duets in 2006, finishing as the runner-up to winner Alfonso Ribeiro. [ 21 ] Lawless has besides performed as a voice actor in several animated features : In 2008, Lawless voiced the enliven character of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman in the direct-to-video superhero animated movie, Justice League: The New Frontier, adapted from the DC Comics express series. [ 22 ] In 2014, Lawless voiced the militaristic “ Queen of the Ants ” in the American animated television receiver series Adventure Time on the Cartoon Network. [ 23 ] In 2007, Lawless was to appear as one of the leads in the ensemble frame of the ABC television series, Football Wives, based on the popular british serial Footballers’ Wives. The serial did not continue past the fly episode, but the network extended the options on its contracts with Lawless and the other actors slated to star in the series, including Gabrielle Union, Kiele Sanchez, Ving Rhames, and James Van Der Beek. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Lawless returned to television on 10 November 2008 in a guest-starring character on the CBS television receiver series CSI: Miami, in a Season 7 episode, “ Cheating Death ”, playing a madam with connections to a mangle and helping Horatio “ H ” Caine with his inquiries. [ 26 ] In 2009, Lawless appeared in two episodes of the final season of The L Word as Sergeant Marybeth Duffy. [ 27 ] She played a character in the Adam Sandler movie Bedtime Stories released December 2008. [ 27 ] besides in 2008, Lawless appeared with her erstwhile Xena stuntwoman Zoë Bell in Sony ( Crackle ) ‘s new world wide web series Angel of Death, written by Ed Brubaker, which debuted on-line in early 2009. [ 28 ] In 2009, Lawless guest-starred in the HBO series Flight of the Conchords as Paula, assistant to the Prime Minister of New Zealand. [ 29 ]
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lawless co-star in the Starz original series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. [ 30 ] The testify was based on the life of Spartacus, the celebrated prizefighter, 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 function of Lucretia, the wife of Lentulus Batiatus, who were both the owners of a gladiator ludus, which besides saw Lawless doing nude scenes for the first time. Lawless won the 2011 Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actress for her function as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Lawless reprised her character as Lucretia in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which chronicled life in the Ludus before Spartacus ‘s arrival, and she besides returned for the sequel Spartacus: Vengeance. [ 31 ] Lawless provided the voice of Goldmoon for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a direct-to-DVD animated movie based on the novel of the like identify. From 2012 to 2015, Lawless had a recurring function on the NBC series Parks and Recreation as Diane, the sleep together interest and eventual wife of Ron Swanson. In 2014, she guest starred in Agents of Shield as Isabelle Hartley in the season two premier, [ 32 ] and reprised the character late in episode 15 of season two, ‘ One Door Closes. ‘ [ 33 ] In 2015, Lawless landed the recurring guest function of Countess Palatine Ingrid Von Marburg in WGN America ‘s Salem. She plays Countess Marburg, one of the last stay survivors of the fabled lineage of ancient german witches. [ 34 ] In March 2015, it was announced that she would be portraying the function of Ruby in Starz horror-comedy serial Ash vs Evil Dead. The series ended in 2018. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] In 2019-2021, she played Alexa Crowe, a former bull turned secret detective, in two seasons of My Life Is Murder .
Singing career [edit ]
lawless perform at the Roxy, 2007 Lawless, who has a background in musical theater, played Betty Rizzo on Broadway in a production of Grease in 1997. [ 37 ] 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, ” besides showcased not merely her sing but besides that of some of her castmates. ( See also List of Xena: Warrior Princess episodes for details. ) Lucy was encouraged to resume her singing career after being a contestant on Celebrity Duets, which she finished as runner-up to Alfonso Ribeiro. She made her solo debut at the Roxy in Hollywood, a venue of 500 seats, on 13 January 2007, with a sold-out crowd for back-to-back concerts. [ 38 ]
charity [edit ]
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 contribution of the Auckland District Health Board. [ 39 ] It is set up to provide extra equipment, documentation and aid to staff, patients and families. [ 40 ] She devotes much time and energy to fundraising for the organization. She recently sat for the New Zealand television series The Sitting, [ 41 ] an art series where fame portraits are produced during an interview session, with the portraits by and by auctioned for charity. Since 2006, 21 September marks “ Lucy Lawless Feel the Love Day/Week. ” The day, organised by the Official Lucy Lawless Fan Club, begins a workweek of charitable acts and donations by fans in honor and digest of Lawless. [ 42 ] [ 43 ]
activism [edit ]
In May 2009 Lawless became a “ climate ambassador ” for the Greenpeace “ Sign On ” campaign. [ 44 ] In February 2012, she and six other Greenpeace activists boarded an oil drill transport 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 function in petroleum exploration. [ 45 ] She was subsequently arrested and charged with burglary, which carried an imprisonment term of up to 10 years if convicted. [ 46 ] She pleaded guilty on 14 June 2012 to trespass charges regarding the February incident. Lawless said she intended for nowadays to remain involve with Greenpeace. [ 47 ] In February 2013, Lawless and the other six activists were each sentenced to pay a fine of NZ $ 651 ( about US $ 547 ) and undertake 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 sentence, Lawless said : “ I consider it a great victory that the court has struck down the reparation requirement from Shell, which I think was absolutely farcical. ” [ 48 ]
astronomy [edit ]
Astronomer Michael E. Brown nicknamed his newly discovered dwarf satellite “ Xena ” – finding this name more commodious to use than the then-official appellation, 2003 UB313. When this object was initially determined to be larger than Pluto, it gained international attention and forced a year-long consider among astronomers as to the definition of a planet. ( Observations made by New Horizons subsequently found Pluto to be marginally larger than the object, which was ultimately named Eris. ) The aim ‘s nickname “ Xena ” was used in the press. New Scientist cartridge holder polled the public on their prefer concluding identify for the alleged one-tenth planet ; “ Xena ” ranked phone number 4. [ 49 ] Lawless surround Mike Brown in December 2005 to thank him for his “ mindless act of beauty, ” and claimed that she “ never dared hope [ the name ] would stick. ” [ 50 ] Eventually, both it and Pluto were deemed not to be planets, and were alternatively classified as dwarf planets. Although “ Xena ” is now officially known as Eris, Brown made an indirect tribute to Lawless by naming Eris ‘s moonlight Dysnomia after the greek goddess of lawlessness. [ 51 ]
personal biography [edit ]
In 1988, she became meaning from her boyfriend Garth Lawless while working with him in the australian outback. They married in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, that class, then returned to New Zealand where their daughter, Daisy, was born. They divorced in 1995. [ 52 ] On 28 March 1998, Lawless married Xena’s executive manufacturer, Pacific Renaissance Pictures CEO, Robert G. “ Rob ” Tapert. They have two sons .
Filmography [edit ]
film [edit ]
television receiver [edit ]
Video games [edit ]
stage [edit ]
- 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[54]
discography [edit ]
- 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 [edit ]
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. [ 55 ]
Awards and nominations [edit ]
| 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 |