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Birthdate: March 29, 1968 Birthplace: Mount Albert - Auckland NZ TV Show: Xena: Warrior Princess Role on Show: Xena Height: 5'11 Weight: N/A Hair Colour: Brown Eye Colour: Light Blue Movies: Peach, The Rainbow Warrior, Hercules and The Amazon Women TV Shows: Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, The Ray Bradbury Theatre Guest Appearances: Plays: Other: |
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A GIG as a female action hero is tough to come by. Ever since Lynda Carter, a.k.a. Wonder Woman, lassoed her last villain in the late seventies, there has been a shameful dearth of skimpily clad female purveyors of justice on the tube. The networks just haven't shown much sympathy for the viewing audience's need for an equal-opportunity ass-kicker. But finally, in 1995, our prayers were answered when a tall Kiwi sprang into syndicated action. The actress: the fittingly named Lucy Lawless. The show: Xena: Warrior Princess, a spin-off of the wildly popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Lawless achieved fame practically overnight after the New Zealand-produced Xena hit American airwaves, but the actress felt barely a ripple of it: she heard stories about what a big star she was overseas, but she enjoyed virtual anonymity in her own backyard, where the show didn't air. Of course, all that's changed now, as Xena has risen to the top of the syndicated ratings (right alongside Hercules) to make Lawless an international object of adoration--and to some, a feminist icon. | Lawless was born to Frankbanker and Julie Ryan in Auckland, New Zealand. Young Lucy and her sister were exposed to more than their share of testosterone, what with having five brothers around the house. Lawless believes coming from a large family provided her with the perfect training for becoming an actor: "You learn how to charm, wheedle, and manipulate . . . plus you learn how to keep coming back from the knocks. It made me a fighter." The fighter, in her youth, was also quite a singer. She studied opera and languages--German, French, Italian--for a year at Auckland University, but soon got a traveling jones that took her across Europe, where she found occasional odd jobs like picking grapes along Germany's Rhine River. She then moved to Australia and worked a gold mine deep in the outback. After her wanderlust was sufficiently satisfied, she satisfied a different kind of lust with high school sweetheart Garth Lawless, and found herself pregnant. The two hastily got married prior to moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Lucy started studying acting and Garth managed a bar. The family's stay in Vancouver was short-lived, as Lucy's homeland beckoned with acting opportunities. She appeared in a comedy skit show called Funny Business, and did a stint as a host on the travel show Air New Zealand Holiday, which provided an opportunity for more world travel. But it was Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, a new syndicated show being shot in various locales around New Zealand, that set Lawless's career on fire. Lawless won bit parts as an unrepentant villain who gives birth to a centaur (ouch!), and as a renegade Amazon lieutenant. When an American actress who had been cast to appear as Xena--a female counterpart to Hercules--fell ill, the producers turned to Lawless. Her appearance in the three-episode arc aroused such an enthusiastic response from viewers that the producers soon offered her a spin-off series of her own; Xena: Warrior Princess debuted in September of 1995. Lawless divorced Garth soon after the show launched, but wisely kept his groovy name. Xena's campy blend of action, comedy, and sex immediately attracted a wide audience. Xena's relationship with her traveling companion, Gabrielle (played by Renee O'Connor), is punctuated with sly lesbian undertones that attract appreciative gay and heterosexual audiences, who ogle Xena and Gabrielle in their close-fitting leather and armor getups with equal appreciation. Lawless, who was at first reluctant to be anyone's feminist role model, has started to warm to the role: "I met so many women and young girls who feel, to use their word, and I'm a bit embarrassed, but it's a good word--empowered, by watching. I realized this isn't a burden, this is an honor." Speaking of feminist role models, Lawless recently took to the stage as Rizzo in a Broadway revival of Grease. You're Visitor Number Site Created By DH Web Writer © 1997 |
