Celebrity Nooz: Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless (Actress) as Xena - Xena: Warrior Princess

Updated: 12/26/2005

Name: Lucy Lawless

Birth Name: Lucille Francis Ryan

Born: March 29, 1968 in Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand

Nickname: Unco, short for Uncoordinated, Loo, Luce

Claim To Fame: I never saw the show but I know it was a huge cult hit and it is how I know the name of Lucy Lawless... I'm talking about the TV show, 'Xena: Warrior Princess.' Lucy starred as Xena.

Family Life: Robert G. Tapert (March 1998 - present) two children, Judah and Juliues

Garth Lawless (1988 - 1995) (divorced) 1 daughter, Daisy

Info: Lucy was born the fifth child of Frank and Julie Ryan. She discovered an enjoyment of acting in high school. At Auckland University, she studied foreign languages for a year. She then left for Europe with her boyfriend to travel around Germany and Switzerland. They went back and landed a job with a mining company in Australia.

Trivia: Wanted to be an opera singer until she was 16. Then she learned they have a strict diet and can't stay out all night. After that she changed her mind but still sings.

In 1992, she fractured her pelvis after falling from a horse.
She was practicing a scene for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"

Speaks some German, French, Italian and Hebrew.

Was asked by Peter Jackson to audition for the role of Galadriel in "Lord of the Rings", but declined because her pregnancy would stall production.

Vanessa Angel was supposed to play a new character, the villainess Xena, in an en 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 5'10 1/2" Lucy, Xena's character became popular, so she started to redeem herself and got her own her series, 'Xena: Warrior Princess.'

She was even immortalized as a character on 'The Simpsons' (playing a super-powered, flying version of herself).

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.

Where Are They Now: Since Xena, Lucy has appeared in a bunch of things including on stage in the Vagina Monologues, on the first two episodes of the ninth season of 'The X-Files', and in the short-lived (eight episodes) TV series 'Tarzan.'

She has had brief appearances in the movies 'Eurotrip', 'Spider-Man', and the horror film 'Boogeyman.'

Currently, Lucy has taken on a recurring role on the 'Battlestar Galactica' television series. She plays a D'anna Biers, a reporter with a secret agenda who works on a critical documentary about the crew of the Galactica (and who in secret is actually a Cylon humanoid robot that has infiltrated the ship to help bring about its destruction).

Upcoming Lucy Lawless Roles...
Veronica Mars air date January 18, 2006
Battlestar Galactica air date February 17, 2006
Battlestar Galactica air date February 24, 2006
Circle of Passion - projected air date February 26, 2006
The Darkroom Movie sometime in 2006

CONTACT LUCY: Click Here

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