Biography

There is so much to say about Lucy Lawless. Here we go ................................first brief, then for the full.........................

Mini-Bio

Full name	Lucille Frances Ryan (Lawless) (Tapert)	Height	5' 9.5 (confirmed by Lucy in Zap2It interview)
Date of birth	29 March 1968 (1968-03-29)	Occupation	Actress, Singer
Eyes	Crystal Blue	Hair	"Mousy" Blonde (naturally)
Starsign	Western - Aries Chinese - Monkey	Nickname	Luce, LL, Flawless, Loo and Unco = short for Uncoordinated
Nationality	New Zealand	Residences	Mission Bay - Auckland, New Zealand & Los Angeles, CA, USA
Education	Marist College, Mount Albert, NZ Auckland University, NZ William Davis Centre for Actors Study, Vancouver, BC	Notable feature(s)	Cheekbones, Blue eyes, Kiwi accent
Interests/Hobbies	Fishing, Singing, Yoga	Languages	English, German, French and Italian LL: "I speak good German, okay French but poor Italian. I hate that I'm not better at languages."
Family	Father: Frank Ryan Mother: Julie Ryan Brothers: 5 (4 older) Sisters: Josie Ryan (younger) Husband: Robert Tapert Daughters: Daisy Lawless Sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert, Judah Miro Tapert LL: "I have 5 brothers and 1 sister. We're this big, sprawling Irish Catholic family. I don't live that far from any of them."	Other	Awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit, Queen's Birthday Honours 2004, for services to NZ entertainment and the community

 

Expanded Bio

Actress, singer, mother and charity worker, Lucy Lawless is the first daughter, the fifth of seven children (five brothers and one sister), was born in Mount Albert, New Zealand. She is the daughter of Julie (homemaker and active volunteer in their community) and Frank Ryan (former mayor of Mount Albert, now Chairman of Finance for Auckland City). Lawless began acting in secondary school, attending Marist College, Mount Albert. Lucy often played rough and according to her mother, didn't realise she was a girl until she was 8. Lucy loved horse riding and at school she was always picked to play the main part in plays and musicals. Lucy had a wonderful singing voice and friends and family were hoping she would pursue her talent. So after graduating high school in 1985, Lucy set her sights on becoming an opera singer, while studying languages (German, French and Italian) at Auckland University she signed up for private voice lessons. But a structural approach to singing killed Lucy's enjoyment and natural urge to sing, yet she wasn't discouraged from pursuing a show business career and found work in Auckland modeling and acting. Her first job was a commercial for Git Away Tours in 1986 where she made $3,500.

She studied foreign languages at Auckland University a year before dropping out at the age of 18, used this money to buy a one way ticket to Europe with her boyfriend, Garth Lawless, to travel to Germany and Switzerland. The couple then moved to Australia, where she worked briefly as a gold miner. At 19 Lucy fell pregnant and returned to New Zealand where she gave birth to her daughter Daisy.

After the birth of her daughter Lucy returned to work, TV commercials, writing and acting in plays, and 2 and a half seasons in 'Funny Business' before moving to Vancouver to attend the William B. Davis Centre for Actors Study.

Lucy returned to New Zealand in 1992, appeared in 'The Rainbow Warrior' and co-hosted a travel show 'Air New Zealand Holiday'. She had more talent then just for these short projects and so continued to audition for dramatic roles.

In 1994 American producers were in New Zealand filming a series of 5 films based on the mythological hero Hercules. Producers Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi needed a woman to play the Amazon Queen 'Hippolyta' in the first installment 'Hercules and the Amazon Women'. Lucy auditioned and was a finalist for the part, as much as producers liked Lucy they were afraid to cast a kiwi in such an important role and she lost out to Roma Downey. Although Lucy didn't get the lead, she played the Queen's second in command 'Lysia'. The 5 movies were unexpected hits and were made into a weekly show, Lucy quit her travel show to play two different roles, 'Lyla' in episode 6 'As Darkness Falls' and after dying her hair dark, 'Xena' in episodes 9 'The Warrior Princess', 12 'The Gauntlet' and 13 (season finale) 'Unchained Heart', now known as the Xena Trilogy.

By the third episode of the trilogy it was obvious to producers that they were setting up a spin-off, Universal were excited about the prospect of a series centering around a female action hero and so the show and Lucy's breakthrough role Xena: Warrior Princess was born. 1995 marked a time of change for Lucy, her career was gaining speed, Xena was on fire and had established it's own fan base with men and women alike, but her marriage to Garth Lawless ended. The show ran from 1995 until its two part season 6 finale in 2001, during this time Lucy married Xena producer Robert Tapert in 1998 and had her first son Julius Robert Bay Tapert in 1999.

In 1997 she made her Broadway debut as Rizzo in Grease in 1997, hosted Saturday Night Live in 1998 and appeared on The Simpsons in 1999. Lucy's groundbreaking role as Xena captured a global audience and redefined the role of the female action hero, launching her into international fame.

And international fame surely came. Although she does not want to become an A-celebrity, people do contact her to play guestroles in some very well known TV-shows.

In 2002 Lucy got her second son Judah Miro Tapert She has appeared in 'Just Shoot Me' 2001, 'The X Files' 2001, the short lived series 'Tarzan' 2003, 'Less Than Perfect' 2004, Eurotrip 2004 and a cameo in 'Spider-man' 2002. More recently she starred in Battlestar Galactica from 2005-2008 as D'Anna Biers and the movies Locusts and Vampire Bats (both 2005) among others.

Also her singing carreer is moving up. Lucy appeared in Celebrity Duets in 2006 and was the runner up, since then she has branched out her career to include more singing, she released her first album come2me in 2007 and does regular concerts, including one in LA 2007 which was sold out. At every convention she performs her concerts. Burbank LA 2008 was another high leveled concert and then we had the unforgetable London 2008 may 4th and 5th concert, where she suprised all Xena fans about her sexy performance.

Lucy regularly attends Xena conventions with co-star Renee O'Connor and other cast members, does concerts, and continues to do her charity work. Lucy will be appearing in 2008's Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler, 2009's Bitch Slap and Angel of Death and will be in season Six of the L-word