Lucille Frances Tapert (née Ryan and formerly Lawless) is a New Zealand-born actress and singer, who portrayed Xena first in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and then in Xena: Warrior Princess.
Lucy also portrayed Lyla and Lysia respectively, as well as other Xena look-alikes.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Lucy Lawless was born Lucille Frances Ryan to Kiwi natives, Julie and Frank Ryan, the latter of whom was the Mayor of the Mount Albert suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. She was the sixth of seven children, having one sister and five brothers. During her secondary school days, she suffered from bulimia. But she overcome that eating disorder when she began to study Opera, Jazz Music and Foreign Languages at college.
Career[]

Lucy and Renée O'Connor while filming the third season episode "One Against an Army"
Renaissance Pictures[]
Lucy appeared as a guest character in several television shows throughout the '80s and early '90s, before going for an audition that would spark a chain of events that ultimately led to her big break. The first audition was for the role of Lysia in Hercules and the Amazon Women. Lucy later returned when the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was created from the made-for-TV films. She played the part of Lyla, but her big break did not come till she audtioned for the then small part of Xena.
Another actress, Vanessa Angel, initially won the role, but due to an illness, Vanessa was unable to film, and Lucy got the part. The character of Xena proved to be successful and after three episodes on Hercules, the character eventually got her own show, "Xena: Warrior Princess." Xena eventually outlived its successful parent show and ran for six seasons.
Spartacus[]
In 2010, she starred alongside Andy Whitfield and John Hannah in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, a television series created by Steven S. DeKinght, Sam Raimi, and her by-then husband Rob Tapert, based on the life of the infamous gladiator Spartacus. It features previous cast members of Xena: Warrior Princess such as Manu Bennett and Matthew Chamberlain. She then starred in the prequel series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which aired in early 2011, created to give star Andy Whitfield (Spartacus) time to recover from cancer. However, Whitfield became ill once again and so Spartacus was re-cast altogether and filming commenced on the second season of the show, entitled Spartacus: Vengeance. Tragically, Whitfield died on Sunday, 11th September, 2011. Lawless's character, thought to have been killed in the previous series, returned for this series.
Other work[]
Lucy made a guest appearance in 1999 on The Simpsons in the 10th Halloween Special, "Treehouse of Horrors X." She appeared in the short "Desperatly Xeeking Xena." Although she played herself, she had the persona of Xena.
After the success of Xena, Lucy had various cameos and guest roles, most notably in Spider-Man and Two And A Half Men respectively.

Rob Tapert directs Lucy, whilst Renee O'Connor jokes around, during the filming of the finale of Xena: Warrior Princess, "A Friend in Need Part I."
In 2004, Lucy became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to television and film, the Kiwi equivalent of the Order of the British Empire.
In 2005, she landed the role of D'Anna Biers on the revamped Battlestar Galactica, which lasted until 2009.
In 2008, she appeared in the Christmas film Bedtime Stories, alongside Adam Sandler and Courtney Cox-Arquette. (The latter's sister-in-law, Alexis Arquette, had previously appeared on Xena: Warrior Princess as Caligula.)
In 2009, Lucy also had a role in the film Bitch Slap, produced by members of the Xena team, and she starred alongside fellow Xena actors, Renée O'Connor, Michael Hurst, and Kevin Sorbo, amongst many others.
Lawless had a recurring role on the fifth and sixth season of the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation as Diane Lewis, a single mother who falls for Ron Swanson.
In January of 2011, Lawless played a character on the U.S. series No Ordinary Family known as "Mrs X.," a possible nod to her character of Xena.
Current work[]
In 2015, she had a recurring role as Countess Palatine Ingrid von Marburg on the WGN America series Salem, and appeared in the series Ash vs. Evil Dead. Lawless had a recurring role on the fifth and sixth season of the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation as Diane Lewis, a single mother who falls for Ron Swanson.

Lucy whie filming Xena: Warrior Princess, 1999, notice her pregnancy; when she became pregnant, the writers created the "Twilight of the Gods" storyline
Musical career[]
Before Xena: Warrior Princess Lucy had considered a career in opera, and she flirted with a singing career over the years, including a run, described below, on the television show Celebrity Duets, which she dominated to such a degree that the "Flawless Diva" movement arose to support her. From January of 2007 to May of 2008, she performed in sell-out concerts. She also recorded and released an album, titled Come 2 Me, and live footage existed of her performances at the Roxy in Hollywood.
Lucy's singing in XWP (some of whose installments, like "The Bitter Suite," were musical installments) was all her own, and she was even able to contribute to the show's music score; "Burial," a dirge heard in some installments, is entirely of her authorship and composition. (Though it was unknown, as of early November of 2017, whether Lucy is able to read notation, she wrote and composed "Burial" by improvisation.)
Celebrity Duets[]
In 2006, Lucy was a contestant on the American reality show, Celebrity Duets, transmitted on the Fox Network. The show followed a similar format to American Idol and the British show, The X Factor, both of which the same man, Simon Cowell, had co-created. Lucy was the runner-up to eventual winner Alfonso Ribeiro, having dueted with legendary singers such as Dionne Warwick and Bonnie Tyler.
Personal life[]
Lucy met her first husband, Garth Lawless, in 1987 and married in 1988. She had their only child, Daisy Lawless, on Friday, 15th July, 1988. They divorced in 1995.
During her time on Hercules and Xena, Lucy met her second and current husband, executive producer Robert Gerald Tapert. The couple have been married since 1998 and have two children together: Julius Robert Bay Tapert, who was born on Saturday, 16th October, 1999, and Judah Miro Tapert, who was born on Tuesday, 7th May, 2002. The couple currently reside in their home in Mission Bay, Auckland, New Zealand, speculated at a $6 million worth.
Lucy is close friends with her Xena cast and crew members Renée O'Connor, Ted Raimi, Michael Hurst, and Bruce Campbell.
Charity[]
She is a member of the StarShip Foundation, a charity which is a branch of the StarShip Children's Hospital. It focuses on helping out the patients, staff and families of the patients, and funding for equipment. She devotes much of her time to this cause and has performed concerts, organised events and even donated her Xena costume to a museum and gave all the proceedings to the charity.
She also became "Climate Ambassador" of the Greenpeace campaign in May 2009, which focuses on raising awareness of the state of the enviroment. Her involvement with this charity later led to an arrest. (See below for details.)
Incident on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno[]

Lucy and the late Kevin Smith taking a break during the filming of the sixth season episode "Soul Possession"
In October of 1996, Lucy was filming for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno when the horse that she was riding fell, causing her to fracture her pelvis. As she was filming for Season Two of Xena at the time, the writers had to come up with an idea to prevent the incident from causing too much of an effect to the show. In "Intimate Stranger," a storyline where Callisto and Xena switch bodies became handy, allowing the writers to extend the storyline for an extra episode and allow for Lucy to rest. The writers then came-up with a few Xena-Lites to allow for Lucy to have more time off work and fully recover.
Arrest[]
In February of 2012, Lawless and five other Greenpeace activists boarded an oil drilling ship 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 part in oil exploration.[1] She was subsequently arrested and charged with burglary, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years if convicted.[2] She pleaded guilty on Thursday, 14 June, 2012 to trespass charges regarding the February incident. Lawless said she intends for now to remain involved with Greenpeace.[3] In February of 2013, she and the other six activists were each sentenced to pay a fine of NZ$651 (about US$547) and perform 120 hours each of community service. The judge denied the $545,000 in reparations that Shell Todd Oil Services had sought from the activists. Following the sentencing, Lawless said, "I consider it a great victory that the court has struck down the reparation demand from Shell, which I think was absolutely ludicrous."[4]
Trivia[]
- Lucy Lawless is also best known for portraying D'Anna Biers/Number Three in the 2004 television series, Battlestar Galactica Lucretia in the the 2010 television series, Spartacus television franchise, and Isabelle Hartly in in the 2013 television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Gallery[]
Credits[]
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys[]
- Hercules and the Amazon Women - Lysia
- "As Darkness Falls" - Lyla
- "The Warrior Princess" - Xena
- "The Gauntlet" - Xena
- "Unchained Heart" - Xena
- "Outcast" - Lyla
- "Judgement Day" - Xena
- "Stranger in a Strange World" - Xena 2
- "Armageddon Now Part 2" - Xena
Xena: Warrior Princess[]
- "Sins of the Past" - Xena
- "Chariots of War" - Xena
- "Dreamworker" - Xena
- "Cradle of Hope" - Xena
- "The Path Not Taken" - Xena
- "The Reckoning" - Xena
- "The Titans" - Xena
- "Prometheus" - Xena
- "Death in Chains" - Xena
- "Hooves and Harlots" - Xena
- "The Black Wolf" - Xena
- "Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts" - Xena
- "Athens City Academy of the Performing Bards" - Xena
- "A Fistful of Dinars" - Xena
- "Warrior... Princess" - Xena/Diana
- "Mortal Beloved" - Xena
- "The Royal Couple of Thieves" - Xena
- "The Prodigal" - Xena
- "Altared States" - Xena
- "Ties That Bind" - Xena
- "The Greater Good" - Xena
- "Callisto" - Xena
- "Death Mask" - Xena
- "Is There a Doctor in the House?" - Xena
- "Orphan of War" - Xena
- "Remember Nothing" - Xena
- "The Giant Killer" - Xena
- "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - Xena
- "Return of Callisto" - Xena
- "Warrior... Princess... Tramp" - Xena/Diana/Meg
- "Intimate Stranger" - Xena/Callisto
- "A Solstice Carol" - Xena
- "The Xena Scrolls" - Melinda Pappas/Xena
- "Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis" - Xena
- "Destiny" - Xena
- "The Quest" - Xena
- "A Necessary Evil" - Xena
- "A Day in the Life" - Xena
- "For Him The Bell Tolls" - Xena
- "The Execution" - Xena
- "Blind Faith" - Xena
- "Ulysses" - Xena
- "The Price - Xena
- "Lost Mariner" - Xena
- "A Comedy of Eros" - Xena
- "The Furies" - Xena
- "Been There, Done That" - Xena
- "The Dirty Half Dozen" - Xena
- "The Deliverer" - Xena
- "Gabrielle's Hope" - Xena
- "The Debt: Part 1" - Xena
- "The Debt: Part 2" - Xena
- "The King of Assassins" - Xena
- "Warrior... Priestess... Tramp" - Xena/Meg/Leah
- "The Quill is Mightier..." - Xena
- "Maternal Instincts" - Xena
- "The Bitter Suite" - Xena
- "One Against an Army" - Xena
- "Forgiven" - Xena
- "King Con" - Xena
- "When in Rome..." - Xena
- "Forget Me Not" - Xena
- "Fins, Femmes and Gems" - Xena
- "Tsunami" - Xena
- "Vanishing Act" - Xena
- "Sacrifice: Part 1" - Xena
- "Sacrifice: Part 2" - Xena
- "Adventures in the Sin Trade" - Xena
- "Adventures in the Sin Trade II" - Xena
- "A Family Affair" - Xena
- "In Sickness and in Hell" - Xena
- "A Good Day" - Xena
- "A Tale of Two Muses" - Xena
- "Locked Up and Tied Down" - Xena
- "Crusader" - Xena
- "Past Imperfect" - Xena
- "The Key to the Kingdom" - Xena/Meg
- "Daughter of Pomira" - Xena
- "If the Shoe Fits..." - Xena
- "Paradise Found" - Xena
- "Devi" - Xena
- "Between the Lines" - Xena/Arminestra
- "The Way" - Xena
- "The Play's the Thing" - Xena
- "The Convert" - Xena
- "Takes One to Know One" - Xena
- "Endgame" - Xena
- "The Ides of March" - Xena
- "Deja Vu All Over Again" - Annie Day/Joxer
- "Fallen Angel" - Xena
- "Chakram" - Xena
- "Succession" - Xena
- "Animal Attraction" - Xena
- "Them Bones, Them Bones" - Xena
- "Purity" - Xena
- "Back in the Bottle" - Xena
- "Little Problems" - Xena
- "Seeds of Faith" - Xena
- "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire" - Xena
- "Punch Lines" - Xena
- "God Fearing Child" - Xena
- "Eternal Bonds" - Xena
- "Amphipolis Under Siege" - Xena
- "Married with Fishsticks" - Xena
- "Lifeblood" - Xena
- "Kindred Spirits" - Xena
- "Antony & Cleopatra" - Xena
- "Looking Death in the Eye" - Xena/Meg (voice only)
- "Livia" - Xena/Meg
- "Eve" - Xena
- "Motherhood" - Xena
- "Coming Home" - Xena
- "The Haunting of Amphipolis" - Xena
- "Heart of Darkness" - Xena
- "Who's Gurkhan?" - Xena
- "Legacy" - Xena
- "The Abyss" - Xena
- "The Rheingold" - Xena
- "The Ring" - Xena
- "Return of the Valkyrie" - Xena
- "Old Ares Had a Farm" - Xena
- "Dangerous Prey" - Xena
- "The God You Know" - Xena
- "You Are There" - Xena
- "Path of Vengeance" - Xena
- "To Helicon and Back" - Xena
- "Send in the Clones" - Xena's Clone
- "Last of the Centaurs" - Xena
- "When Fates Collide" - Xena
- "Many Happy Returns" - Xena
- "Soul Possession" - Xena/Joxer/Annie Day
- "A Friend in Need Part I" - Xena
- "A Friend in Need Part II" - Xena
References[]
- ↑ Lucy Lawless boards oil drilling ship. 3news.co.nz (February 2012).
- ↑ Lawless charged with burglary after ship protest. Television New Zealand (27 February 2011). Retrieved on 27 February 2011.
- ↑ Nick Perry (14 June 2012). Actress Lucy Lawless Pleads Guilty to Trespass. ABC News. Archived from the original on 2012-06-15.
- ↑ Lucy Lawless sentenced, and the warrior princess is thrilled. Los Angeles Times (7 February 2013). Retrieved on 24 February 2013.