Lucy Lawless

About Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless (born Lucille Frances Ryan; March 29, 1968) is a New Zealand actress and singer best known for playing the title character of the television series Xena: Warrior Princess and for her role as Number Three on the series Battlestar Galactica.

Lawless, the fifth of seven children (five brothers and one sister), was born in Mount Albert, New Zealand. She is the daughter of Julie and Frank Ryan, who was a banker and mayor. Lawless began acting in secondary school, attending Marist College, New Zealand in Mount Albert. She studied foreign languages at Auckland University for a year before dropping out and leaving for 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, Lawless became pregnant with Garth's child. In 1988, they married in Kalgoorlie, Australia. They returned to New Zealand and had a daughter, Daisy Lawless (born July 15, 1988), who also attended Marist College, New Zealand. The couple divorced in 1995. Lawless married Xena executive producer Robert Tapert on March 28, 1998. Lawless and Tapert have two sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born October 16, 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born May 7, 2002), both born in Auckland, New Zealand.