Career & Net Worth Of Lucy Lawless

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Career & Net Worth Of Lucy Lawless

Lucille Frances Lawless MNZM is a New Zealand actress and singer. She portrayed the title character in television series Xena: Warrior Princess; cylon model Number Three D'Anna Biers on the re-imagined.

Early Life

Lucy Lawless was born as Lucille Frances Ryan on March 29th, 1968 in Auckland, New Zealand. Her mother was a teacher, and her father worked as a banker until becoming mayor of the city. She has five siblings and falls second to youngest in the order. She described her family as being Irish Catholic and cites her mother's involvement in the community as a source of inspiration. Showing an early interest in performing, Lawless appeared in her first musical when she was ten and studied acting throughout high school. She went to Marist College upon her graduation, and then transferred to Auckland University to finish her degree in languages. When she was 21, Lawless won the 1989 Miss New Zealand title.

Career

She got her start acting on the New Zealand television show "Funny Business" in 1988 and remained on the series for two years. After its conclusion, she went to study in Vancouver at The William Davis Centre for Actors Study. In 1994, Lawless got a role in the television film "Hercules and the Amazon Women," and the film went on to become the pilot episode for the "Hercules: Legendary Journeys" television show. For the first season of the television show, she was asked to play a heroic warrior woman named Xena. Her character proved to be popular enough to warrant a spin off series, "Xena: Warrior Princess." She was given the role of the title character, and the series premiered in September of 1995. The show follows Xena in a fantasy land based on Ancient Greece as she uses her warrior powers to help others and atone for her past misdeeds. Filming over the six seasons primarily took place in New Zealand. The show was an instant hit and was widely viewed in its first season.

While promoting the first season, Lawless fell off of a horse on the set of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and broke her pelvis. However, she fully recovered and only a few episodes were affected, featuring less of Lawless. The show was nominated for seven Emmy's over the course of its run with Lawless receiving one nomination. It also spawned numerous video games, a collectible card game, and several comic book versions. The series concluded in 2001, but it left a legacy on pop culture that has not yet faded.

Personal Life

In her role as Xena, she became somewhat of an icon for the LGBTQ community, which she has stated is something she is proud of. In the show, Xena has a traveling companion, Gabrielle, whom some speculated was more than just a traveling companion. Her status as an LGBTQ icon was further cemented with her performance in "Spartacus," which included a scene featuring Lawless with another woman.

When Lawless was just twenty-one, she married her boyfriend at the time, and the two had a daughter about half a year after they married in New Zealand. They divorced seven year later. She went on to marry Rob Tapert, who was the executive producer of "Xena Warrior Princess" in 1998. The pair have three children together.

Lawless is an activist for environmental protection and a very strong opponent of fossil fuels. She became a Climate Ambassador for Greenpeace in 2009 and has been active in protest movements with the organization. In 2012, she was arrested along with six other Greenpeace activists after boarding an offshore oil drilling rig for seventy-seven hours to prevent it from sailing to the Arctic to drill for oil. She was charged with burglary but pled guilty to the lesser offense of trespassing in 2013. The stunt was part of a larger protest campaign called Save the Arctic.

Net Worth

Lucy Lawless is a New Zealand actress and singer who has a net worth of $30 million dollars. She is most recognized for her role as the title character in the television series "Xena: Warrior Princess", which aired 143 episodes between 1995 to 2001. Her net worth is a combined number with her husband since 1998, Rob Tapert. Tapert co-created and executive produced "Xena".