Lucy Lawless was born on March 29, 1968. Lucy was very much a tomboy up to the age of eight, following in the footsteps of her four older brothers. She went to a public school for two years before attending convent schools. She started an early career in acting by appearing in numerous musicals and plays throughout her high school years.

With dark black hair, intense blue eyes and measuring almost six feet tall, Lawless is the fifth of seven children and the oldest girl in her family. Her father, who became mayor of Mt. Albert the year Lucy was born, is currently Chairman of Finance for Auckland City.

At the age of 15, Lucy attended an opera with her mother in France. Soon afterwards, she began taking opera classes that she later quit. She later developed a passion for singing, which she still has.

After her graduation at 17, she attended Auckland University for a short time before wanderlust set in. Lucy left for Europe "to go grape-picking on the Rhine." When she ran out of money, she took off for Australia and signed on with a gold-mining company operating in Kalgoorlie. She was then relocated to a tiny mining camp, two hours away from any form of civilization. One of the very few women miners on the workplace, Lucy did the same hard work as the men - digging, mapping the ground, driving trucks, and pushing huge core samples of earth through a diamond saw.

Lucy married in Australia and returned to Auckland shortly thereafter where her daughter Daisy, now eight years old, was born. With renewed determination to pursue a career in acting, she began doing television commercials before landing her first real acting job at age 20 with a comedy troupe on television called Funny Business.

Lucy later moved to Vancouver, Canada, for eight months to study drama at the William Davis Center for Actors Study. When she returned to New Zealand in early 1992, she accepted a job as the co-host for Air New Zealand Holiday, a travel magazine show broadcast in New Zealand and throughout Asia, which took her around the world.

Lawless first captivated the American audience with her portrayal of Xena in a three-episode arc of the hit series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. She elicited such strong viewer response that the decision was made to create a spin-off called Xena: Warrior Princess.

Lawless sees the role of Xena as her first major breakthrough as an actress. She describes the character as "a woman as strong as any man or woman has ever been, who lives by her wits, but is also a fighter. She's a very human hero, who knows all about the darker side of human nature since she must battle it within herself every day."

Apart from great acting, Lawless also has an aptitude for languages and accents. She speaks English, German, French and some Italian, and has often worked on U.S. co-productions requiring a mid-American accent.

During September and October of 1997, Lucy made her Broadway debut when she took advantage of the opportunity to play the tough talking Betty Rizzo in Grease. The opportunity arose when Lucy, appearing on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, sang I'm An Old Cowhand. O'Donnell commented on her voice and their conversation drifted to the role of Rizzo. The producers of Grease saw Lucy on Rosie, they liked what they heard, and offered her the opportunity to star on Broadway as Rizzo. The rest, as they say, is history.

Lucy makes her home in Auckland, New Zealand. Divorced from Garth Lawless, Lucy and Garth now share custody of their daughter Daisy. Lucy became engaged to Xena: Warrior Princess executive producer Rob Tapert while in New York City in the Fall of 1997. The couple later married in Santa Monica, California on March 28, 1998.