WOMEN WHO KICK ASS - LUCY LAWLESS

This is the start of a new series entitles Women Who Kick Ass. Subtle, right? Actresses who specialize in roles where they get to show their male counterparts that they can be just as hardcore as them. I got the idea after reading about Comic Con's panel they had dedicated solely to women who kick ass in film and TV. Let's begin with Lucy Lawless, a recurring theme on Hero Worship. Having played Xena, Warrior Princess for six years back in the mid to late 90's, she more than earned her stripes for kicking much ass on a regular basis. From her excellent sword fighting skills to her hand to hand combat to that fabulous war cry, Xena was amazing. Lucy would then pop up in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series in the mid 2000's as the ruthless and conniving D'Anna Biers. Which was quite the departure from Xena. But was still another strong female character to contend with. Of late she has appeared on the series Spartacus as the manipulative Lucretia, a woman who you would not want to cross. And one more reason Lucy Lawless is a woman not to be trifled with...the name itself. Lucy Lawless...what a great name!

 as Xena

as D'Anna

as Lucretia

Lucy Lawless makes XENA one of the best fictional characters ever created

I am a huge Lucy Lawless fan and think that her Xena character is one of the best ever created. I remember when I first saw Xena back in the mid 90's as a character introduced on the Hercules TV series. She proved so popular that Lucy was granted her own series. Now what makes Xena such an amazing character is her history. She began as a villainess, an adversary for Hercules. A ruthless, despicable woman, who had an army at her command. And marched over the world, conquering towns and killing people by the scores. But all that changed once she met the young and innocent Gabrielle and the two embarked on a journey to battle for justice and save as many people as they could. Xena was in constant turmoil as several times over the course of the series run, she would run into her past in the survivors of her past massacres as she would try to continue to do good. That what makes her such an intriguing character. Who better to know how a villain thinks and acts than one who used to be a villain themselves. And of course she was badass. There was no better warrior than Xena. And she wasn't always serious. Every now and then she would show here lighter side and proved to be quite humorous. As she took on warlords, demons, monsters and even Ares, the war god himself. Xena ran from 1995-2001 with 134 episodes and I enjoyed every delicious moment. I own several of the DVDs as I partake in Xena marathons from time to time. Most recently last night, in honor of Lucy's birthday.

I would love to see Xena make a return in a new series or at least a movie. It would be awesome indeed!

Some facts and trivia about Lucy Lawless

Here are some facts and trivia about Lucy Lawless, my star of the month. Facts provided by IMDB.

Born: Lucille Francis Ryan

March 29, 1968 (2 days and 2 years before me..sweet) in Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand

Married to producer Robert Tapert since 1998.

First marriage was to Garth Lawless (1988-1995) 

Has three children: two sons - Julius and Judah; one daughter - Daisy

 Lucy as Xena

Most known roles: Xena; Battlestar Galactica; Spartacus
 
Speaks German, French, some Italian.

 Is a natural ash blonde before coloring her hair black for the role of "Xena".

Awarded the New Zealand Order Of Merit (NZOM), Queen's Birthday Honours 2004, for services to NZ entertainment and the community.

 Lucy as D'Anna Biers (Battlestar Galactica)

Member of the Starship Foundation board of trustees since 2000. Starship is NZ's main children's hospital.

2006 saw Lucy make her singing debut on the TV Show Celebrity Duets and followed that up with sold out concerts in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and London during 2007-2009. She has also performed at various benefits and most recently at the 2009 Planet A Concert in her native New Zealand.

A vocal supporter of gay rights, Lawless is considered something of a gay icon. After the cancellation of Xena: Warrior Princess (1995), Lawless has said she considered her character a lesbian. Since that time the actress has also worked to support equal protections for gay and lesbian couples including protesting Proposition 8, which stripped gay and lesbian couples of the right to wed in California.

 Lucy as Lucretia (Spartacus)

The dwarf planet Eris was originally informally named Xena, with its moon nicknamed Gabrielle (after Xena's sidekick). The official names, Eris and Dysnomia, refer to Greek goddesses associated with lawlessness, another wink to Lucy Lawless.

Star Of The Month: Lucy Lawless

It's March and the star of the month is none other than Lucy Lawless. The New Zealand native will grace Hero Worship all month long (which also happens to be her birthday month) as I will post photos, reviews, and all kinds of goodies I can think of to honor her. From Xena to Battlestar Galactica to her current role as Lucretia on the TV series Spartacus, I will try to touch on as much Lucy as I can. Please stop by from time to time.

Happy Birthday to Lucy Lawless (XENA, Warrior Princess)

I share a birthday month with some cool people. None more so than Xena herself. Happy Birthday to Lucy Lawless, the New Zealand actress best known as Xena, Warrior Princess.

Lucy Lawless is awesome as XENA!

When the character of Xena was introduced on the TV series, Hercules, I was immediately impressed with the actress portraying her...Lucy Lawless. After that 3 episode arc on Hercules, the producers had the super smart idea to greenlight a series all about Xena. And it was a brilliant idea. I made it my priority to watch Xena every Saturday night at 7pm on the local channel it was playing on. This was around the mid 90's, which for me was pure heaven for TV watching. Along with Xena, there was Buffy and The X-Files going on. But back to Xena, Lucy Lawless was sensational in the part. She showed tremendous range in comedy and drama going from serious to light-hearted with ease. She handled all the action scenes like a pro. And developed one of the best on screen partnerships with actress Renee O'Connor, who played Xena's friend Gabrielle. And Lucy even managed to show off her considerable singing voice on several occasions. Which would bode well for her future after Xena would end it's six year run. Lucy is currently wowing audiences with her fantastic concerts. Lucy is one of my favorite actresses and Xena is what introduced her to me. I found Xena to be far more interesting than Hercules, mainly because while Hercules had super strength and was basically a god, Xena was just a woman, who faced impossible odds, but always came out on top. Her fighting ability and never say die attitude got her through several events. And her backstory of her being this ruthless killer fueled her desire to make up for that past life and doing good for others. Her past always was an issue and Lucy handled all those scenes with strong dramatic portrayals. I'm planning on writing my top 25 favorite actresses and I can tell you Lucy will be ranked very high.

Happy Birthday Lucy Lawless - Monday, March 29th

Lucy Lawless Photos
I'm a huge Xena fan and I've loved Lucy Lawless ever since that series premiered. Monday March 29th marks her birthday.


New Zealand icon Lucy Lawless, is most famously known for her role as Xena the Warrior Princess but her talent has exceeded that as you can see in her other roles.


Born on the 29th of March in 1968, the New Zealand superstar has most recently starred in the hit TV show Battlestar Gallactica. Lucy was also in several made-for-TV movies including: Locusts, Vampire Bats and Footballers Wives.

Lucy also lent her voice to the straight-to-video movies: Justice League: The New Frontier and Dragonlance: Dragons of the Autumn Twilight.


Currently, in 2008 she is living in the USA and is married to Robert Tapert, with 3 children.


In 2010, she now stars in the cable series Spartacus: Blood and Sand on the Starz channel.
Lucy's co-star on Xena, Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle) recently celebrated her birthday last month.
And Lucy is also a talented singer as she has been recording albums and touring around the world for several years now.


Lucy will be my star of the month here at Hero Worship in April.



Lucy Lawless Photos

Hero Worship in April

Here is a preview of the things I have planned for April. The star of the month will be Lucy Lawless (Xena).
I will post pics and facts and personal reviews of her movies and other things this talented New Zealander has done. She is one of my favorite modern actresses by the way. I need to complete that list too, and you will see where she falls.

Once I see the new Clash of the Titans, on this upcoming Friday, I will compare notes on it with the 1981 original.

And hopefully I will begin my long planned overview of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, beginning with season 1.

Not to mention the usual comic book and movie reviews, happy birthdays and more random fun things.