On September 4, 1995, the world was introduced to a New Zealand actress who changed syndicated TV with her role in Xena: Warrior Princess—a show that went on to become a pop culture phenomenon and still has strong women (and men) talking about it nearly 30 years later.
Lawless was just 27 years old when Xena launched. She was fresh off smaller TV roles and commercials, and a career reset after the birth of her daughter Daisy in 1988. Born Lucille Ryan in Auckland on March 29, 1968, she grew up as the eldest girl in a big Irish Catholic family, one where her father, Frank Ryan, also happened to be Mayor of Mt Albert for two decades. For Lawless, acting started very young. She was just 10. But, of course, fame did not show up early.
Xena arrived via Hercules: The Legendary Journeys after several American actresses passed on relocating for a “risky” pilot. Thankfully, they did and Lawless got the job. She wore a big black wig, carried a sword and was covered in full armor. “It fell to me when everybody else turned it down. I was the lucky local kid on the spot who got the gig,” she later said.
That smallish “gig” turned into six seasons, 134 episodes, and airtime in over 100 countries. By its second season, Xena became the top-rated drama on American TV. Viewers clocked something different straight away. A close bond with Gabrielle, played by Renée O’Connor. Subtext fans read loudly and proudly. In a 2025 NPR interview, Lawless admitted she and O’Connor were “amused as hell” when early media crowned the characters gay icons, long before studios felt comfortable with that conversation.
Rob Tapert, Xena’s co-creator and Lawless’ future husband, later acknowledged the studio initially blocked even shared shots in the opening credits. But audiences pushed back and the creators listened. By the finale, that now-famous water transfer scene landed as something many fans saw as a first real kiss. “We are going to finally pay this off and give the fans what they ask for,” Tapert said.
Lawless never ran from what Xena meant. “I’ve never run from the legacy of Xena,” she told Vice in 2017. “I’m really grateful for what it gave me.” That gratitude feels earned. In 1996, she broke her pelvis after being thrown from a horse while filming The Tonight Show. Recovery meant rewriting episodes and bringing in stuntwoman Zoë Bell.
After Xena wrapped in 2001, Lawless continued working. She turned up as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, popped into Battlestar Galactica, Parks and Recreation, Ash vs. Evil Dead, and sang her way to runner-up on Celebrity Duets in 2006.
In 2024, she made her directorial debut with Never Look Away, a documentary on war photojournalist Margaret Moth. “I’m horribly hooked now,” she told POV Magazine. But acting still keeps her busy. She’s back in historical drama with Spartacus: House of Ashur.
Off-screen, Lawless shows up too. Climate protests. Greenpeace arrests. Seventy-seven hours on a drilling tower in 2012. “Showing up is really critical,” she told RNZ.
In 2025, she’s 57 years old and still allergic to slowing down. Xena may live in reruns, comics, games, and conventions, but Lawless never stayed frozen in time. And three decades later, that warrior beauty and fierceness is still there.
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