Still, the leather-clad Xena is no Barbie--and neither is Lawless (yes, that is her real name). On the phone from her native New Zealand, where Xena is filmed, the six-foot actress sounds like a female Charles Barkley. "I don't want any of this role-model nonsense," declares Lawless, 27, whose show is the highest-rated new syndicated series. "I don't want anyone copying me...don't waste your time." She waxes tough on subjects ranging from her hair dye ("I love being a brunette. People are kind of intimidated") to the show's kung fu-style fight scenes ("I've hit plenty of people on the set, and it's great because stuntmen don't cry").

How'd the blue-eyed Kiwi get such brass? Her far-from-Hollywood upbringing probably has something to do with it. Lawless--who recently separated from her husband and lives in Auckland with her 7-year-old daughter, Daisy--took off at 18 to go "grape picking on the Rhine," then headed for Australia to work in a gold mine. She eventually turned to acting, snagging spots on commercials down under before her breakthrough last year as the arch-villainess on Hercules.

Next came the Herculean task of turning the butchering Xena into a spin-off-worthy heroine. "We're trying a 12-step program," says executive producer Rob Tapert. The actress, meanwhile, started a physical regimen. Once nicknamed Unco (for uncoordinated), Lawless hired a personal trainer last summer and did a stint in L.A. with a martial-arts master. But perhaps her biggest challenge has been squeezing into her costume: "It makes you crotchety to be trussed up like a chicken," she says. "I think that's why Xena's such a grump."

Back to the Lucy Lawless Library

Back to the Xena Picture Library