Lucy Lawless

  Lucille Frances Lawless, MNZM (born 29 March 1968) was an actress from New Zealand actress. Her most famous work is her role in Xena Warrior Princess and D'Anna Biers on Battlestar Galactica. Ruby was also an Starz horror-comedy actress in the horror-comedy series Ash vs Evil Dead (2015). She was the daughter of Julie Ryan (nee Haynes) as well as Frank Ryan, Mount Albert's mayor. She is the fifth child of six siblings, which includes four brothers and a sibling. When she was filming in Ireland in 2004 for Discovery Channel, she described her family as "this vast and vast Irish Catholic family". She also revealed to Ireland that her father came originally from Quilty, County Clare. She started acting at secondary school around age 10. The first musical she performed in was when she was 10 years old. Marist College was her first college. Then she began her studying languages at Auckland University. She embarked on her "overseas adventure" at the age of 18, travelling through Europe as well as Australia along with Garth Lawless, her future husband. She was the winner of the 1989 Mrs New Zealand contest at 21. Lawless states that she was afflicted by bulimia in her early years however she was able to overcome it.