Lucy Lawless (born Lucille Frances Ryan; March 29, 1968) is a New Zealand actress and singer known for playing the title character of the television series Xena: Warrior Princess and for her role as Number Three on the series Battlestar Galactica.

Lawless, the fifth of seven children (five brothers and one sister), was born in Mount Albert, New Zealand. She is the daughter of Julie and Frank Ryan, who was a banker and Mount Albert mayor. Lawless began acting in secondary school. At Auckland University, she studied foreign languages for a year. She dropped out and left for Europe with her boyfriend, Garth Lawless, to travel to Germany and Switzerland, she also speaks German fluently. The couple then moved to Australia, where she worked briefly as a gold miner.

At 19, Lawless became pregnant with Garth's child. In 1988, they married in Kalgoorlie, Australia. They returned to New Zealand and had a daughter, Daisy Lawless (born July 15, 1988). The couple divorced in 1995. Lawless married Xena executive producer, Robert Tapert, on March 2], 1998. Lawless and Tapert have two sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born October 16, 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born May 7, 2002), both born in Auckland, New Zealand.