Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless was born on March 29, 1968. Lucy was very much a tomboy up to the age of eight, following in the footsteps of her four older brothers. She went to a public school for two years before attending convent schools. She started an early career in acting by appearing in numerous musicals and plays throughout her high school years.

With dark black hair, intense blue eyes and measuring almost six feet tall, Lawless is the fifth of seven children and the oldest girl in her family. Her father, who became mayor of Mt. Albert the year Lucy was born, is currently Chairman of Finance for Auckland City.

At the age of 15, Lucy attended an opera with her mother in France. Soon afterwards, she began taking opera classes that she later quit. She later developed a passion for singing, which she still has.

After her graduation at 17, she attended Auckland University for a short time before wanderlust set in. Lucy left for Europe "to go grape-picking on the Rhine." When she ran out of money, she took off for Australia and signed on with a gold-mining company operating in Kalgoorlie. She was then relocated to a tiny mining camp, two hours away from any form of civilization. One of the very few women miners on the workplace, Lucy did the same hard work as the men - digging, mapping the ground, driving trucks, and pushing huge core samples of earth through a diamond saw.