Many thanks to Heather for the transcript and the scan
About New Zealand
(Travel Industry Magazine)
As the fierce and fearless Xena: Warrior
Princess, Lucy Lawless has captivated television audiences around the world and become New
Zealand's most recognized international performer. Born in Auckland, Lawless is the fifth
of seven children and the eldest girl. She began acting in plays and musicals from an
early age.
After a variety of guest-starring roles in New Zealand drama and comedy programmes, Lawless moved to Vancouver, Canada, to study drama at the William Davis Center for Actors' Study. On her return home, she co-hosted two seasons of a television travel show which took her around the world.
In addition to her phenomenal successes Xena, Lawless has performed a guest lead role in the musical Grease on Broadway, hosed the top-rating US comedy show Saturday Night Live, sung before a audience of 250,000 in Auckland's Christmas in the Park, and received the New Zealand Entertainer of the Year Award.
"I am blessed to be the recipient of 100 years of suffrage in New Zealand. Women in that country had the vote before other women anywhere else in the world. My mother was an influential woman in the community. I'm not saying that women in New Zealand are treated better than they are anywhere else. But I am saying that we're pretty strong because it was a hard land to colonise. We've retained that get-on-with-it attitude."