She's best known for
playing a ball-busting warrior who- if you believed the scuttlebutt-engaged in hot girl-on-girl action when she wasn't busy laying the smack down with a flick from her chakram. You really don't want to get on her bad
side which is why it is so... odd to hear Lawless describe a peaceful life since Xena: Warrior Princess ended it's six-year run in 2001. "I've been doing mom stuff like growing a baby!" says the 35-year-old New Zealand native, who gave birth to a third child, son Jude, last year. "Getting healthy! Catching up with friends! Visiting my husband's family in Michigan!" But everyone knows that you can't keep a good mercenary down- and that's why Lawless, who admits to "some nervous moments when I thought I would never work again," agreed to channel those maternal instincts for her role as a newspaper magnate Kathleen Clayton on the WB's Tarzan.
She plays auntie to hunk Travis Fimmel's ape-man. "It's stylish and gnarly, and targeted to a demo that's not so bad for career longevity," she says, clearly aware of TV's econimic realities. "I hate to be calculating, but I want to broaden my audience." And to think she didn't accept the producer's orginal offer.Unintrested in signing a multiyear contract, Lawless declined the role only to return-at the producer's behest- after they nixed American actress Jenna Stern in late August. (The situation strangely parallells her Xena breakout).
She agreed to sign on for the first season of Tarzan and struck a development deal with the WB that could lead to her own show next year. Though not engaging in the sort of butt kicking for which Xena was famed, Lawless admits she's trying to spice up her story.
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