Xena is a fictional character from Robert Tapert's Xena: Warrior Princess franchise. She first appeared in the 1995–1999 television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before going on to appear in Xena: Warrior Princess TV show and subsequent comic book of the same name. The character has also appeared in the spin-off animated movie The Battle for Mount Olympus, as well as numerous non-canon expanded universe material, such as books and video games. Xena was played by New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless, although the original choice was the British actress Vanessa Angel. She commonly wore a tight leather skirted outfit.

Xena is the protagonist of the story, and the series depicts her quest to seek redemption for her past sins as a ruthless warlord by using her formidable fighting skills to help people. Xena was raised as the daughter of Cyrene and Atrius in Amphipolis, though the episode "The Furies" raised the possibility that Ares, might be Xena's biological father. She has a brother who is dead; she visits his grave to speak with him in "Sins of the Past." In Hercules, during her two first episodes, Xena was an outlaw, but in the third episode she appears in, she joins Hercules to defeat Darphus, who had taken her army. Once accompanied by her lover Borias and known as the "Destroyer of Nations," she is accompanied by the young Gabrielle and becomes "Defender of the Elijans," and of numerous unnamed others. Aware that the character of Xena had been very successful with the public, the producers of the series decided to create a spin-off series based on her adventures.

The character Gabrielle, introduced in the first episode, becomes Xena's greatest ally; her initial naïveté helps to balance Xena and assists her in recognizing and pursuing the "greater good".^{[original research?]}

Creation and production[link]

Xena was developed in 1995 by John Schulian as a secondary character for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, although Lawless had already appeared as the character Lyla on the episode "As Darkness Falls", on February 20, 1995.^[1] Xena was originally conceived to die at the end of the third episode, "Unchained Heart", but when the studio decided they wanted to do a spin-off from Hercules, the producer Robert Tapert said that Xena was the best choice, since she was largely well-received by television critics and fans and had a full story to be explored.^[2] The studio wanted to do something about Jason and the Argonauts, but Tapert said that show would have too much of the same feel as Hercules.^[2]

The original choice to play Xena was the British actress Vanessa Angel, but she fell ill and was unable to make it to the set.^[3] Ultimately the role was given to Lawless as she was already a resident of New Zealand.^[3] Lawless had several problems playing the character due to the violence scenes, getting cut by swords and being hit in the head, and also in 1996 while rehearsing a skit for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", she fractured her pelvis when she was thrown clear from her horse.^[4] As a result, several episodes of Season 2 had to be edited to accommodate her recovery, and some of them were changed so Lawless could have a very slight appearance, and the crew created some brand new episodes.^[4]

Appearances and development[link]

Origins on Hercules[link]

Xena originally appears as an outlaw in the Hercules episode "The Warrior Princess"; about ten years into her career of pillaging and marauding, Xena meets Hercules. Initially, she sets out to kill him.^[5] In "The Gauntlet", her army turns against her, believing Xena has become weak after she stops her lieutenant Darphus from killing a child in a sacked village. She runs a gauntlet, and survives, becoming the only person ever to survive the gauntlet. She then fights Hercules, in the hope that she will regain her army if she can bring back his head. Xena seems to be getting the upper hand until Hercules' cousin intervenes, making no real difference himself but inadvertently giving Hercules his sword, allowing him to fight Xena on equal ground and defeat her. However, Hercules refuses to kill Xena, telling her, "Killing isn't the only way of proving you're a warrior." Touched and inspired by Hercules' integrity, and by the fact that he too suffered the loss of blood kin as she did and yet chooses to fight in honor of them, she decides to join him and defeat her old army.^[6] In "Unchained Heart", Hercules tells Xena that there is goodness in her heart, and the two of them share a brief romantic relationship, before Xena decides to leave and start making amends for her past.^[7]

Fictional character history[link]

Several years prior to the series pilot, "Sins of the Past", Xena commits numerous horrible deeds from terrorism to piracy and murder and at one point becomes known as the "Destroyer of Nations." Her journey down the path of evil arguably begins when her beloved brother is killed during an attack by the warlord Cortese. Xena vows revenge and she becomes estranged from her mother as a result. Sometime later, she acts as the captain of a pirate ship, doing everything from raiding other ships and ransoming hostages. It is during one ransom attempt that she encounters the young, handsome and brash Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar. Caesar is an experienced warrior and military commander with grand ambitions. He and Xena have a passionate love affair and plan to join forces. Caesar, however, betrays Xena and has her beaten and her legs broken and then strung up on a beach to die of exposure—that is, until she is saved by an Egyptian slave girl named M'Lila. M'Lila had originally stowed away on Xena's ship and subsequently befriends her and teaches Xena her first pressure points. After saving Xena, M'Lila takes her to a healer who treats her injuries. While the healer is treating Xena, Roman soldiers burst in and try to kill Xena but M'Lila shields Xena and takes a fatal shot from a crossbow and dies in Xena's arms. This event drives Xena to the side of evil completely and despite her injuries manages to kill the soldiers but warns the last one before he dies: "A new Xena is born tonight; tell Hades to prepare himself."

Afterward, Xena becomes the leader of an army and aligns herself with Borias whom she effectively seduces away from his family and the two join forces. The two become lovers and after a time, Xena becomes pregnant with her son Solan. It is during her pregnancy that a significant event happens. Xena travels with her Army to China where she hopes to build an alliance with the powerful Lao clan to facilitate her activities there. Subsequent events that involve Borias betraying Xena lead to Xena running for her life and being hunted. While on the run, Xena finds her way into Lao Ma's estate and she is protected and sheltered by the powerful noblewoman. Lao Ma cares for Xena as she never had been before by treating her as a friend who is only interested is helping her become a better person. Under her friend's guidance, she learns to put aside a great deal of her hatred and pain. Additionally, Lao Ma heals Xena's crippled legs and teaches her more about pressure points. Lao Ma gives Xena the metaphorical title "Warrior Princess", intending that she be a major catalyst for change in the land. In the end, Lao Ma's efforts come to nothing, at least in the short term. In the long run, however, Lao Ma's teachings are instrumental in shaping the good person she was to become.

Borias and Xena reconcile and renew their alliance only to break it a final time and to split their forces between them—with Xena proving the stronger of the two. Borias is killed in the forthcoming battle and Xena gives the newborn Solan to the Centaurs to raise so that he will be kept safe and protected.

Xena continues her life as a warlord for many years until she has a life changing encounter with Hercules wherein she turns her back on the path of evil. She turns against her troops to protect a baby whose family would not pay the ransom she demanded. Her troops were going to kill Xena for becoming weak in their eyes. After these events, Xena travels with Hercules for a short time and the two share a brief romantic relationship. While their romance doesn't last long, the two form a special friendship. Each comes to respect the other's abilities and judgement. In a series 1 episode, each acknowledged the positive impact the other had on the world wherein Xena said, "The world needs Hercules," and Hercules responded that "the world needs Xena, too." As the years progress, Xena and Hercules come to each other's aide at different times as well as acting as a source of comfort to the other. However, after first meeting Hercules Xena finds the way to redemption to be more painful than she anticipated. Haunted by her past transgressions, she is about to give up on her life as a warrior completely.^[8] In the pilot episode, she strips off her armor and weaponry and buries them in the dirt. She sees a group of village girls being attacked by a band of warriors. In the group is Gabrielle. Xena saves the young women and Gabrielle is left in awe of the Warrior Princess' abilities. Gabrielle follows Xena in a quest to persuade Xena to let her be her traveling companion. During the pilot, Xena returns to her home town, Amphipolis, where she eventually reconciles with her mother, Cyrene.^[8] She also visits the grave of her brother Lyceus to 'speak' with him. When Xena privately confides with Lyceus that it is difficult to be alone, Gabrielle—who is silently standing in the doorway of the crypt—tells her, "You're not alone." Soon, Xena agrees to allow Gabrielle to travel with her. Over time, Gabrielle becomes Xena's dearest friend.

Gabrielle and Xena become best friends, soulmates and indeed constant companions over the many adventures that follow. Each of the women learns from each other; Gabrielle becomes a hardened warrior and Xena develops a softer and more loving personality to balance her warrior's heart. Xena's subsequent life is marred by many tragedies. Her son Solan, who never came to know her as his mother, is killed by Hope, Gabrielle's demonic child,^[9] (with the help of Callisto); and Xena nearly loses Gabrielle more than once.

The instances where Xena and Gabrielle almost part ways are almost caused by the outside manipulations of others. The most serious of these, is, of course, the death of Xena's son at the hands of Gabrielle's demonic child, Hope. After this, Gabrielle, consumed with grief journeys to stay with the Amazons. Xena, in turn, locates her and tries to take Gabrielle's life by throwing her over a cliff while she is in a weakened state. Xena fails in doing this and subsequently; both women reconcile with the help of the spirit of Xena's son Solan. Specifically, Solan creates the land of Illusia wherein through music both women expresses their grief and anger; not so much with each other, but with the tramuas they have each endured. It is here that Xena confesses that she did, indeed, kill Ming Tien and she admits to Solan that she is his mother and sings to him asking forgiveness. After this, they travel together again.

Soon after the start of her journeys with Gabrielle, Xena runs into Ares, who has evidently known her since her warlord days and he tries to seduce her into joining him as his Warrior Queen, efforts that she repeatedly thwarts.^[10] She also encounters a formidable warrior woman named Callisto, whose family was killed by Xena years ago.^[11]

Marcus, a warrior, close friend and lover from her warlord days, whom she persuades to follow her in choosing good, is killed while doing his first good deed.^[12] Later, he is allowed to briefly return to the world of the living to help thwart a vicious killer who has escaped from the underworld. He and Xena spend a night together before Marcus has to return to the other side.^[13] Several years after her first meeting with Loa Ma, a messenger is sent by Lao Ma to ask Xena to travel to China to aid in stopping a great evil from taking hold. She sets out without delay to help her dear friend but insists that she must deal with this alone insists that Gabrielle stay behind. In spite of her best efforts, she is too late to save her mentor and friend Lao Ma from being tortured to death by her own son, the emperor Ming T'ien and is crushed with the loss.^[14] Finally, she and Gabrielle are crucified by the Romans on the Ides of March, as Caesar, previously an ally and former lover of Xena's with whom she had planned to take over known civilization until he betrayed her. Caeser, himself, is betrayed and killed by Brutus.^[15] They are later revived by a mystic named Eli with the spiritual aid of Callisto, who by that time had become an angel after being killed by Xena. This event would have long lasting effects for all involved.^[16]

The event mentioned above, leads to the birth of Xena's daughter, Eve. Essentially speaking, Eve is the reincarnated Callisto. Unfortunately, mother and daughter would have little time together as the gods were bent on destroying the child to save themselves as she is prophesied to bring about the Twilight of the Olympian gods and the birth of Christianity. In order to save her child as well as herself and Gabrielle; they fake their deaths,^[17] but their plan goes awry when Ares buries them in an ice cave where they sleep for 25 years.

During that time, Eve is adopted by the Roman nobleman Octavius who provides for her every need and make certain that she receives the best of everything. She grows up to become Livia, the Champion of Rome, and a ruthless persecutor of Eli's followers. Eve's ruthless behavior may be due to the influence of Callisto's soul, but this is unclear.^[18] After her return, Xena is able to turn Livia to repentance, and Livia takes back the name Eve and becomes the Messenger of Eli.^[19] After Eve's cleansing by baptism, Xena is granted the power to kill gods as long as her daughter lives.^[20] In a final confrontation, the Twilight comes to pass when Xena kills most of the gods to save her daughter, with the help of God and Archangel Michael, and is herself saved by Ares when he gives up his immortality to heal the badly injured and dying Eve and Gabrielle,^[20] with Xena later helping him regain his godhood.^[21] Xena's quest for redemption ends when she sacrifices herself to kill the Japanese demon Yodoshi, and decides to stay dead so the souls of the 40,000 she (accidentally) killed years ago could be released into a state of peace. However, her spirit is seen with Gabrielle in a ship shortly afterwards.^[22]

According to the darsham, Naiyima,^[23] this is only one of many lives Xena will live throughout the ages. One such life is that of an Indian holy mother who leads a movement that preaches peace and yet another is a woman named Madeline, who, during World War Two undercovers the tomb of Ares and is possessed by the spirit of Xena to stop the God of War. In many of those lives, she will walk a path together with her soulmate Gabrielle furthering the cause of good against evil.

Skills and abilities[link]

Xena has many skills that she acquired during her extensive travels to many parts of the ancient world over a period of many years. These include, but are not limited to:

Master Combatant:

She is a master swordsman. She has shown remarkable skill and prowess in hand-to-hand combat including numerous acrobatic tricks. She has been able to disable and/or otherwise kill multiple opponents at one time.

First Aid and Pressure Points:

She is skilled in the use of pressure points—being able to cripple or even kill someone if she triggers the appropriate pressure point. Xena has a knowledge of first aid and herbal remedies that she has used on several adventures.

Military Commander:

She is a formidable tactician and strategic thinker. She has the ability to analyze her enemies' tactics and effectively formulate a response. In responding to her enemies' attacks, she shows a great deal of creativity and ingenuity; at times, she has worked with little or no resources and limited time. Xena is well versed in military tactics such as forming a defensive perimeter, building defensive fortifications, organizing & leading troops, and cutting an enemy's supply lines.

Other Skills

Xena also has a talent for disguises, infiltration and codes. She is strong in the use of smaller weapons such as batons and daggers. Xena knows history, magic, and—on a basic level—philosophy. And in one rare instance, she used telekenetic and energy projection after she realized the truth in Lao Ma's teachings. Xena also once possessed the power to kill gods through her daughter, Eve.

In other media[link]

Xena has appeared in all of the series spin-offs, usually as the lead character. The animated movie Hercules and Xena: The Battle for Mount Olympus marks the first appearance of Xena outside of the television series.^[24] She also appears in the comics series Xena: Warrior Princess, originally released by Topp and Dark Horse Comics, and in 2007 Dynamite Entertainment acquired the rights to the book upon discovering the show still had many fans.^[25]

Xena is a playable character in the videogames Xena: Warrior Princess, and a selectable character in The Talisman of Fate.^[26][27] In 1999, Lucy Lawless also appeared in the animated television show The Simpsons dressed as her Xena character, during the Treehouse of Horror X.^[28]

Reception and legacy[link]

Lesbian subtext and debates[link]

Xena has enjoyed a particular cult status in the lesbian community. Some of the lesbian fanbase see Xena and Gabrielle as a couple and have embraced them as role models and lesbian icons.^[29] A group called The Marching Xenas participated in many gay and lesbian pride parades.^[30]

A subject of much interest and debate among viewers is the question of whether Xena and Gabrielle are lovers.^[31][32] The issue is left deliberately ambiguous by the writers during most of the show. Jokes, innuendo, and other subtle evidence of a romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle is referred to as "lesbian subtext" or simply "subtext" by fans.^[31] The issue of the true nature of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship caused intense shipping debates in the fandom, which turned especially impassioned due to spillover from real-life debates about same-sex sexuality and gay rights.^[32]

Many fans felt that the sexual nature of Xena's and Gabrielle's relationship was cemented by an interview given by Lucy Lawless to Lesbian News magazine in 2003. Lawless stated that after the series finale—in which Gabrielle revives Xena with a mouth-to-mouth water transfer and filmed to look like a full kiss—she had come to believe that Xena's and Gabrielle's relationship was "definitely gay... there was always a 'well, she might be or she might not be' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me. Now it wasn't just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was 'Nope, they're married, man'."^[33]

The Xena fandom also popularized the term Altfic (from "alternative fiction") to refer to same-sex romantic fan fiction.^[34] Many fans felt the term slash fiction carried the connotation of being about male/male couples only and was not a good description for romantic fan fiction about Xena and Gabrielle.

Popular culture[link]

Xena: Warrior Princess has been referred to as a pop cultural phenomenon and feminist and lesbian icon.^[35][36][37] The television series, which employed pop culture references as a frequent humorous device, has itself become a frequent pop culture reference in video games, comics and television shows, and has been frequently parodied and spoofed.

Xena has been credited by many, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, with blazing the trail for a new generation of female action heroes such as Buffy, Max of Dark Angel, Sydney Bristow of Alias, and Beatrix Kiddo a.k.a. the Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.^[32] The director Quentin Tarantino is also a fan of Xena. It is interesting to note that after serving as Lucy Lawless's stunt double on Xena, stunt woman Zoë E. Bell was recruited to be Uma Thurman's stunt double in Tarantino's Kill Bill. By helping to pave the way for female action heroes in television and film, "Xena" also strengthened the stunt woman profession.^[38]

Artist's impression of Eris and Dysnomia. Eris is the main object, Dysnomia the small grey disk just above it. The flaring object top-left is the Sun.

In 2005, the team that discovered the dwarf planet 2003 UB₃₁₃ nicknamed it 'Xena' in honor of the TV character. On October 1, 2005, the team announced that 2003 UB₃₁₃ had a moon, which they had nicknamed "Gabrielle".^[39] The objects were officially named Eris and Dysnomia by the International Astronomical Union on September 13, 2006. Although the official names have legitimate roots in Greek mythology, "Dysnomia" is also a synonym to the word "anomia", which means "lawlessness" in Greek,^[40] perpetuating the link with Lucy Lawless.^[41]

In 2006, Lucy Lawless donated her personal Xena costume to the Museum of American History.^[42] In an interview the same year with Smithsonian magazine, she was asked the question "Was the Warrior Princess outfit comfortable?" and she responded:

Not at first, because they would put boning in the corset. It would cover up those little floating ribs that are so important for breathing, so I'd feel like I was having panic attacks. But it just became a second skin after a while. It was very functional, once I got over the modesty factor. I admit to being a little bit embarrassed the first couple weeks because I'd never worn anything so short.

—Lucy Lawless,  Smithsonian, November 2006, page 44

See also[link]

• List of female action heroes

References[link]

External links[link]

• Xena at the Internet Movie Database
• Xena: Warrior Princess at TV.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2009)

Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010.
Born	Lucille Frances Ryan (1968-03-29) 29 March 1968 (age 44) Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand
Other names	Lucy Tapert
Occupation	Actress/Singer
Years active	1989–present
Spouse	Garth Lawless (1988–1995) Robert Tapert (1998–present)
Children	3

Lucy Lawless, MNZM (born Lucille Frances Ryan 29 March 1968) is a New Zealander actress and singer best known for playing the title character of the internationally successful television series Xena: Warrior Princess.

She is also known for her role on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. Most recently she appeared on the television series Spartacus: Vengeance, Spartacus: Blood and Sand and its prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, playing the major character Lucretia.

Early life[link]

Lawless was born in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert in New Zealand, the daughter of Julie Ryan, a teacher, and Frank Ryan, who was a banker and Mount Albert mayor.^[1] Lawless was the fifth of seven children, and has five brothers and one sister, and has described her parents and siblings as "this big, sprawling Irish Catholic family." ^[2] While filming in Ireland for the Discovery Channel in 2004, Lawless told Ireland on Sunday that her father's family originated in Quilty, County Clare, and her great grandfather arrived in New Zealand as a convict.^[3]

Lawless appeared in her first musical at the age of 10,^[4] and began acting in secondary school. She later said she "used to quite like bulimia", but was able to overcome the illness.^[5] Lawless attended The University of Auckland and studied foreign languages for a year, including German, Italian and French, and she also studied opera for three years. After learning that opera required changes in her lifestyle she was not ready to make, she gave up on both and studied violin and jazz instead.^{[citation needed]} , and considered becoming a singer. But university studies in opera and languages were abandoned after she decided that opera would mean compromising her own mantra of being the best she could at everything she tried.^{[citation needed]}

At 18, like many young New Zealanders she went on her "OE", traveling through Europe and Australia - where she met future husband Garth Lawless.^[4]

Personal life[link]

At 19, Lawless became pregnant with Garth Lawless' child. The couple married in Kalgoorlie, Australia in 1988. They returned to New Zealand and had a daughter, Daisy Lawless (born 15 July 1988). The couple divorced in 1995. On 28 March 1998, Lawless married Robert Tapert. They have two sons, Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born 16 October 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born 7 May 2002).

Acting career[link]

Her debut on television was two and a half seasons as a cast member of the New Zealand sketch comedy series "Funny Business" - after which she studied drama at the William Davis Centre for Actors Study in Vancouver.^[4]

In 1994, Lawless appeared in "Hercules and the Amazon Women," a Pacific Renaissance Pictures made-for-television film that became the television pilot for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. In that episode, she played a man-hating Amazon named Lysia. She went on to play another character, Lyla, in the first season episode "As Darkness Falls." She received her best-known role when she was asked to play a villainous warrior woman named Xena in the episode "The Warrior Princess", which aired in March 1995 (R. J. Stewart, one of Pacific Renaissance Pictures' in-house writers, dramatised the teleplay from a story that Robert G. "Rob" Tapert commissioned John Schulian to write). Vanessa Angel was originally cast in the role, but fell ill and was unable to travel to New Zealand for shooting. To differentiate between Xena and the similar Lysia, Lawless' hair, naturally ash blonde, was coloured black. Xena subsequently returned in two more episodes of the first season of Hercules, which portrayed her turn from villainess to a good, heroic character.

The character was popular enough that a spin-off series was created. Xena: Warrior Princess debuted on 4 September 1995 (Lawless appeared as Lyla once again in the second season Hercules episode "Outcast" – aired in October 1995). Xena: Warrior Princess, like its parent program, was a hit, lasting six seasons, and Lawless became an international celebrity.

Lucy Lawless in January 2007

While taping an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in October 1996, Lawless suffered a fractured pelvis when the horse she was riding lost its footing in the studio parking lot. She made a complete recovery, and her absence from the Xena set had minimal impact on the show.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, Lawless was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People Weekly Magazine. Days earlier, on 6 May 1997, Lawless had inadvertently exposed her breasts as she concluded a performance of the US national anthem at an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, California between the Mighty Ducks and Detroit Red Wings. Lawless was quoted in Newsweek as saying, "Obviously, I was mortified....It was quite a bit more exposure than I want."^[6]

Lawless first appeared on Broadway in September 1997 in the Grease revival, as the "bad girl" character, Betty Rizzo. She wanted to play the lead role of Sandy, and later stated her belief that the producers typecast her to play "bad girls" following her success as Xena. She said the Sandy character was very similar to her sheltered childhood, growing up in New Zealand with many protective older brothers.^[7]

Lawless married Xena's executive producer, Pacific Renaissance Pictures CEO Robert G. "Rob" Tapert, on 28 March 1998. They have two sons: Julius Robert Bay Tapert (born 16 October 1999) and Judah Miro Tapert (born 7 May 2002), who were both born in Auckland, New Zealand.

Lawless became a 'lesbian icon' because of Xena's ambiguous relationship with traveling companion Gabrielle.^[8] This reputation has become cemented after her "graphic lesbian sex scenes" in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.^[9][10] Although Lawless is heterosexual, she has appeared at gay pride events such as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.^[11] In a 2003 interview with Lesbian News magazine, she said that she had come to see Xena and Gabrielle's relationship as gay after viewing the series finale, though she has also stated on several occasions that she was undecided on the nature of the relationship while playing the role.^[12]

Lawless became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List, which entitled her to use the postnominal letters MNZM.^{[citation needed]}

From 2005 to 2009, she had a recurring role in the television series Battlestar Galactica. Lawless appeared as D'Anna Biers, a reporter with the Fleet News Service who worked on a critical documentary about the crew of the Galactica and was later revealed to be a Cylon (Number Three).

She competed as one of the celebrity singers on the reality TV show Celebrity Duets in 2006, finishing as the runner-up to winner Alfonso Ribeiro. Lawless has also performed as a voice actor in several animated features. In 2007, Lawless guest-starred as herself in the cult HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. In a sub-plot of an episode entitled "The TiVo Guy", she met and flirted with Larry David. The dialogue included the subject of David being Jewish, and Lawless commented: "we don't have them where I'm from". Currently, the Jewish population is estimated at around 7,000 out of the total New Zealand population of 4.2 million (less than 0.2%). The story concluded with Lawless going on a date with David and leaving in disgust, after he mentioned suffering a groin injury and pointed out, presumptuously, that this would preclude them from having sex.

Lawless was to appear as one of the leads in the ensemble cast of the ABC television series, Football Wives, based on the popular British series Footballers' Wives, in 2007. The series did not continue past the pilot episode, though the network did extend the options on its contracts with Lawless and the other actors slated to star in the series: (Gabrielle Union, Kiele Sanchez, Ving Rhames and James Van Der Beek).^[13][14]

Lawless returned to television on 10 November 2008 in a guest-starring role on the hit CBS television series, CSI: Miami, playing a madam with connections to a murder. She appeared in two episodes of the final season of The L Word, and also had a role in the Adam Sandler movie, Bedtime Stories, released Christmas 2008. Also in 2008, Lawless appeared with her former Xena stuntwoman Zoë Bell in Sony (Crackle)'s new web series Angel of Death written by Ed Brubaker, which debuted online in early 2009.^[15]

In 2009 Lawless guest-starred in the HBO series, Flight of the Conchords as Paula, assistant to the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Lawless co-starred in the Starz original series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The show was based on the life of Spartacus, the famous gladiator, and the slave revolt he led, and was produced by long-time Xena producers Sam Raimi and "Rob" Tapert (her husband). Lawless played the role of Lucretia, the wife of Lentulus Batiatus, who were both the owners of a gladiator ludus. Lawless reprised her role as Lucretia in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which chronicled life in the Ludus before Spartacus' arrival. Despite her character's ambiguous status in the season one finale, Lawless was set to return in Spartacus Season 2.^{[citation needed]} Lawless won the 2011 Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Lawless provided the voice of Goldmoon for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a direct-to-DVD animated movie based on the novel of the same name, as well as Wonder Woman in the direct-to-video animated movie Justice League: The New Frontier.^[16]

Other appearances include:

• on-stage in the Vagina Monologues;
• guest star in episodes of The Simpsons, The X-Files, Just Shoot Me!, Veronica Mars, Burn Notice,, Less Than Perfect, No Ordinary Family and bro'Town;
• star in the short-lived television series Tarzan.
• cameo appearances in the movies EuroTrip, Spider-Man, and Boogeyman (2005)
• the TV movie Locusts! and its sequel, Vampire Bats.
• the video game Hunted: The Demon's Forge as Seraphine ^[17]

Charity[link]

Lawless is a member of the board of trustees of the StarShip Foundation, the charity arm of the Starship Children's Health (hospital) which is part of the Auckland District Health Board.^[18] It is set up to provide additional equipment, support and help to staff, patients and families.^[19] She devotes much time and energy to fundraising for the organization. She recently sat for the New Zealand television series The Sitting,^[20] an arts series where celebrity portraits are produced during an interview session with the portraits later auctioned for charity. Lucy attended the auction where her portrait fetched the top price, with the whole event raising $39,000 for Starship. Lawless has often raised money for concerts and events, donates part of her salary in favor of the institution, and has sold some Xena costumes to contribute funds. In mid February 2012, Lucy sang at New Zealander Of The Year donating her appearance fee to the Starship foundation.Friday 21 September is "Lucy Lawless Feel the Love Day."^[21] The day, organised by the Official Lucy Lawless Fan Club, begins a week of charitable acts and donations by fans in honor and support of Lucy.

In May 2009, Lucy Lawless became a 'climate ambassador' for the Greenpeace 'Sign On' campaign.^[22]

In February 2012, Lawless and five other Greenpeace activists boarded an oil drilling ship at Port Taranaki, New Zealand, and remained on it for 77 hours to stop it leaving for the arctic where it was going to take part in oil exploration.^[23] She was subsequently arrested and charged with burglary, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years if convicted.^[24]

Astronomy[link]

Astronomer Mike Brown nicknamed his newly discovered dwarf planet "Xena" – finding this name more convenient to use than the then-official designation, 2003 UB313. When this object was determined to be larger than Pluto, it gained international attention and forced a year-long debate among astronomers as to the definition of a planet.

The object's nickname "Xena" was used in the press. New Scientist magazine polled the public on their preferred final name for the so-called tenth planet; "Xena" ranked no. 4.^[25] Lawless rang Mike Brown in December 2005 to thank him for his "senseless act of beauty," and claimed that she "never dared hope [the name] would stick."^[26] Eventually, both it and Pluto were deemed not to be planets, and were instead classified as dwarf planets.

Although "Xena" is now officially known as Eris, Brown made an indirect tribute to Lawless by naming Eris' moon Dysnomia after the Greek goddess of lawlessness,^[27] although for a time that particular moon was named "Gabrielle."

Singing career[link]

In concert at the Roxy, 2007

Lawless has a background in musical theater and she played Betty Rizzo on Broadway in a production of Grease in 1997.^[28] She has continued to pursue a career in singing after being a contestant on Celebrity Duets. She made her onstage debut at the Roxy in Hollywood on 13 January 2007, with a sold-out crowd for back-to-back concerts.^{[citation needed]}

Concerts

• 13–14 January 2007 - The Roxy Theater; Los Angeles
• 31 May - 2 June 2007 - The Canal Room; New York City
• 5–6 October 2007 - Buddy Guy's Legends; Chicago
• 25–26 January 2008 - The Roxy Theater; Los Angeles
• 3–4 May 2008 - "Bad Girls In Heaven", Carling Academy Islington; London
• June 2008 - Live at CityWalk, Universal Studios; Hollywood
• 27 September 2008 - Live at the Herbst Theater; San Francisco
• 30-31 January 2009 - "The Pleasuredome", The Roxy Theater; Los Angeles

Albums

• Come 2 Me
• Come To Mama: Lucy Lawless In Concert: The Roxy Theater In Hollywood

Concert DVDs

• Come To Mama: Lucy Lawless In Concert: The Roxy Theater In Hollywood
• Gimme Some, Sugar: Lawless, NYC
• Lucy Lawless Live In Chicago: Still Got The Blues
• Lucy Lawless Live At The Roxy Theater: Ho Down
• Lucy Lawless Live In Concert: "Welcome To The Pleasuredome"

Other songs

• "Little Child" on Unexpected Dreams – Songs From the Stars

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lucy Lawless

• Lucy Lawless at the Internet Movie Database
• Xena film Locations at Loyaltoxena.com
• Lucy Lawless Fansite at Lotolux.com
• Lucy Lawless at the Xena and Hercules Wiki.

Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2009
Born	Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-03-27) March 27, 1963 (age 49) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor
Years active	1988–present
Notable work(s)	Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds
Influenced by	Sergio Leone, Brian De Palma, Howard Hawks, John Woo, Jim Jarmusch, Jean-Luc Godard, Elmore Leonard, Samuel Fuller, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Sam Peckinpah, Jack Hill, Douglas Sirk, Jean-Pierre Melville, Enzo G. Castellari, Sergio Corbucci[1]

Quentin Jerome Tarantino^[2] (pronunciation: /ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has received many industry awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d'Or and had been nominated for an Emmy and Grammy.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was an avid film fan. His career began in the late 1980's, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday. Its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films. Tarantino also frequently collaborates with his friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

Early life[link]

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino, an actor and amateur musician who was born in Queens, New York, and Connie McHugh, a nurse.^[3] Tarantino's father is of Italian descent and his mother is of Irish and Cherokee ancestry.^[4][5][6] He was raised by his mother, as his parents separated before his birth.^[7] When he was two years old, he moved to Torrance, California and later to the Harbor City neighborhood where he went to Fleming Junior High School in Lomita and took drama classes.^[7] He attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City for his freshman year before dropping out of school at age 15, to attend an acting class full time at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake.^[8] Quentin grew bored with the James Best Acting School and quit after two years, although he made a point of keeping in touch with all his acting friends. Then he landed a job which threatened to interfere with his long-term acting ambitions. ^[9]

As an employee of the Video Archives, a now-defunct video rental store in Manhattan Beach, he and fellow movie enthusiasts, including Roger Avary, discussed cinema and customer video recommendations at length. He paid close attention to the types of films people liked to rent and has cited that experience as inspiration for his directorial career.^[10] Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"^[4]

Film career[link]

After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called My Best Friend's Birthday in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In January 1992, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. Reservoir Dogs was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.^[11]

Tarantino has had a number of collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez.

Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well.^[12] Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Rum Punch, a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre's films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled Inglourious Bastards, but postponed it to write and direct Kill Bill (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and Kill Bill's lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Although Kill Bill was not in competition, Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films,^[13] but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer although Tarantino was no longer associated with the film after its 2009 release.)^[14] and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).

Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds is the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008.^[15] The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews^[16] and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide.^[17] It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.^[18]

In 2011, production began on Django Unchained, about the revenge of a slave on his former master. The film stemmed from Tarantino's desire to produce a spaghetti western set in America's Deep South; Tarantino has called the proposed style "a southern",^[19] stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to".^[19] Tarantino finished the script on April 26, 2011, and handed in the final draft to The Weinstein Company.^[20] Agency William Morris Endeavor reported Christoph Waltz was cast to play a German bounty hunter,^[21] with Stacey Sher, Pilar Savone, and Reginald Hudlin producing. Although Will Smith and Idris Elba were heavily rumored to be up for the title role, Jamie Foxx has since been confirmed to play Django.^[22] Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson will play Stephen, a house slave. Leonardo DiCaprio has also been officially cast in the role of Calvin Candie, the primary antagonist in the film. Kevin Costner had been cast as Ace Woody, a "vile and sadistic trainer of slaves who are forced to fight in death matches for a plantation owner (DiCaprio)" before he later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and has been replaced by Kurt Russell.^[23] Kerry Washington has been cast as Broomhilda, the "long-suffering slave wife of Django."^[24] Other cast members include Dennis Christopher as Candie family lawyer Leonide 'Leo' Moguy, Laura Cayouette as Candie's sister, Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly, M.C. Gainey and Tom Savini as Big John and Ellis Brittle, two of the slave owners who separate Django and Broomhilda, Anthony LaPaglia and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Australian brothers, Jano and an unnamed character, respectively,^[25] who encounter Django while escorting slaves to a fight.^[26][27] However, Gordon-Levitt has not fully committed to the film, due to possible scheduling issues,^{[28][29][30][31]} and Gerald McRaney and Michael K. Williams in unknown roles. Tarantino-collaborator RZA was cast as a slave named Thadeus. According to ReservoirWatchDogs.com, Sacha Baron Cohen was cast in the role as gambler Scotty Harmony who wishes to purchase Django's wife from Calvin Candie.^[32] Reportedly, Tarantino is also interested in including Lady Gaga in the film to some degree.^[33] The film is said to be inspired by the 1966 film Django, directed by Sergio Corbucci. James Remar is also involved in the film. The film is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2012.

Producer[link]

In recent years, Tarantino has used his Hollywood power to give smaller and foreign films more attention than they might have received otherwise. These films are usually labeled "Presented by Quentin Tarantino" or "Quentin Tarantino Presents". The first of these productions was in 2001 with the Hong Kong martial arts film Iron Monkey which made over $14 million in the United States, seven times its budget. In 2004 he brought the Chinese martial arts film Hero to U.S. shores. It ended up having a #1 opening at the box office and making $53.5 million. In 2006, the latest "Quentin Tarantino presents" production, Hostel, opened at #1 at the box office with a $20.1 million opening weekend, good for 8th all time in January. He presented 2006's The Protector, and is a producer of the (2007) film Hostel: Part II. in 2008 he produced the Larry Bishop helmed Hell Ride, a revenge biker film.^[34]

In addition, in 1995 Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax as a vehicle to release or re-release several independent and foreign features. By 1997, Miramax shut down the company due to "lack of interest" in the pictures released. The following films were released by Rolling Thunder Pictures: Chungking Express (1994, dir. Wong Kar-wai), Switchblade Sisters (1975, dir. Jack Hill), Sonatine (1993, dir. Takeshi Kitano), Hard Core Logo (1996, dir. Bruce McDonald), The Mighty Peking Man (1977, dir. Ho Meng-Hua), Detroit 9000 (1973, dir. Arthur Marks), The Beyond (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci) and Curdled (1996, dir. Reb Braddock).

Other potential projects[link]

Before Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino had considered making The Vega Brothers. The film would have starred Michael Madsen and John Travolta reprising their roles of Vic (Mr. Blonde) from Reservoir Dogs and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. However in 2007, because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters, he claimed that the project (which he intended to call Double V Vega) is "kind of unlikely now".^[35]

In 2009, in an interview for Italian TV, after being asked about the success of the two Kill Bill films, Tarantino said "You haven't asked me about the third one", and implied that he would be making a third Kill Bill film with the words "The Bride will fight again!"^[36] Later that year, at the Morelia International Film Festival,^[37] Tarantino announced that he would like to film Kill Bill: Vol. 3. He explained that he wanted ten years to pass between The Bride's last conflict, in order to give her and her daughter a period of peace.^[38]

Personal life[link]

Tarantino has been romantically linked with American actress Mira Sorvino,^[39] directors Allison Anders and Sofia Coppola, actresses Julie Dreyfus and comedians Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho.^[40] There have also been rumors about his relationship with Uma Thurman, whom he has referred to as his "muse".^[41] However, Tarantino has stated that their relationship is strictly platonic.^[42] Tarantino stated "I'm not saying that I'll never get married or have a kid before I'm 60. But I've made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time to make movies."^[43] He also has said that he plans to retire from filmmaking at age 60, to focus on writing novels and film literature. He also is skeptical of the film industry going digital, saying, "If it actually gets to the place where you can't show 35 mm film in theatres anymore and everything is digital projection, I won't even make it to 60."^[44]

On February 18, 2010, it was announced that Tarantino had bought the New Beverly Cinema. Tarantino allowed the current owners to continue operating the theater, but he will be making programming suggestions from time to time. He was quoted as saying: "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing films shot on 35mm."^[45]

Influences and style of filmmaking[link]

In an awards ceremony in the Critics Choice Awards celebrating Tarantino, he said he got his start in filmmaking in his 20s. Music is an important part of his filmmaking style. He said he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing.^[46]

In the 2002 Sight & Sound Directors' poll, Tarantino revealed his top-twelve films: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Rio Bravo; Taxi Driver; His Girl Friday; Rolling Thunder; They All Laughed; The Great Escape; Carrie; Coffy; Dazed and Confused; Five Fingers of Death; and Hi Diddle Diddle.^[47] In 2009, he named Kinji Fukasaku's violent action film Battle Royale as his favorite film released since he became a director in 1992.^[48]

In August 2007, while teaching a four-hour film course during the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila, Tarantino cited Filipino directors Cirio Santiago, Eddie Romero, and Gerardo de León as personal icons from the 1970s,^[49] citing De Leon's "soul-shattering, life-extinguishing" movies on vampires and female bondage, particularly Women in Cages. "It is just harsh, harsh, harsh," he said, and described the final shot as one of "devastating despair".^[49] Upon his arrival in the Philippines, Tarantino was quoted in the local newspaper as saying, 'I'm a big fan of RP [Republic of the Philippines] cinema.'

Actor Steve Buscemi has described Tarantino's different style of film making as "bursting with energy" and "focused,"^[50] a style that has earned him many accolades worldwide. According to Tarantino, a recurring hallmark in all his movies is that there is a different sense of humour in all his movies, which gets the audience to laugh at things that aren't funny.^[51] Michael Winner, whilst appearing on an episode of Piers Morgan's Life Stories (an ITV production), stated that Quentin Tarantino was a "big fan" of Death Wish.

Racial epithets in Tarantino's work[link]

Spike Lee questioned Tarantino's use of racial epithets in his films, particularly the racially offensive epithet, "nigger". In a Variety interview discussing Jackie Brown, Lee said: "I'm not against the word... and I use it, but Quentin is infatuated with the word. What does he want? To be made an honorary black man?"^[52] Tarantino responded on Charlie Rose by stating:

As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. I demand the right to be them, I demand the right to think them and I demand the right to tell the truth as I see they are, all right? And to say that I can't do that because I'm white, but the Hughes brothers can do that because they're black, that is racist. That is the heart of racism, all right. And I do not accept that ... That is how a segment of the black community that lives in Compton, lives in Inglewood, where Jackie Brown takes place, that lives in Carson, that is how they talk. I'm telling the truth. It would not be questioned if I was black, and I resent the question because I'm white. I have the right to tell the truth. I do not have the right to lie.^[53]

In addition, Tarantino retaliated on The Howard Stern Show by stating Lee would have to "stand on a chair to kiss my ass."^[54] Samuel L. Jackson, who has appeared in both directors' films, defended Tarantino's use of the word. At the Berlin Film Festival, where Jackie Brown was being screened, Jackson responded to Lee's criticism by saying:

I don't think the word is offensive in the context of this film ... Black artists think they are the only ones allowed to use the word. Well, that's bull. Jackie Brown is a wonderful homage to black exploitation films. This is a good film, and Spike hasn't made one of those in a few years.^[55]

Tarantino has defended his use of the word, arguing that black audiences have an appreciation of his blaxploitation-influenced films that eludes some of his critics, and, indeed, that Jackie Brown, another oft-cited example, was primarily made for "black audiences".^[56]

According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, actor Denzel Washington also confronted Tarantino on his usage of racial slurs in his pictures, but mentioned that Tarantino was a "fine artist."^[57]

Recurring collaborators[link]

Actor	Reservoir Dogs	Pulp Fiction	Four Rooms	Jackie Brown	Kill Bill	Death Proof	Inglourious Basterds	Django Unchained
Michael Bacall						N	N	N
Zoe Bell					N	N	N
Michael Bowen				N	N
Steve Buscemi	N	N
Paul Calderón		N	N
Laura Cayouette					N			N
Omar Doom						N	N
Julie Dreyfus					N		N
Kathy Griffin		N	N
Sid Haig				N	N
Samuel L. Jackson		N		N	N		N	N
Harvey Keitel	N	N					N
Jonathan Loughran					N	N
Michael Madsen	N				N
James Parks					N	N		N
Michael Parks					N	N
Tina Rodriguez						N	N
Eli Roth						N	N
Tim Roth	N	N	N
David Steen	N							N
Bo Svenson					N		N
Uma Thurman		N			N
Christoph Waltz							N	N
Bruce Willis		N	N

Awards[link]

Tarantino in Paris at the César Awards 2011.

• Reservoir Dogs was given the Critic's Award at the 4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in 1993.^[58]

• Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.^[59] The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one for Best Original Screenplay, which was shared jointly by Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary.

• In 1996, Tarantino was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor in From Dusk till Dawn, but lost against Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau.

• In 2005, Quentin Tarantino won the Icon of the Decade Award at the 10th Empire Awards.

• On August 15, 2007, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented Tarantino with a lifetime achievement award at the Malacañang Palace in Manila.^[60]

• In 2009, his film Inglourious Basterds was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, winning one for Best Supporting Actor.

• In March 2010, Tarantino was awarded the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic along with Lucy Liu and Andy Vajna for producing the 2006 movie Freedom's Fury.^[61]

• In February 2011, Tarantino received an honorary César from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.^[62]

Filmography[link]

Reception[link]

Critical[link]

See also[link]

• Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, a film festival in Austin, Texas hosted by Tarantino.

References[link]