Many thanks to Kym Taborn for the following article

Copyright 1998 Star Tribune   
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
April 11, 1998, Metro Edition

: Pg. 8E  
: 1273 words  
: Xena's friend Gabrielle surprises Renee O'Connor  


    There's no accounting for taste. Just ask Renee O'Connor, who plays
plucky sidekick Gabrielle on "Xena: Warrior Princess."  

    "The first season, I was getting these letters from men in prison,"
O'Connor reports. "I'm thinking, 'Hang on! It's Lucy who plays a barbarian
who's exotic and sexy and dresses in leather!' " 

      Her co-star, Lucy Lawless, stands tall as the title character, but
O'Connor, as Xena's best friend and travel companion, has conquered fans of
her own. And - defying expectations - these admirers include jailbirds less
enamored of a lusty Amazon than O'Connor's 5-foot-4-inch prissy missy.  

    The fact that Renee is admired by anyone still catches her off-guard,
she confesses.  For instance, when she appeared at her first "Xena" fans'
convention, she faced an adoring crowd of 1,500.  

    "I walked out on stage and I didn't know what to do," she recalls. "I'm
not a stand-up comedian. But I just started chatting with them, and they
started asking me questions. They knew the show inside and out.  

    "It's still too profound for me to absorb right now, because I'm in
it," O'Connor says of the "Xena" phenomenon. "Maybe later on, I'll be
shocked."  

    Well, anyone might be startled at the following "Xena" has won since
its launch four years ago. A spinoff of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,"
it's a fancifully feminist romp enlivened by derring-do, special effects
and, with some frequency, a sly wink.  

    In between righting wrongs, "Xena" never hesitates to laugh at itself.
After all, where else could you hear in the space of one hour "Round up
those virgins!" and "We've got to talk"; "I dropped my prayer scroll" and
"You wuss!" Stylistically, "Xena" touches all bases.  

    Indeed, this is a series that, along with its idiot-proof themes of
good and evil, carries a whiff of cheeky ambiguity for those inclined to
give the question a moment's thought: Exactly what is the nature of this
friendship?  

    Especially in the age of "Ellen," some members of the audience love to
read into "Xena" certain Sapphic overtones. Let them, says O'Connor. 

    "We've had a good time with that, actually," she allows. "Not that Xena
and Gabrielle are necessarily companions sexually. We just decided to add a
new dimension to our relationship: Before, we were like sisters. This is
something a little more flirtatious and playful."  

    Born in Houston, O'Connor, 27, made her professional debut starring in
the "Teen Angel" serial featured on the Disney Channel's "Mickey Mouse
Club." She journeyed half a world away to New Zealand to appear in the
pilot of "Hercules." Then, back home in Los Angeles, she was cast in
"Xena." She had four days to stash her belongings and race to Auckland,
where filming was about to begin.  

    Initially the character of Gabrielle was meant to be a sort of daughter
figure in her late teens.  

    "When she first started following Xena around, no one watching the show
wanted this little pesky person bothering her," says O'Connor. "But since
Gabrielle started holding her own ground, people respect her more, which is
great for me: I used to have to cry in every episode. Now the producers let
me fight."  

    Gabrielle has grown up in another respect. Her earliest costume, which
O'Connor describes as a dress "that made me look like a Laura Ingalls
reject," has gone through several modifications en route to her current
sporty ensemble.