Yancy Butler
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Yancy Victoria Butler (born July 2, 1970) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Natasha Binder in the 1993 film ''
Hard Target ''Hard Target'' is a 1993 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director John Woo in his U.S. debut. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work homeless Cajun merchant seaman and former United States Forc ...
'', Jess Crossman in ''
Drop Zone A drop zone (DZ) is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes. In ...
'', and Detective
Sara Pezzini Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * ''Sara'' (2010 film), 2010 Sri Lankan Sinhal ...
on the
TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
supernatural drama series ''
Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers B ...
''.


Early life

Yancy Victoria Butler was born in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
in Manhattan, the daughter of Leslie Vega, a theatre company manager, and
Joe Butler Joseph Campbell Butler (born September 16, 1941) is an American drummer and stage actor. He was a founding member of The Lovin' Spoonful, who had seven top 10 hits between 1965 and 1966. Early life Joe Butler was born on September 16, 1941, ...
, the drummer and vocalist for the 1960s rock group
The Lovin' Spoonful The Lovin' Spoonful is an American rock band popular during the mid- to late-1960s. Founded in New York City in 1965 by lead singer/songwriter John Sebastian and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, the band is widely known for a number of hits, including " ...
.


Career

Butler's first major role was in the television series ''
Mann & Machine ''Mann & Machine'' is an American science fiction/police drama television series that aired for nine episodes on NBC from April 5 to July 14, 1992. Synopsis Created by Dick Wolf and Robert De Laurentis, the series starred Yancy Butler as Sgt. Ev ...
'' in 1992, in which she played an android police officer partnered with a human detective. The series was set in Los Angeles in the near future. The series was co-created by
Dick Wolf Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American film and television producer, best known for his Law & Order (franchise), ''Law & Order'' franchise. Since 1990, the franchise has included six police/courtroom dramas and four internat ...
. A year later, she starred in her second series, ''
South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...
'', in which she played a con artist and thief who made a deal with the federal government; in exchange for their wiping of her criminal record, she performs certain tasks for them. Butler's first film appearance was a small supporting role in the 1979 slasher film ''
Savage Weekend ''Savage Weekend'' is a 1979 American slasher film directed by David Paulsen and starring Christopher Allport, David Gale, William Sanderson, and Caitlin O'Heaney. The film follows a woman who retreats to upstate New York with her wealthy boyfrie ...
''. Her next film appearance was a starring role in
John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
's 1993 film, ''
Hard Target ''Hard Target'' is a 1993 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director John Woo in his U.S. debut. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work homeless Cajun merchant seaman and former United States Forc ...
''. She then starred in the 1994 film ''
Drop Zone A drop zone (DZ) is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes. In ...
''. In 1995, she starred as Corinne the dancer in the film '' Let It Be Me''. Butler was cast as a series regular in the CBS television series ''
Brooklyn South ''Brooklyn South'' is an American ensemble police drama television series that aired on CBS for one season from September 22, 1997, to April 27, 1998. It was aired during the 1997–98 television season. The series was co-created by Steven Boc ...
'' playing Anne-Marie Kersey, a Brooklyn policewoman, which ran for one season from 1997 to 1998. Butler starred in the television film ''
Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers B ...
'' (2000) and the subsequent television series, adapted from the ongoing comic book of the same title; the series ran for two seasons on the
Turner Network Television TNT (originally an abbreviation for Turner Network Television) is an American basic cable television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is dist ...
network for a total of 23 episodes. The series has a cult following, and was ranked seventh in the Top 10 Basic Cable Dramas for 2002. The show's cancellation was announced after the second season in September 2002. In 2005, Butler starred in the film ''Bloodlines''. For distribution purposes, it was retitled in 2006 as ''Striking Range''. In 2007, she appeared in 13 episodes of the television soap opera ''
As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
'', as Ava Jenkins. She was confirmed to appear in ''
Tales of an Ancient Empire ''Tales of an Ancient Empire'' is a 2010 American fantasy film, fantasy-Sword and sorcery films, sword and sorcery film directed by Albert Pyun and starring Kevin Sorbo, Michael Paré, Whitney Able, Melissa Ordway, Ralf Moeller, Lee Horsley, and Vi ...
'', the follow-up to ''
The Sword and the Sorcerer ''The Sword and the Sorcerer'' is a 1982 American sword and sorcery fantasy film co-written and directed by Albert Pyun, and starring Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale, George Maharis, Richard Lynch, and Richard Moll. The plot ...
''. On January 24, 2012, ''Tales of an Ancient Empire'' was released on DVD. Butler, however, did not appear in the film. She appeared in a small role in another comic-book adaptation, the
film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
of '' Kick-Ass''.


Legal issues

In November 2003, Butler was taken into custody in
Delray Beach, Florida Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles ...
, for disorderly intoxication and sentenced to a substance-abuse treatment program. In 2007, Butler was charged with driving under the influence after she crashed her car. On April 3, 2017, Butler was arrested in
Sag Harbor, New York Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the ...
, and charged with aggravated drunken driving and possession of drugs after she was found passed out behind the wheel of her car after it had hopped a curve onto the sidewalk.


Personal life

As of 2017, Butler lives in
Winnetka, California Winnetka (IPA: wɪˈnɛtkə) is a neighborhood in the west-central San Fernando Valley in the city of Los Angeles. It is a highly ethnically diverse area, both for the city and for Los Angeles County, with a relatively large percentage of Hispa ...
.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards

On June 10, 2002, Butler won a
Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...
for Best Actress in a Television Series, at the 29th Annual Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Awards ceremony, for her performances in ''Witchblade''.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Yancy 1970 births Actresses from New York City American child actresses American film actresses American television actresses Living people People from Greenwich Village 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses