Yancy Butler
{{short description|American television and film actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Yancy Butler
| image = YancyButler5.JPG
| caption = Butler in May 2009
| birth_name = Yancy Victoria Butler
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|7|2}}
| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.
| father = Joe Butler
| occupation = Actress
| alma_mater = Sarah Lawrence College
| years_active = 1979, 1991–present
}}
Yancy Victoria Butler (born July 2, 1970){{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/butler-yancy-1970|work=Encyclopedia.com|title=Butler, Yancy 1970–|publisher=Cengage|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230924194928/https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/butler-yancy-1970|archive-date=September 24, 2023}} is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Natasha Binder in the 1993 film Hard Target, Jess Crossman in Drop Zone (1994), and Detective Sara Pezzini on the TNT supernatural drama series Witchblade. For her performance in Witchblade, she won a Saturn Award for Best Actress in a Television Series.
Early life
Yancy Victoria Butler was born in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, the daughter of Leslie Vega, a theatre company manager, and Joe Butler, the drummer and vocalist for the 1960s rock group the Lovin' Spoonful.{{Cite news|title=Interview: Yancy Butler (Witchblade's Sara Pezzini) - Part Two|publisher=Sci Fi Dimensions|date=July 2002|url=http://www.scifidimensions.com/Jul02/yancybutler2.htm|access-date=September 24, 2010|archive-date=June 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612110443/http://www.scifidimensions.com/Jul02/yancybutler2.htm|url-status=dead}}
Butler attended Sarah Lawrence College, graduating in 1991.
Career
According to the Chicago Tribune, a fan site dedicated to Butler described her as having an "unmistakable husky voice and big, intense eyes"; flattered, she told the newspaper: "That makes me sound like Peter Lorre."{{cite web |last1=Rodgers |first1=Andrew |title='Witchblade' star rebounds from rehab |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-06-30-0206300078-story.html |website=Chicago Tribune |date=June 30, 2002 |access-date=August 27, 2023}} Butler's first major role was in the television series Mann & Machine 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. A year later, she starred in her second series, South Beach, 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. Her next film appearance was a starring role in John Woo's 1993 film, Hard Target. She then starred in the 1994 film Drop Zone. 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 playing Anne-Marie Kersey, a Brooklyn policewoman, which ran for one season from 1997 to 1998.
Butler starred in the television film Witchblade (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 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.{{cite web | publisher=E! Online
|title="Witchblade" Sliced by TNT | url=http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=79462aa7-4e88-49cb-9d58-429008f1b665 | date=September 5, 2002 | first=Grossberg | last=Josh | access-date=December 29, 2006}}
In 2005, Butler starred in the film Bloodlines.{{cite web |url=https://s-films.com/portfolio/striking-range-trailer/ |title=Striking Range [Bloodlines] Trailer |website=Serendipitous Films}} 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 Ava Jenkins.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} She was confirmed to appear in Tales of an Ancient Empire,{{cite web|url=http://www.dreadcentral.com/story/yancy-butler-joins-family-tales |title=Yancy Butler Joins the Family in Tales |work=Dreadcentral.com |date=April 17, 2008 |access-date=October 14, 2010}} the follow-up to The Sword and the Sorcerer.{{cite web|url=http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36509 |title=A Few More Details On That SWORD AND THE SORCERER Follow-Up We've Been Hearing About!! - Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news |publisher=Aintitcool.com |date=April 23, 2008 |access-date=October 14, 2010}} On January 24, 2012, Tales of an Ancient Empire was released on DVD. Butler, however, did not appear in the film.{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Ancient-Empire-Melissa-Ordway/dp/B0062KMDPM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328059235&sr=8-1|title=Tales of an Ancient Empire (2010)|website=Amazon |access-date=January 31, 2012}} She appeared in a small role in another comic-book adaptation, the film version of Kick-Ass.{{cite web|url=http://actionflickchick.com/superaction/interview-yancy-butler/ |title="Interview: Yancy Butler (Witchblade, Wolvesbane)" Action Flick Chick; October 26, 2009 |publisher=Actionflickchick.com |date=October 26, 2009 |access-date=October 14, 2010}}
Legal issues
In November 2003, Butler was taken into custody in Delray Beach, Florida, for disorderly intoxication and sentenced to a substance-abuse treatment program.{{cite web | publisher=E! Online | title="Witchblade" Star Ordered to Rehab | url=http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=d58f45ce-6162-413d-bf44-a71b7c2127e8 | date=November 24, 2003 | first=Grossberg | last=Josh | access-date=December 29, 2006 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184322/http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=d58f45ce-6162-413d-bf44-a71b7c2127e8 | archive-date=September 30, 2007 }} In 2007, she was charged with driving under the influence after she crashed her car.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-03-15-butler-arrest_N.htm |title=Actress Yancy Butler arrested for DUI |work=USA Today |date=March 15, 2007}}
On April 3, 2017, Butler was arrested in Sag Harbor, New York, 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 curb onto the sidewalk.{{cite web|url=https://www.easthamptonstar.com/archive/actress-charged-again-drunken-driving|newspaper=The East Hampton Star|title=Actress Charged Again With Drunken Driving|author=Morrow, T. E.|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=April 5, 2017|access-date=June 20, 2022|archivedate=June 21, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621005417/https://www.easthamptonstar.com/archive/actress-charged-again-drunken-driving}}
Personal life
As of 2025, Butler lives in Winnetka, Los Angeles.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1979
| Little Girl | |
| 1993
| Natasha Binder | |
| 1993
| data-sort-value="Hit List, The" | The Hit List | Jordan Henning | |
| 1994
| Jessie Crossman | |
| 1995
| Corinne | |
| 1996
| Fast Money | Francesca March | |
| 1997
| Ravager | Avedon Hammond | |
| 1997
| data-sort-value="Ex, The" | The Ex | Deidre Kenyon | |
| 1997
| Annie's Garden | Lisa Miller | |
| 1999
| data-sort-value="Witness Files, The" | The Witness Files | Sandy Dickinson | |
| 2000
| Doomsday Man | Captain Kate Roebuck | |
| 2004
| data-sort-value="Last Letter, The" | The Last Letter | Ms. Toney / Alicia Cromwell | |
| 2006
| Striking Range | Emily Johanson | |
| 2008
| Vote and Die: Liszt for President | Ann Barklely | |
| 2010
| Kick-Ass | Angie D'Amico | |
| 2010
| Reba | |
| 2012
| Shark Week | Elena | |
| 2012
| Lake Placid: The Final Chapter | Reba | |
| 2013
| Officer Hart | |
| 2013
| Angie D'Amico | |
| 2015
| Reba | |
| 2017
| Alexis Hamilton | Direct to video |
| 2018
| data-sort-value="Assassin's Code, The" | The Assassin's Code | Laura Consolo | |
| 2019
| American Criminal | Dr. Penelope Lang | |
| 2020
| Emerald Run | Anna Thomas | |
| 2021
| Detective Sandra Fitzgerald | |
| 2021
| data-sort-value="Accursed, The" | The Accursed | Hana | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1991
| Beverly Kern | Episode: "Misconception" |
| 1992
| Sgt. Eve Edison | 9 episodes |
| 1993
| Kate Patrick | 7 episodes |
| 1997
| Lucinda "Lucy" Hastings | 1 episode |
| 1997–1998
| Officer Anne-Marie Kersey | 21 episodes |
| 2000
| Detective Sara Pezzini | Television movie |
| 2001–2002
| Detective Sara Pezzini | 23 episodes |
| 2006
| Double Cross | Kathy Swanson | Television movie |
| 2006
| Basilisk: The Serpent King | Hannah Carmelina Santorini Frankman | Television movie |
| 2007
| Ava Jenkins | 13 episodes |
| 2008
| Lillith | Television movie |
| 2010
| Reba | Television movie |
| 2011
| data-sort-value="Mentalist, The" | The Mentalist | Aunt Jodie | Episode: "Blood for Blood" |
| 2011
| Villers | Television movie |
| 2012
| Lake Placid: The Final Chapter | Reba | Television movie |
| 2015
| Reba | Television movie |
| 2017
| Boyfriend Killer | Carrie Ellington | Television movie |
| 2017
| Witness Protection | Susan | Television movie |
Awards
On June 10, 2002, Butler won a Saturn Award for Best Actress in a Television Series, at the 29th Annual Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Awards ceremony, for her performances in Witchblade.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000004/2002/1 |title=Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA – 2002 Awards |website=IMDb.com}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|319}}
{{Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Yancy}}
Category:People from Greenwich Village
Category:Actresses from Manhattan
Category:American child actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni