By Stefanie Ross

Claire Stansfield plays Alti in the tv series Xena: Warrior Princess. Alti was a medicin woman of the Northern Amazons but became an outcast because her powers became too powerful and too evil. Once she had Xena in her power, but that is a long time ago. Their paths cross again when Xena finds out that Alti keeps the death of the Northern Amazons from crossing over into the Land of the death. Together with Callisto is Alti one of Xena's most dangerous enemies. Where Callisto is one to kill with the sword, Alti is one to enter Xena's head.

I meet Claire in her hotelroom. When she opens the door the inside smells like flowers. She has a 45 minute break so she takes it easy. No make up, sweet smelling candles lighted and shoes off. Even on bare feet she towers over me with her 1.85 meters. "You're from the Netherlands right?" she says "I'm really looking forward to the Utopia con this Fall. It is one of the few countries in Europe that I've never been to."

She tells me that she's been born in England and has lived in Germany for a couple of years. When she was older she traveled through East and South Europe but she's never been to Holland or Scandinavia. "all the beautiful models with blond hair and blue eyes come from there, why would I go there? No one would notice me with my brown hair and brown eyes", she laughs.

But her dark looks did give her a role in Xena. How did that happen?

"at first I did audition for the role of small redheaded Celtic woman in Hercules. I'm still wondering why I never got that part! Robert Tapert did see something in me so he offered me the part of Alti. When I got the script I at first thought that I would get the role of Amazon queen but instead I got the role of the witch. After Tapert and I discussed the role I became more enthusiastic

I was in 4 episodes and was killed 3 times. But according to Lucy (Lawless, Xena) it is pretty much a given that they get you back when you die, but I don't know if I will be back in 6th season. It is true that Alti got some great response from the fans and I know that there were fanpetitions which were sent to the studios, which is great. But you'll have to wait and see. The reactions of the fans is really unbelievable, I never expected that. I thought 'Should be fun, playing in a Xena episode and then on to the next project.' But it has become more. I just love the conventions. I really enjoy being on stage, entertaining the people and sharing my experiences with the fans."

What was it like, filming Xena?

"That was great. New Zealand is beautiful and the team that is working on the series is great. It was also veru bizar, I mean, how many times do you hang from a crane in a forest and do you let yourself fall with a big swoop in the direction of your colleague? In the episode the scene looks great but it was kind of scary to film it, attached to a cable, swinging between the trees.

The skeleton scene in 'Them Bones, Them Bones' was also weird to film. Lucy and I got black catsuits on with ping pong balls attached to our joints, after that we just jumped up and down and did some easy action scenes. After that the stuntwomen took over and the rest of the scene was shot. At the end the skeletons were put over the balls.

At the moment I'm working on some projects that I started myself. Chickmate is an online tv series with film images and animation. Nice detail is that Lucy Lawless has done some voice over work for it. I also filmed a pilot for MTV. The series is called ' Sausage Factory' and I play a librarian called Miss Brown. She is some sort of Mrs Robinson who fancies younger guys.

And during the San Diego comicon I will start my convention documentary ConArtist. That will be an interactive live show with Alex Tydings and two stand up comedians as presenters.

I'm really proud that I got these projects off the ground. It's a great feeling that I started those from scratch. And that my career is developing like this. Don't get me wrong, I love being in front of the camera and I will always keep on going to auditions but the pressure of 'I have to get this part' is gone. It happens so often that there is a script with a woman between 30 and 35 in it and that the audition is filled with 20-year-old girls. With those auditions it doesn't matter if I'm feeling great and attractive. With the meetings for my projects where I am the producer or director, it does matter!"

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