Yancy Butler was raised in Greenwich Village, New York City during the seventies and early eighties as the only kid of, Joe and Leslie Butler.

Show business has long been in the family, as Joe Butler is a member of the folk rock band, The Lovin Spoonful and her mother was a company manager for Broadway shows. Her parents separated when Yancy was 12 years old.

At the age of 13, Yancy began studying at the prestigious HB Studios in New York. She also studied dance and ballet at the Joffrey and Ailey schools. When the time came for her to choose a college, Yancy went to the well known Sarah Lawrence College, where she did her B.A. in Liberal Arts. She has a 3.8 grade point average and received a Griggs Scholarship. She graduated from SLC in 1991.

With a dozen stage credits on her resume, Yancy soon landed her first real acting job: a guest star role in the drama "Law & Order". This small part caught the attention of series creator, Dick Wolf, who offered her a lead in the sci-fi drama "Mann & Machine". Naturally, she took this early opportunity with both hands and gained a deserving fan following for her portrayal as the android 'Eve'.

In 1993, Yancy went on to star in her first full length film, the action thriller "The Hit List" with Jeff Fahey and James Coburn. Soon after that the husky voiced actress lead another Dick Wolf creation called "South Beach", which had been created with her in mind. Set in the glamorous Miami Beach and surroundings, it co-starred John Glover and Eagle-Eye Cherry.

Aided by her good looks as well as considerable acting talent, Yancy made her theatrical motion picture debut opposite Jean Claude Van Damme in "Hard Target". A very violent film by Hong Kong action mystro, John Woo.

In 1994 she took on the role, originally written for a man, opposite Wesley Snipes in the skydiving adventure "Drop Zone." In between shooting these two big budget studio films, she starred in an independent film called "Annie's Garden".

Breaking away from the action genre for a bit, she joined the ensemble cast of the ballroom dance drama "Let It Be Me", with Patrick Stewart and Campbell Scott. The film was made in 1995, but its distribution company went bust, which caused a big delay in its release. They eventually found a channel for the film to hit the screens in 1997.

Yancy went on to play the lead in three direct-to-video movies. An action, adventure: "Fast Money"; a psychological thriller: "The Ex" and also "Ravager", a made for TV sci-fi thriller. During this time she also made a guest star appearance in the "NYPD Blue" episode 'I Love Lucy' - directed by Kathy Bates.

Her "NYPD Blue" appearance must have caught distinguished TV producer Steven Bochco's attention when, later in 1997, she got cast in his latest police drama, "Brooklyn South". The series won a People's Choice Award and an Emmy, but still failed to catch on with enough viewers in the US and it got canceled.

Next, Yancy took on a part in a Disney remake of "Spin & Marty" as well as leads in the cable movie 'Doomsday Man' and the thriller 'The Witness Files'.

Yancy has also done a fair amount of work using only her distinctive husky voice. She narrated a half dozen stories in audio books and did a voice-over for a cartoon called 'The Wild Thornberrys'. The most prominent among this work were two interesting stories read from J.A. Jance novels, 'Rattlesnake Crossing' and 'Outlaw Mountain', which she did in 1999.

More recently, she portrayed Sara Pezzini in the ongoing fantasy series, "Witchblade" - based on the comic book by the same name.

She also starred opposite Joe Mantegna in the television movie, "Thin Air" - based on the popular series of Spencer mystery novels by Robert B. Parker.

In June of 2002 Yancy won a Saturn Award for best actress in a TV Series.

This unique actress has an equally unique name: Yancy is a native American mispronunciation of the word 'Yankee'.

Full name:   
Yancy Victoria Butler

Date of birth:   
July 2, 1970 

Height:   5' 7"

Place of birth:  
New York City

Current residence:   
New York City