Yancy Butler

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Yancy Butler (born July 2, 1970) is an American television and movie actress. She is the daughter of Joe Butler, drummer for the 1960 rock group The Lovin' Spoonful.

Yancy Butler as Sara Pezzini

1 Career
- 1.1 Beginnings
- 1.2 The Witchblade controversy
2 Recent Legal Issues
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Beginnings

After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1991, where she majored in liberal arts, 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. The series was set in Los Angeles in the near future. The series was co-created by Dick Wolf of Law & Order fame.

A year later, she starred in her second series, also for Dick Wolf. In South Beach, 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. Only six episodes were produced.

In 1995 she starred as Corinne the dancer in the film Let It Be Me, followed by the television programme Brooklyn South which ran for a full season in 1997-1998.

[edit] The Witchblade controversy

Butler's first series to survive more than one season was the television adaptation of the comic book Witchblade. Although having a cult following, its cancellation was announced after the second season in September 2002,^[1] amidst speculation that the cause was Butler's admitted alcoholism, although the official statements clearly claim that the decision was taken on production grounds, which makes sense given the low ratings of the show. 14 months later, after being arrested and charged with disorderly intoxication Butler was ordered to enter rehabilitation at the Renaissance Institute in Boca Raton for her condition, by a South Florida court.^[2] Later, it was discovered she had injuries from acting and family problems which led to her alcohol abuse.

She recently returned to acting with the thriller film Bloodlines, which is scheduled for release in 2006.

[edit] Recent Legal Issues

In February, 2007 Butler accused a former boyfriend of stalking her. Butler alleges that the man harassed her while she was at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at Mountainside Treatment Center in Canaan, bombarded her with phone calls and created a flier containing lewd and defamatory comments about Butler and left them on car windshields at an alcohol treatment center in Kent. The man was arrested and charged with second-degree breach of peace, second-degree harassment, criminal violation of a restraining order, and first-degree stalking. He was set to return to court March 2, 2007.

On February 11, 2007, Butler was arrested in her home on the charge of disorderly conduct. Butler had called police to her home to complain that her boyfriend would not give her the keys to her car or let her leave. Her boyfriend told police that she had been drinking and doing drugs and he did not want her driving. She also allegedly threw things at him because he would not let her leave. Butler was released on $500 bail and ordered by a judge to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings seven times a week until her next court appearance on March 8, 2007.

On March 13, 2007, Butler was charged with driving under the influence and failure to drive in the established lane after she crashed her Saab 900 into a wire guard rail in Sharon, Connecticut. The actress was released on a $500 bond and ordered to appear in Bantam Superior Court on March 26, 2007.^[3] ^[4] ^[5] On March 28, Bantam Superior Court Judge Richard Marano issued a re-arrest order for Butler because she had twice not appeared at scheduled court dates. The judge directed that the warrant not be served until April 2 to give Butler a chance to explain why she wasn't in court.^[4]