'Weedy' action heroine under fire

Fans and feminists criticise a British actress for having the wrong physique to play the star role in American TV's hit Terminator spin-off

Nice acting, shame about the biceps? The latest British actress to play an iconic action heroine has run into sniping about her figure in body-conscious Hollywood, provoking claims that muscular women make better feminist role models than those who look 'emaciated'.

Lena Headey, who grew up in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, is the star of American TV's new big hit, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The science fiction spin-off from the Terminator movies, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, premiered last week to critical plaudits and more than 18 million viewers.

But Headey, 34, has found her physique unfavourably compared with that of Linda Hamilton, who made the Sarah Connor role famous in the original films. In 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Hamilton's character is seen working out and building her upper-body strength to outfight men and protect her son from a killer machine sent from the future.

In the process she became 'a butt-kicking inspiration to millions of women', noted the Los Angeles Times last week. 'Such an inspiration, in fact, that some who worship at the altar of Sarah Connor detect heresy in the casting of Headey, who's healthy looking and attractive but not exactly Ms Olympia.'

The nine-part TV series, which will be shown here starting next month, has been praised by US critics as a more successful revival than Bionic Woman, starring ex- EastEnders actress Michelle Ryan.

Headey's performance has gained some positive reviews, but her shape has not. Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald wrote: 'I'd like to give her time - and some pasta - to help her grow into her jeans. Headey looks remarkably like actress Lara Flynn Boyle. She's a twig of an action heroine.'

An online fan group has gone further, arguing that the casting is a dangerous example of the growing acceptability of emaciation and anorexia. The Sarah Connor Charm School, which describes itself as 'an art project focused on physical feminist empowerment', has posted pictures comparing Hamilton and Headey's back muscles on its website.

Its spokeswoman, Kym Lambert, told The Observer: 'We were very upset to find out that a very thin and non-athletic actress had been chosen out of, supposedly, hundreds to play a role that we as physical feminists found so inspiring. We see this as yet another example of the media trying to inspire women to be thin, to "keep our place" (as in not take up too much room) and to keep us from being strong.

'The premise of physical feminism is that women are just as capable of defending ourselves as men, that the concept that we are weaker than men is a cultural myth rather than a physical reality. And Hamilton's portrayal of Sarah Connor was a key media icon for that belief.'

The British feminist and novelist Bidisha, a fan of the Terminator films, also expressed disappointment at the casting of Headey. 'I am shocked to find out that the producers are clearly sanctioning a new, weedy silhouette in such an iconic and genuinely groundbreaking role,' she said.


Headey's films include The Remains of the Day, St Trinian's and 300, in which she played the formidable Spartan queen Gorgo. In her spare time she has taken boxing lesson in south London.

She brushed off 'the bicep debate' in a recent interview. 'The film had the luxury of more money and more time,' she told the Los Angeles Times. 'If they were gonna give me a month, and a trainer every day, and a chef, then it would be fantastic ... It's a TV show, for God's sake!'

James Middleton, the executive producer of the series, said: 'It's two years after the events of Terminator 2 and it's reasonable to posit that she hasn't felt the need to work out five hours a day. In any case, it's small to focus on biceps when Lena is doing some incredible acting. She makes the character her own and embodies the ideals of Sarah Connor. I'm much more interested in that than whether her biceps are smaller than an actress who played the character before.'

Schwarzenegger, now governor of California, does not appear in the TV series. Its pilot episode featured a terminator played by British actor Owain Yeoman. The plot follows Sarah striving to protect her 15-year-old son from robots sent from the future, helped by a female android.