Lucy Lawless. (Andres Otero/ WENN.com)

Actress Lucy Lawless was sentenced to 120 hours of community service on Thursday alongside six activists for her role in staging a demonstration aboard an oil ship docked in her native New Zealand.

The former Xena: Warrior Princess star was among a group of Greenpeace campaigners who climbed on the Noble Discoverer in Taranaki in February and chained themselves to the ship's tower to protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.

All seven of the group were arrested following the 77-hour protest and they were sentenced to 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay a total of $4,438 in reparation to the Port of Taranaki.

Speaking outside Taranaki District Court, Lawless said, "We are proud to have taken part in our attempt to stop Shell's reckless plans to drill for oil in the pristine Arctic.

"Since we occupied the Noble Discoverer, it has become evident to everyone watching, from the millions who have signed Greenpeace petitions to the U.S. Government now examining Shell's plans, that it can never be safe to drill in the Arctic.

"Shell's Arctic programme has cost them billions and it's now regarded as an eye-wateringly expensive failure. Let's embrace clean energy - we're going to have to anyway, so why not do it before they cause a major oil spill in the Arctic, and consign our grandchildren to an uncertain and dangerous world?"