Evangeline Lilly

Early Life

Nicole Evangeline Lilly (she goes by Evangeline), was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada August 3rd, 1979. She has two sisters, with her father being an economics teacher and her mother a beauty consultant. She considers her hometown to be very small and a nice hideaway. According to herself, she could ride her bike from one side of the town to the other at the age of five. She moved a lot as a kid, and before her acting career she would move towns a lot and take on new personas, from the quiet type to the outgoing type.

Evangeline Lilly was working average jobs before she became famous for portraying Kate Austen in the TV drama Lost. She worked as a flight attendant, waitress and even as a grease monkey doing oil changes on big rigs. She was unhappy as a waitress, constantly being harassed by customers, but she enjoyed the challenges of the custom orders. Being a flight attendant was also a poor job, as her feet would swell and the now defunct airline was constantly delayed. She began going to auditions to pay for her tuition (public relations) and can be seen as an extra in Freddy vs. Jason, Smallville, Kingdom Hospital, Tru Calling, Stealing Sinatra, The Lizzie McGuire Movie and The Long Weekend. She also did commercials and modeling gigs, most notably for Live Links, a singles hotline.
 

Evangeline Lilly and videogames

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
She was featured on G4's Judgement Day on several occasions as a model for products like the Nuwave Video Game Enhancer, sporting an awesome top that said "Lara Who?" (YouTube clip). She can also be seen showing off a GameCube screen, which was later shown in a clip on a talk show for everybody's amusement. Her likeness was used in the videogame Lost: Via Domus, but this is where the videogame relations well runs dry. There's also this picture, but I have no idea what it means:
 

 
   
 

 
 
 
 

Lost and current projects

Evangeline studied acting at the Yaletown Actors Lab before she was discovered by Ford Models agent Jeff Palffy. She was never really a model, as Ford Models also had an acting branch. Evangeline sent in an audition tape for Lost and was picked as Kate Austen after one month. There are many similarities between Kate and Evangeline, like her tomboyishness and love of nature. She talked with the producers about how she loved climbing trees, and she thinks this had something to do with her getting picked. Indeed, Kate often climbs trees in Lost and she was nicknamed "Monkey" by a cameraman. However, her job was in jeopardy as she did not have a permit to work in the US, but the visa came through in the eleventh hour.

She had not watched television for a long time and did not own a TV, but she watched " Alias", Lost creator J. J. Abrams' previous show, for hours straight and was impressed by the characters. She loved watching Lost as well, mostly for its character relations and love relationships, but she was frustrated with the writers for not giving her insight into the future of the show. She sometimes felt like she would have acted differently if she knew what would happen later in the show.

Since Lost was shot in Oahu, she would regularly travel between her family and her home in Hawaii. Her family was a big support for her and they would always be concerned when she had a kissing scene, etc. Since Lost, Evangeline has appeared in the movies "Afterwards" and "The Hurt Locker", and she will have a role in the upcoming Dreamworks movie "Real Steel". However, she does not see her self as a diehard actress and wants to pursue writing instead, as she finds great joy in it. She has been writing since the age of 8 and is open for all types of writing, from screenplays to children's stories.
 
It would seem she is not comfortable as a famous person and that she has grown tired of the paparazzi and the spotlight. Hawaii is an easier place to live in as a famous person because "nothing happens there", like awards or events, but paparazzi will still wait by her house. She once drove through three red lights to lose a photographer, and this video shows her getting angry at someone filming her. She also despises the socialites and have no famous friends besides the other Lost cast. Still, she enjoyed acting as a day job and would not mind getting back to it when the time is right. She jokes about herself being both homeless and unemployed.
 

Personal life

She can be seen on numerous talk shows, where she gladly talks about her personal life. The subject of her reckless driving comes up several times, since she hates driving slow. One story depicts a dramatic scene where she hits a pedestrian, resulting in the pedestrian flipping over the hood as their eyes meet and then stumbling onwards. She tried to talk to him, but he only wanted to get away from her. One accident was even on a talk show, as Evangeline caused damage to Ellen DeGeneres' set as part of a live driving test.

Jay Leno noted that she would scratch her ear a lot. Evangeline explained that she basically came out of the womb with her thumb in her mouth and that she had a special triple pacification trick where she would suck on her thumb, pull on her eyelid and scratch her ear. Not only that, but she would also tuck her ear inside of her head as her ears are completely foldable. On the same show, she talked about how "thrifty" she was and how she refused to use a valet so that she didn't have to tip.

She has on numerous occasions talked about her problems with allergies on Lost's set in Oahu, including plants, dust and even the sunlight. Her house burned down at one point due to an electrical problem, but she felt freed by it, although a souvenir from Lost, Sawyer's letter, burned down with it. Her computer with all of her written work was in the fire, but her external back-up was intact.

On Jimmy Kimmel, the topic of her teeth has come up several times. She is extremely body conscious and would hate how one of her teeth was bigger than the other, until she realized it was her smile that was crooked. She also mentions her French, which was taught to her by French teachers from all over the world, resulting in her French being different from anything else. She had heard it was like a little Dutch girl speaking French.
 

On Conan O'Brien, she talked about her loner past, with her having a league of imaginary friends, one of which suddenly left and never came back. She added that she had an affection for men that are slightly metrosexual, so that she could do manly things like changing tires herself. She also has respect for people who are not physically beautiful, as they often make up for it with personality. On the same show, she advertised her campaign to sell lingerie to raise money for the favelas in Brazil. Humanitarian work is very important for Evangeline. She spent a lot of time visiting African countries during her time on Lost, and she did a lot of missionary work (she was raised in a Protestant family) while living in a hut in the Philippines. She also promoted the video "Just Yell Fire", aimed at helping girls defend themselves against attackers. She also auctioned off a lunch with her for charity, which she jokingly described as "kind of like mild prostitution".
 
Evangeline was once married to hockey player Murray Hone, but from 2004 to 2007 she dated Lost co-star Dominic Monaghan. She is great friends with everybody in the Lost cast, which is why she loved working there so much. Her co-star Josh Holloway would call her "Freckles" just like the character he plays, Sawyer, and the producers would make fun of how little television she had watched.
 
In her time on Lost she became addicted to surfing, as she felt it strengthened her core and was simply fun, although she had to overcome her fear of water. However, she has been scratched and damaged by surfing accidents several times and wore more make-up on her body than on her face to cover it up at some points. There are many pictures of her with red marks on her arms as a result of this.

Awards

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nominations;

• Golden Globe 2007 - Best Actress in a Drama (Lost)
• Screen Actors Guild 2010 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture (The Hurt Locker)
• Satellite 2005 - Best Actress in a Drama (Lost)
• National Television 2006 - Most Popular Actress (Lost)
• Denver Film Critics Society 2010 - Best Acting Ensemble in a Motion Picture (The Hurt Locker)

 
Wins;

• Screen Actors Guild 2007 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Drama Series (Lost)
• Gotham 2010 -  Best Ensemble Performance in a Motion Picture (The Hurt Locker)
•  Washington D.C. Area Film Critics 2010 - Best Acting Ensemble in a Motion Picture (The Hurt Locker)
•  Alliance of Women Film Journalists 2010 - Best Acting Ensemble in a Motion Picture (The Hurt Locker)