EVANGELINE LILLY Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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EVANGELINE LILLY

Name: Nicole Evangeline Lilly                                                         
Born: 3 August 1979 Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada                                 
                                                                                       
Nicole Evangeline Lilly (born August 3, 1979) is a Canadian Golden Globe-nominated     
actress. She is known for her role as Katherine "Kate" Austen in ABC's hit drama       
Lost.                                                                                 
                                                                                       
Lilly was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada to a devoutly Christian           
family. Her father is a home economics teacher, and her mother is a beauty             
consultant. Lilly also has a younger sister, whom she has described as "the           
actor in the family". During her childhood, the family did not have a television.     
                                                                                       
Before leaving the city of Fort Saskatchewan at the age of 10, she attended           
three elementary schools. She briefly attended Fort Elementary, Rudolph Henning       
and James Mowat Elementary. During a phone interview with the local paper, The         
Record, Evangeline was quoted saying, "When I was a kid, the Fort was tiny. I         
could ride my bike at five years old from one end of town to the other ... To me       
Fort Saskatchewan holds a lot of really great memories. I just consider it a           
little happy hideaway."                                                               
                                                                                       
Lilly served briefly as a foreign missionary and lived in a grass hut in the           
Philippines at the age of 18. She was offered a missionary post there for two         
years, an offer she nearly accepted but eventually declined because of her             
parents' wishes. Lilly is a former flight attendant of Air Canada, and                 
speaks French fairly well.                                                             
                                                                                       
Lilly was discovered on the streets of Kelowna, British Columbia by Ford               
modeling agency. Although she initially decided to pass on a modeling career,         
she went ahead and signed with Ford anyway, to help pay for her University of         
British Columbia tuition and expenses. Despite being signed to Ford Models, she       
was never actually a fashion model, working instead with their acting branch.         
                                                                                       
She was previously featured in several provocative television commercials for         
LiveLinks Chatline, a service billed as the "best place to meet local singles         
for dating, friendship, or phone chat." Her image is still used to promote the         
service. She also appeared on G4's Judgment Day. She appeared uncredited in           
the 2003 film Freddy vs. Jason as a high-school girl leaning against a locker,         
and in an episode of Smallville in a pool hall scene. She also had a guest             
appearance on the ABC supernatural horror series Kingdom Hospital (2004). Lilly's     
first speaking role was on Lost. She also appeared in the 2003 teenager film           
The Lizzie McGuire Movie as an (uncredited) Italian police officer.                   
                                                                                       
When Lilly was cast as Kate in Lost, her main concern was acquiring a work visa       
to enter the United States. With production literally days away and no news           
about the visa, casting directors were forced to grudgingly begin re-casting the       
role of Kate. After nearly 20 auditions, Lilly's work visa was approved/cleared       
but she arrived on set a day late.                                                     
                                                                                       
Her salary in 2004 for Lost was $80,000 per episode. On the heels of her role in       
Lost, she was voted one of the Breakout Stars of 2004 by Entertainment Weekly.         
Although Lilly placed 8th in the FHM "100 Sexiest Women in the World" of 2006         
and initially placed 2nd on Maxim's "Hot 100" list of 2005, she slipped to 67th       
in Maxim's 2006 list. On December 14, 2006, Lilly was nominated for a Golden           
Globe for Best Lead Actress-Drama. Action figures of Lilly's Lost character were       
released during the holiday season of 2006.