Evangeline Lilly

Nicole Evangeline Lilly, known professionally as Evangeline Lilly, is a Canadian actress. Lilly rose to fame starring as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.

Before starring on Lost (2004), Lilly worked a variety of other jobs. She apparently worked as a flight attendant, waitress, and completed oil changes on big rigs. To fund her university education, she also did TV commercials (i.e. "LiveLinks Chatline") and modeling although she never considered herself a model. She appeared on G4's Judgment Day and in an uncredited role in the 2003 film Freddy vs. Jason as a high-school girl leaning against a locker, as well as in several episodes of Smallville as an extra. She had a guest appearance on the ABC supernatural horror series Kingdom Hospital (2004). Lilly's first speaking role, however, was on Lost. She was first discovered by agent Jeff Palffy, formerly of Ford Models, now with PMG Management in Vancouver, who was instrumental in her first break on Lost.

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 and on December 14, 2006, 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.

Once she has finished filming Lost, Lilly plans to stop acting and pursue a career as a humanitarian worker; however she has not ruled out returning to TV at some point in the future.

Lilly was once married to Canadian hockey player Murray Hone. Since 2004 she has been dating her Lost co-star, Dominic Monaghan. Her fellow Lost actor Josh Holloway also calls her "Freckles", sharing the nickname his on-screen character Sawyer gave her. She is also known on set for being a tomboy, Christian, and "potty mouth".

   TELEVISION

Lost Kate Austen (2004-)
Kingdom Hospital Benson's Girlfriend (2004)
FILMOGRAPHY
The Hurt Locker (4-Sep-2008)
The Long Weekend (5-Aug-2005)
Kingdom Hospital (3-Mar-2004)
Stealing Sinatra (24-Jan-2003)