Evangeline Lilly

Nicole Evangeline Lilly (born August 3, 1979) is a Golden Globe-nominated Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.

Evangeline Lilly was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, to a devout Protestant family. Her father is an economics teacher, and her mother is a beauty consultant. Lilly also has two sisters. Her youngest sister, Andrea, has been described by Evangeline as "the actor in the family."

Before leaving the town of Fort Saskatchewan for Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, Evangeline briefly attended three elementary schools, Fort Elementary, Rudolph Hennig and James Mowat Elementary. Lilly recalled, "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." In Abbotsford, Lilly completed her high school years at W. J. Mouat Secondary School, and went on to study international relations at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Lilly also served briefly as a foreign missionary and lived in a grass hut in the Philippines. She was offered permanent missionary work there for two years, an offer she nearly accepted but eventually declined because of her parents' wishes. Lilly was a flight attendant with Royal Airlines. She speaks French fairly well. She also worked at Green Bay Bible Camp near Kelowna and at the Earls Restaurant in Abbotsford.

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 modeled 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, and some appearances in a few 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 studied acting at The Yaletown Actors Lab with writer, director David Palffy and 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.

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. On May 11, 2010, Lilly announced on The View that she places writing and being a mother as top priorities, but she likes acting as a day job and she will continue acting when possible.

Lilly is planning to write children's books called "The Squickerwonkers".