Evangeline Lilly
Nicole Evangeline Lilly (born 3 August 1979)[1][2] is a Canadian actress and author. She gained popularity for her first leading role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama series Lost (2004–2010), which garnered her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.[3]
Evangeline Lilly
- Actress
- author
2002–present
- Dominic Monaghan
(2004–2007) - Norman Kali
(2010–present)
2
Lilly has also appeared in the war film The Hurt Locker (2008) and sports drama Real Steel (2011), and has starred as Tauriel in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film series, appearing in The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). She has portrayed Hope van Dyne in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Ant-Man (2015). Lilly is also the author of a children's book series The Squickerwonkers.[4][5]
Early life[edit]
Lilly was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, on 3 August 1979. She was raised in British Columbia by her mother, a daycare center owner, and her father, a home economics teacher. She has an older sister and a younger sister. Lilly was raised Baptist and Mennonite.[1][6][7]
Lilly graduated from W. J. Mouat Secondary School in Abbotsford, British Columbia, with a 4.3 GPA; she was captain of the soccer team and vice president of the student council.[8] In university, she was a waitress, did "oil changes and grease jobs on big rig trucks", and was a flight attendant for Royal Airlines to pay for her tuition.[9][10] Her interest in humanitarian causes and world development led her to major in international relations at the University of British Columbia.[11]
Career[edit]
2002–2003: Early career[edit]
Lilly's acting career began when she was discovered by a Ford Modelling Agency agent while passing the time in Kelowna, British Columbia.[12] She took the agent's business card but did not immediately pursue acting. She eventually called and the agency landed her several roles in commercials and non-speaking parts in the TV shows Smallville and Kingdom Hospital.[11][13][14] She was also on a video game news and review show on the gaming television channel G4TV.[15]
Personal life[edit]
Lilly was raised Baptist and Mennonite and described herself as "very devout and evangelical". She has been involved in humanitarian work for 13 years in Rwanda where she runs a NGO.[93][94]
Lilly was married to hockey player Murray Hone from 2003 to 2004.[95] She was in a relationship with English actor and Lost costar Dominic Monaghan from 2004 to 2007.[96] In 2010, Lilly began a relationship with Norman Kali. She gave birth to their first child, a son, in 2011.[97] Their second child, another son, was born in October 2015.[98]
On 20 December 2006, an electrical problem set fire to Lilly's house in Kailua, Hawaii, destroying the house and all of her possessions while she was on the set of Lost.[99] Though she lost all of her belongings, she said that the fire was "almost liberating" and that she was "in no hurry to clutter up [her] life again".[100]
On 16 March 2020, Lilly received mixed responses when she refused to self-quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, said it was "business as usual" on Instagram, and claimed that she values "freedom over [her] life".[101] On 26 March, she apologized for her comments and called them "dismissive, arrogant, and cryptic".[102] On 27 January 2022, she posted a photo on Instagram showing that she had taken part in a march against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Washington, D.C. and said that "nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will".[103][104] On 18 February, amidst the Canada convoy protest against federal COVID-19 mandates, she urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with the protestors.[105][106]
Works cited