Biography of Evangeline Lilly

Nicole Evangeline Lilly was born on 3rd August, 1979 in Fort Saskatchewan, Canada. Her father is a home economics teacher, and works as a produce manager at the Safeway. Her mother is a clerk at Estée Lauder, and ran a daycare center out of the family home for some time, to support the family. Lilly has two other girl siblings, she being the middle child of the family. Her belongs to a devoutly Evangelical Christian family, and her upbringing was religious and very grounded. Probably the reason, her colleagues refer to her as a Christian, and a Lost (series) crew member, reported that she carries a Bible with her at all times.

Early Life
Lilly went to three different local elementary schools viz. Fort Elementary, Rudolph Henning and James Mowat Elementary. As a child, Evangeline was athletic and tomboyish in both, nature and looks. That changed overnight, when she turned 16. From a gawky, freckle-faced, buck-toothed tomboy, she evolved into a beautiful, curvy woman. Born in a low income group family, she supported herself financially from the age of 15. She taught in the local Sunday school for eight years, and also served as a foreign missionary in the Philippines. After which she worked briefly as a flight attendant with Air Canada, the reason for her to be fluent in French language.

Career
Lilly was discovered on the streets of Kelowna, British Columbia, where she was working at Green Bay Bible Camp, by a woman agent from the Ford Modeling Agency. Although not very keen to join the fashion industry, she needed steady work and income, to pay for her University of British Columbia tuition and expenses where she was studying international relations. She immediately found work and her first assignment was a provocative late-night dating service commercial LiveLinks Chatline. Although she went ahead with it, her Christian sensibilities were offended and she left the modeling scene.

To support herself, she did small insignificant, mostly uncredited work as an extra, in movies and television shows, like Judgment Day, Smallville, Freddy vs. Jason, Stealing Sinatra and The Lizzie McGuire Movie. 2004 saw a change in her fortune where she made a guest appearance on the ABC supernatural horror series Kingdom Hospital. Lost series producer J.J. Abrams saw Lilly's audition tape just two weeks before shooting was set to begin, and was selected for the lead role of beautiful and goofy Kate Austen. She was selected among countless women who had auditioned for the role.

Her role in Lost, won her 13th place in the FHM "100 Sexiest Women in the World" of 2006. Lilly was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Lead Actress-Drama, for Lost, on 14th December, 2006. After the end of Season One of the Lost series, Lilly moved to Rwanda, to help a friend with some missionary work. This sudden move was attributed to her Christian morals being rankled by what she saw around her in Hollywood. She returned to continue filming Season Two of Lost. She was nominated for a 2007 Saturn Award for Best Actress on a Television Series, Lost.

Personal Life
Lilly never speaks about her personal life and is known to guard it zealously. British tabloids have reported that she was once married to Canadian hockey player Murray Hone and has divorced him around the time she left Canada for the Hawaiian set of Lost. Presently, She is rumored to be dating her Lost co-star and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan. Lilly's house in Kailua, Hawaii was completely destroyed by fire, caused due to an electric problem, while she was on the Lost's set, on 20th December, 2006.

She does not appear in a nude scene or perform in sexual scenes, which she feels would do no justice to the character she is playing. She fights hard to maintain her balance and avoid the trappings of her celebrity status. She finds her image, as a sex symbol, very disturbing.

Endorsement and Philanthropy
Evangeline Lilly is one of the new faces of the L'oreal brand. She also endorses a fragrance line for cosmetics giant Coty Prestige, promoting the fragrance Davidoff Cool Water Woman. She has joined Baume & Mercier & Me campaign, which belongs to the Swiss Watch brand, recognized internationally for its humanitarian values.

Lilly is involved in a video Just Yell Fire, aimed at teaching teenage girls, different ways to defend themselves against rapists. She travels a lot between her shoots to understand and work towards the betterment of mankind. She participates in many missionary programs. She has teamed up with eBay Giving Works and a charity Task Brazil, to auction lingerie, to support Brazilian kids living in the slums from its proceeds.

Lilly enjoys reading, writing, painting, music, traveling and learning among many other things. She plans to pursue a career as a humanitarian worker and will also continue acting, if something worthwhile and meaningful comes her way.