Evangeline Lilly

Born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, in 1979, Nicole Evangeline Lilly was discovered by a Ford modeling agency agent in Kelowna, British Columbia. Initially hesitant to pursue modeling, she eventually signed to help fund her tuition and expenses at the University of British Columbia, where she majored in international relations. Prior to her breakthrough in acting, Lilly worked as a flight attendant, waitress, and performed oil changes on large trucks. Her early career also included roles in commercials and non-speaking parts in television shows like ‘Smallville’ and ‘Kingdom Hospital’. She also worked on a video game news and review show for G4TV.

Lilly’s significant career milestone occurred in 2004 when she was cast as Kate Austen in the ABC drama series ‘Lost’, a role that brought her widespread recognition and critical acclaim, including a Golden Globe nomination. She subsequently took on prominent roles in films such as ‘The Hurt Locker’ (2008) and ‘Real Steel’ (2011). Her career advanced further with her portrayal of Tauriel in Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’ film series, appearing in ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ (2013) and ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’ (2014).

From 2015 to 2023, Lilly became a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring as Hope van Dyne / Wasp in ‘Ant-Man’ (2015), ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ (2018), and ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019), and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ (2023). In addition to her acting work, Lilly is an author, having debuted her children’s book series, ‘The Squickerwonkers’, in 2013. In June 2024, Lilly announced that she is stepping away from acting to prioritize her family, indicating a potential return to Hollywood in the future.