Evangeline Lilly

Lilly's acting career began when she was discovered by a Ford Modelling Agency agent while passing the time in Kelowna, British Columbia.[10] 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.[9][11][12] She was also on a video game news and review show on the gaming television channel G4TV.[13]

Lilly in 2007

Lilly was encouraged by a friend to audition for ABC's Lost and did not expect to be cast.[14] The secrecy campaign meant auditioning actors could not see the full script, could read only short scenes, and knew only the basic premise of people surviving a plane crash on a tropical island.[14] It reminded Lilly of The Blue Lagoon, and she thought Lost would "at best be a mediocre TV show".[14] Around 75 women auditioned for the part of Kate Austen. Writer and co-creator Damon Lindelof said that he and executive producer and co-creator J. J. Abrams "...were fast-forwarding through a tape and he saw her and said: 'That's the girl!'"[15][16] The character almost had to be recast, as Lilly had trouble acquiring a work visa to enter the United States.[17] Her application was finally accepted after nearly 20 tries and she arrived in Hawaii for filming one day late.[17]

Lost ran for six seasons, from 2004 to 2010.[18] It was one of ABC's top primetime shows, winning one Golden Globe Award and ten Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2005, and was ranked the top-rated TV show of the decade by IMDb.[19] Lilly, who was from 25 to 31 years of age during the show's run, appeared in 108 of 121 episodes, and her character, Kate Austen, was the show's female lead. In 2006 she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama.[20] Robert Bianco of USA Today praised Lilly's performance in the episode "Eggtown", saying it was almost worthy of a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series nomination.[21] After shooting the final episode of Lost, Lilly said she was considering taking a break from acting to focus on her charity and humanitarian efforts.[22] She told Vulture: "I consider acting a day job—it's not my dream; it's not my be-all, end-all."[23] She says she uses her high-profile roles to further her humanitarian efforts, not to achieve stardom.[24]

Lilly at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008

In 2008, Lilly appeared in the Academy Award-winning film The Hurt Locker.[25] She and the cast won the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast and the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble. She followed this role with a leading part in psychological thriller film Afterwards.[26] In 2010, she stated her intention to focus on children's book writing[27] and feature film roles.[28][29]

On 11 May 2010, Lilly announced on The View that writing and being a mother were her top priorities, but that she liked acting as a "day job" and would continue it when possible.[30] She took a short retirement that year and was not in contact with Hollywood.[31] In 2011, she appeared as Bailey Tallet in Real Steel.[32] Despite turning down a number of film offers, she travelled to Los Angeles to get the part after director Shawn Levy sent her the script.[33] Levy said: "She's magnificent to look at, she's soulful, and she's sexy. I needed someone who you believed had grown up in a man's world. Bailey needed to have a strength and a toughness that was not at the expense of her being womanly."[34]

In June 2010, Lilly announced on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that she would be writing a children's book and recited several excerpts.[35] She has stated that her literary inspirations are children's book authors such as Roald Dahl and Edward Gorey.[36]

In 2012, Lilly was cast as the Mirkwood elf Tauriel in Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.[37][38] The character, which does not appear in the original book by Tolkien, was created by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh as the head of the Elven guard who wields a bow and two daggers as weapons. Lilly, a fan of Tolkien's books since she was 13,[39] underwent training for swordplay and archery for the role, and in the Elvish language.[39][40] She appeared in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and its sequel, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).[41]

Lilly holding a copy of her children's book, The Squickerwonkers, at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con

On 18 July 2013, Lilly debuted her book series, titled The Squickerwonkers at the San Diego Comic-Con, where she attended a book signing for the work in addition to providing a reading performance.[42] Lilly has stated that the idea for the book first came to her when she was 14 years old and the foreword of the book was written by director Peter Jackson.[42] The series centres about a young girl who joins a group of characters Lilly described as "this family, the Squickerwonkers, and they're strange outcasts who all have very particular vices".[42] Lilly has stated that future books will each reveal a new Squickerwonker character and unique vice, which will eventually become the undoing of the character.[42][43]

Lilly at GalaxyCon 2022

Titan Books released the first title, The Squickerwonkers: The Pre-Show, in 2015 and the limited run book The Squickerwonkers: An Artist's Sketchbook in 2016.[44] The Squickerwonkers, Act 1: The Demise of Selma the Spoiled was self-published by Lilly's Quiet Cocoon Productions with Rodrigo Bastos Didier taking over as illustrator.[45][46] Two further titles were released: The Squickerwonkers, Act 2: The Demise of Lorna the Lazy and The Squickerwonkers, Act 3: The Demise of Andy the Arrogant.[47]

In 2015, she played Hope van Dyne / Wasp in the superhero film Ant-Man, and later reprised the role in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018).[48][49] Both films received generally positive reviews with Lilly's performance being praised in the latter.[50][51] In 2019, she reprised the role in Avengers: Endgame (2019).[52] She also voiced an alternate version of Hope in the Disney+ animated series What If...? (2021).[53] She voiced van Dyne in the episode "What If... Zombies?!", and received positive reviews.[54]

In 2017, Lilly starred in the Netflix horror film, Little Evil alongside Adam Scott.[55] In 2021, starred with Armie Hammer and Gary Oldman in Crisis, directed by Nicholas Jarecki.[56] That same year, she also starred in South of Heaven alongside Jason Sudeikis and Mike Colter.[57][58] The latter won her Best Actress at the AFIN International Film Festival.[59]

Lilly is set to reprise her role as Hope van Dyne / Wasp in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania set for release on February 17, 2023 as the first film of Phase Five of the MCU.[60][61]

Lilly at the premiere for Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018

After gaining recognition for her role as Kate Austen in Lost, Lilly began to appear in the media. Entertainment Weekly voted Lilly one of its "Breakout Stars of 2004".[62] That same year, Lilly was voted one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People".[63] In 2007, her portrayal of Austen was voted the number one "Sexiest Woman on Television" by TV Guide and made FHM's Top Sexiest.[64]

Lilly is noted for playing "strong, tragic, and even a bit snarky" characters.[65] Lilly's roles in The Hobbit film series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Tauriel and Hope van Dyne / Wasp respectively, have received critical acclaim.[66][67] For her performance as Tauriel, Lilly was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress,[68] the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie,[69] the Empire Award for Best Supporting Actress,[70] and the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards.[71] For her role as van Dyne, Lilly became the first woman to attain the status of a film's title character in the MCU.[72]

Lilly works with non-profits such as the GO Campaign.[22] In 2009, Lilly auctioned off custom lingerie in support of Task Brasil, "a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the lost street children of Brazil by providing them secure housing".[73] In 2010, she auctioned off three lunches in Vancouver, Honolulu, and Los Angeles to help widows and orphans in Rwanda, a country she has made numerous trips to as part of her charity work.[74] Afterwards, in 2012, Lilly auctioned off a Hawaiian hike to raise money for the Sierra Club.[75]

On 16 March 2020, Lilly received criticism 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".[83] On 26 March, she apologized for her comments and called them "dismissive, arrogant, and cryptic".[84]

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".[85] She received backlash from figures including her Ant-Man co-star David Dastmalchian and fellow Marvel actor Simu Liu.[86] On 18 February, amidst the Canada convoy protest against federal vaccine mandates, she urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with the protestors.[87][88]