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Model Citizen

Lost's Evangeline Lilly really found herself for the first time in Vancouver, amid casual cafés, swank hotels, and … cigar smoke.
• Photograph by Anthony Mandler

On the ABC megahit Lost, she plays Kate, a beautiful, fearless fugitive who falls prey to all manner of misadventure. But Evangeline Lilly's real-life escapades are almost as wild as anything her television character experiences. Born in a tiny town called Fort Saskatchewan, in Alberta, Canada (where her father was a home economics teacher and her mother worked as a beauty consultant), she has always been drawn to the great outdoors. "The winter lasts pretty long there, six to seven months," she says of her hometown. "So I was the kid who was trekking to school in a full snowsuit and a ski mask, lifting my legs above my thighs to try to get over the snow." ¶ Lilly was walking on the street in less hazardous conditions when she was discovered by a talent agent. At first, acting was not her thing - and modeling certainly wasn't. She was headed to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to study international relations. But she kept the agent's card, just in case, because, she says, "You just never know when having a contact out in the city would be a good thing." Sure enough, needing tuition money and tired of working "full-time jobs while going to school full-time and having that compromise [her] education," she pulled out the card, called the agent, and was soon doing commercials, which eventually led to her starring role on Lost. ¶ But we're getting ahead of our story. Here's a trip into Evangeline Lilly's early life in Vancouver, as well as some of what she's learned along the way.