Evangeline Lilly Is Still Driving the Car She Bought With Her ‘Lost’ Money
There’s no more significant moment for an actor than making their big break. The right breakthrough role can be the difference between a financially viable career and a continued struggle to stay afloat. For Evangeline Lilly, portraying Kate Austen in Lost completely changed her life. While Lilly’s made a lot of money since the show debuted, she maintains a connection to that time in her life by driving the car she bought with her early Lost paychecks.
‘Lost’ was Evangeline Lilly’s first substantial role as an actor
Lilly had very little on her resume prior to Lost. The Fort Saskatchewan native went to the University of British Columbia to study International Relations. While in school, she worked as a waitress and a flight attendant to help pay for her tuition.
Lilly was discovered by a Ford Modelling Agency agent, and began acting shortly after. Her first few roles were either in commercials or non-speaking parts, but that didn’t stop her from becoming the female lead in Lost.
Kate was introduced as a woman with an intriguing backstory as a murderer and a bank robber borne of an abusive childhood. But her storyline became more cliched as the show continued. Kate was minimized into being the center of a love triangle between Jack and Sawyer. Lilly expressed frustration with the writing, but her time on Lost established her in the industry and earned her recognition from several awards bodies.
She still uses the car she bought as a reward for ‘Lost’s’ first season
Lilly gave further details about this part of her life during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She explained that she gave acting a try purely because she was broke rather than because of any artistic dreams she had for herself.
“I just needed to make some money and a job that was flexible. I had no rear window in my car. It was duct-taped because I couldn’t afford to replace it. I was living on peanut butter and tea. And somebody told me there’s this great thing you can do,” Lilly said. “You can go on film sets. You can study all day. They give you free food and they pay you for it. And I was like ‘Fantastic!’ And I hooked myself up with an extra gig.”
After booking a few more jobs, Lilly’s agent begged her to look at more substantial roles. Lilly agreed despite her initial disinterest in the profession. She started shooting Lost two months later.
After the first season became a hit, Lilly bought a used 2001 Ford Escape to commemorate her success. Upgrading her ride would be one of the first moves for most people after finding their footing in such a looks-obsessed industry, but Lilly claims she still drives that car to this day. “Just a soccer mom vehicle that I’ve been driving for 20 years.”
Have we seen the last of Evangeline Lilly in the MCU?
Lilly used her post-Lost fame to get parts in The Hurt Locker and The Hobbit franchise before joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man. She is the daughter of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and sits on the board of Pym Technologies.
She soon joins Ant-Man in his superhero exploits as The Wasp, helping him discover the Quantum Realm. Lilly doesn’t like comic book movies, but she’s happy to take the salary that comes with such a casting. But she was willing to put that into jeopardy by publicly flouting anti-vax beliefs at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lilly’s stance was criticized by some of her co-stars and led some Marvel fans to question her future in the franchise. She survived the backlash and appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, her smaller role in the story may suggest that Marvel Studios would like to leave Lilly in the Quantum Realm and move forward without her.
