Evangeline Lilly Reveals the Decision About Her ‘Stepping Away’ From Acting
Evangeline Lilly revealed her decision to step away from her acting career for the foreseeable future. She announced the news through an Instagram post on Monday.
She shared a 2006 old video clip of herself on the set of the TV show Lost, in which she talked about her vision after ten years, noting that she would become a “retired actress,” start a family, or turn into a writer or humanitarian.
She captioned the post, “I am so filled with joy and contentment today as I live out my vision. Praise God, I feel so grateful for my blessings,” and continued, “Stepping away from what seems like the obvious choice (wealth and fame) can feel scary at times, but stepping into your dharma replaces the fear with fulfillment.”
She gave some hope to her fans for her return in the future, but not soon, by writing, “I might return to Hollywood one day, but, for now, this is where I belong.” and concluded, “A new season has arrived, and I AM READY…and I AM HAPPY.”
Lilly gained worldwide popularity for her lead character, Kate Austin, in the ABC series Lost, which ran from 2004 to 2010. For that performance, she earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series.
During an appearance on The Lost Boys podcast, she talked about how her role in Lost changed her life, even though she never thought about being famous. She said, “I would say it was my destiny, because it certainly wasn’t my agenda,” and continued, “I was one of those very rare, rare actresses who wasn’t trying to be an actress when I got that job.”
She appeared in the war film The Hurt Locker and the sports film Real Steel. She played the character Tauriel in two of The Hobbit film series, The Desolation of Smug and The Battle of the Five Armies.
She joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2015 to play the role of Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man. Later, she reprised the role in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).Last year, Lilly revealed that she turned down Hugh Jackman’s offer to join the X-Men franchise during her appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. She said, “I was like, ‘No. It doesn’t interest me. I’m not interested.'”
Lilly has been in a relationship with Norman Kali since 2010 and has shared a son and a daughter with him.