• December 06, 2004
• Vol. 62
• No. 23

Fear Factor

Lost's Evangeline Lilly Has No Problem Swimming with Crocs—or Hollywood Sharks

Evangeline Lilly, who plays Kate, the handcuffed fugitive turned alluring castaway on ABC's Lost, knows something about surviving in the wild. At 18, as a missionary in the Philippines, she lived in a grass hut, climbed trees and bathed in a river under the watchful eye of tribal members. "They thought that a crocodile was going to jump out and get me," says the Canadian-born actress, laughing. "I just didn't think so."

Lilly, 25, brings that same bravado to Lost's mysterious island. "She has a very confident way about her," says executive producer J.J. Abrams (Alias). Plus, "she's beautiful and she's got a great smile, a little goofy."

All the better to conceal some major anxieties. When she got cast in Lost last spring, the former Ford model had only one notable acting credit, a bit part in Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. "There was pressure," she says. "I was supposed to become a star." She was also supposed to do a nude bathing scene but refused—"I'm a prude, OK?" Costar Matthew Fox made her feel at home. "He's like a big brother," she says. "He took me under his wing."

At her rented three-bedroom bungalow on Oahu, where Lost is filmed, "I feel really at peace," says Lilly, who calls herself "single and unavailable. I don't know where you find the time for a relationship with a job like this." Still, "I get paid to work on the beach. This is my office. I've got no complaints." And so far, no crocodiles creeping up on her.