Happy Birthday, Evangeline Lilly!
Evangeline plays the woodland elf, Tauriel, in The Hobbit movies. Introducing her to us, Peter Jackson says,
“What is not a secret is how talented and compelling an actress Evangeline is; we are thrilled and excited she will be the one to bring our first true Sylvan Elf to life.”
Showing her enthusiasm for the role, Evangeline says,
“The Hobbit was my favourite book…and the Wood Elves were my favourite characters in all of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. I fancied being a Wood Elf myself, but never dreamed in a million years I’d actually get to become one!”
Evangeline appears in the second and third films in The Hobbit trilogy. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. She went to the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, where she delighted fans by spending time with them on the red carpet long after most of the cast had gone into the cinemas.
Evangeline was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada in 1979. While she was in British Columbia in 2000, she was spotted by the Ford Modeling Agency, who offered to put her on their books but, at that time, Evangeline chose to pursue her interest in international relations rather than go into modelling. Eventually, however, Evangeline did call the agency, hoping to earn some money to help with her university tuition fees: and so her acting career began.
Evangeline found work appearing in adverts and as an extra in TV and film productions like Smallville and Freddy vs. Jason. She then decided to leave acting to concentrate on her studies until, in time, a friend persuaded her to give acting another go. Before long, she was cast as Kate Austen in ABC’s Lost. Evangeline starred in Lost from 2004 to 2010, during which time she also appeared in the films The Hurt Locker, Afterwards and Real Steel.
Recently, Evangeline presented her first book, The Squickerwonkers, at San Diego Comic Con. It’s a graphic children’s book, illustrated by Weta Workshop’s Johnny Fraser Allen and introduced by Peter Jackson.
Evangeline is interested in humanitarian work, particularly supporting the GO Campaign which raises funds for orphans and vulnerable children throughout the world. Whilst in Wellington for The Hobbit premiere, she took part in and presented the prizes for the U.S Open Sandcastle Building Contest, which raised more than $5,000 for the Neonatal Trust.
Here’s wishing Evangeline a very happy birthday from us all at Middle-earth News!
