Fate helped Evangeline Lilly find way to ‘Lost’

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“The first year was very hard,” Lilly says. Besides suffering an identity crisis with her role, “I was surrounded by breathtaking actors, and I felt very insecure about performing next to them. I thought I was going to fall flat on my face.”

She was part of a cast that also included Matthew Fox (as the sexy doctor, Jack), Josh Holloway (as the sexy con man, Sawyer) — both playing characters Kate has had flirtations with — and dozens more regulars, like veteran actor Terry O’Quinn who, as the mystical Locke, declared, “Each one of us was brought here for a reason.”

Unconsciously echoing him, Lilly now recalls, “The first year I just kept thinking, ‘Well, there has to be a point, a reason I’m here. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have happened the way it happened: in such a magical and spontaneous way.’

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Meanwhile, she held her own within the huge ensemble, and as more than eye candy. A slender brunette with a dusting of freckles and a dazzling smile, Lilly is athletic and outdoorsy, which served Kate well. She has infused Kate with strength, fire and daring. Kate is nobody’s fool.

Nor is the 26-year-old Lilly, even at her most perplexed.

“What I learned to do to survive on the show and enjoy it,” she explains, “is to settle into the bliss of ignorance. I sort of wade my way through the dark waters of ’Lost,’ and there’s a comfort knowing it’s the producers and writers who are responsible. If I’m walking blindfolded, then whoever’s leading me is responsible for where I end up.”

She has also learned to accept the instant celebrity the show thrust upon her, insisting she can normalize the impact of her fame. “I want to maintain equal footing with the rest of the world.”

But although she likes this new life, it may not be forever.

“I don’t know how long my career will last,” she admits with a laugh. “As far as how long my nerves can hold out, I would say I give myself 10 years, and if I don’t get out by then, they’ll be shattered.

“I feel this year I’ve figured it out,” says the woman who found herself on “Lost,” summing up. “The dust has settled and I understand the new world I live in. That’s really exciting and reassuring.”

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