Evangeline Lilly's Character Crises  3/23/06

Evangeline Lilly insists her first months playing Kate Austen in hit TV series Lost were terrifying because she knew nothing about her character and was intimidated by her co-stars. The Canadian actress, who kicked off her career by appearing in TV commercials, was star struck by her talented colleagues on set, and her nervousness only grew when her character's identity was left a mystery. 

Lilly was even kept from knowing the reason she is handcuffed on the ill-fated plane trip, and begged series creator JJ Abrams "C'mon, give me a ballpark idea: Am I a fireworks smuggler or a murderer?" 

She adds, "The first year was very hard. 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. "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."