Actress/Author Evangeline Lilly
Written By: Margaux Fortier
Evangeline Lilly has been on the radar of science fiction and fantasy fans for nearly fifteen years. She’s had a dreamy and imaginative career, with roles in Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man & The Wasp, and more. Though she has travelled to Middle Earth and beyond on the silver screen, her accomplishments offscreen set her apart from many professionals in the business.
Evangeline spoke at the Boston Fan Expo Presented by Boston Comic Con on August 12th to shed light on her career and answer audience questions. Before pulling back the curtain on her experience as a woman of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she shared an inside look at her series of children’s books that she has been envisioning since she was a teenager.
Though acting is her job, Evangeline Lilly considers writing to be her passion. In 2014, The Squickerwonkers hit the shelves with cleverly dark and intriguing cautionary tales for young readers. With plans for an eighteen book series, Evangeline revealed that she first thought of the Squickerwonker world when she was fourteen years old. She was a fan of the works of Edward Gorey and appreciated the humor in his grim storylines. This was the tone that she wanted to bring to her own books in order to give credit to the cleverness of children and their ability to understand a more sophisticated story. Her books are self-published, so Evangeline is developing her skills in the business of writing as well as the adventure of creation.
Alongside her ventures in the publishing world, her ‘day job’ has definitely been fruitful over the past decade. From the grueling filming process of Lost’s Hawaiian set to being the first female character to co-lead a MCU film, Evangeline Lilly is paving the way for women in science fiction and in the industry as a whole. She was approached by Marvel for the Ant-Man movies two years before the #MeToo Movement and is proud to be at the helm of change. In this way, she considers art to be quite prophetic by having the intuition to predict social change before it has happened. She likes that Ant-Man and The Wasp are partners and can’t imagine one without the other, however, she did confess that she would be on board for The Wasp breaking away from the partnership in the case of an all female Avengers movie.
It was a dream come true when she could be in the world of The Hobbit, as it was one of her favorite books growing up. It was her favorite set to work on and appreciated her time spent on those films. Reading The Hobbit, along with Edward Gorey’s writing, stimulated her mind so that she could create her own stories as a young person. She believes that we should invest in children and stimulate their imaginations because they will have the ideas and the power to change the world.
This is why Evangeline Lilly is so important to the world of women in media today. Her intellect and passion are setting the tone for a future that is bright.
To support the work of Evangeline Lilly, check out her work in film and television, as well as her books, The Squickerwonkers.
