How did she get her first acting job? She's never studied drama…
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Evangeline Lilly
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csXa — 11 years ago(December 30, 2014 05:59 AM)She studied international relations or something like that in college. She didn't even want to become an actress ("I didn't become an actress because this is the ultimate career goal of my life. I became an actress by accident. I was doing a psychological exercise with myself, challenging myself, by going to auditions"), so how did she get auditions then?
Can you even become a successful actor by not even studying drama/theatre/acting in college or accredited schools?.. I mean I'm sure you can if you're VERY good, but it is rare. What about those actors who really DID study drama in school, college, whatever.
Every fear hides a wish -
Doomy_McDoomerson — 11 years ago(December 31, 2014 06:13 AM)
She didn't expect for them to take her seriously. She's stated in several interviews she did during the first season of 'Lost' she HATED the idea of being an actress, but many of her friends told her she'd be a perfect actress. She originally only auditioned for small bit roles. If you look at her filmography, you'll see some of her first roles were non-speaking roles where she was barely on-screen (at one point her role was a CORPSE in an autopsy).
She got her big break when she went in to audition for 'Lost'. She actually auditioned for the role of Cindy the flight at5b4tendant, (who was only in like 4-5 episodes), but J.J. Abrams thought she had potential and wanted her for the role of Kate.
After the first season of 'Lost' she briefly considered leaving the show 'cause she is a Christian and there were some aspects of the show she didn't like (at one point they tried to get her to do a partial nude scene and she refused), but ultimately decided to stick with it.
And, after 'Lost' went off the air, she intended to retire, but Peter Jackson talked her out of it in order to do The Hobbit movies, then Marvel get her locked in for Ant-Man. -
AlecsXa — 11 years ago(January 01, 2015 12:03 PM)
Okay thanks, that's really interesting.
She originally only auditioned for small bit roles
Yes but how did she get these auditions if she had never studied drama, theatre or acting before? Was she just a regular person going to auditions with no prior experience? I find that very interesting. It's very rare for people like her to become successful.
Every fear hides a wish -
Doomy_McDoomerson — 11 years ago(January 01, 2015 12:12 PM)
She was first approached by the Ford modeling company. They discovered her in a mall or something like that. She hit an agent and the rest is history.
It's unknown if she did any modeling for Fordbut she got into acting to help pay off her college loans. -
Studman_Productions — 11 years ago(January 07, 2015 07:21 AM)
damn that must suck for other people who try and fail to get acting roles. for some its their whole life and they will never make it. for evangeline, she doesnt even want to act and she has landed big roles in high profile projects and become rich and famous
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Shadowfax15 — 11 years ago(January 07, 2015 10:03 AM)
I remember in an interview, she said she took acting classes. It wasn't her major, but she did take some.
Remember, she started in Canada. Little different there than trying in LA.
Jennifer Lawrence has stated she's NEVER taken an acting class, and look at her career -
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rrandcoyote — 11 years ago(January 11, 2015 06:40 PM)
I dunno. I'm suspicious when actors claim they just fell into it. There's too much work involved, and while there is also a large amount of luckbeing in the right place, right time, right look, right roleI don't believe they've just been discovered at the malt shopthe lie they told in the 1950s.
Since she's in one of THE major movie franchises presently and one the THE most talked about shows of the last decade, this coy, "oh shucks, who me?" stuff sounds like PR nonsense to me.
Church ||||||||||||| State . -
Doomy_McDoomerson — 11 years ago(January 12, 2015 06:22 AM)
One thing most people don't realize about Evangeline is she is a Christian. (If you read some of the interviews and video podcasts she did during the first two seasons of Lost she talks about her faith) So, she was hesitant about Hollywood destroying her faith and moral standards. There is one video where all the actors of Lost where asked 'If you were stranded on an island, what is ONE thing you would want to have with you?' and Lilly said she couldn't live without her Bible. Plus, Jorge Garcia and another producer have stated that Lilly was known to carry her Bible around with her on set.
http://www.religionfacts.com/celebrities/evangeline_lilly.htm
Her faith and moral standards did, at2000 times, come to clash with what the producers of 'Lost' expected of her. As I stated earlier, during season 1 of Lost, they wanted her to do a partial nude scene, but she had stated she will NEVER do a nude scene, and it ended up turning into an argument between her, the directors and producers and she at one point stormed off the set. Eventually the partial nude scene was removed from the script the producers learned she wouldn't budge on her 'no nudity' stance.
There were times, as you can read in that article I posted, that she actually did consider giving up acting because of how Hollywood treated her, but thankfully, she stuck with it
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Rvrgm — 10 years ago(July 31, 2015 06:48 AM)
Like in so many other areas, people get lucky all the time - that's what makes the actors life so insanely difficult. There is no standard "study this long then you will get a job" talent is important, but looks are more important, and being connected is MOST important.
They say the average actor will spent 8-10 years busily working before getting a lead or breakout role. And so very often these people who work and work and work then stand by and watch one person just "luck into it" it's a miserable world, and very few who enter it come out successful. -
Illdoitsoon — 10 years ago(July 20, 2015 01:50 PM)
You don't have to study drama in college to become an actor. Sure, getting a degree in it doesn't hurt but peop5b4le don't really hire you based on whether or not you have a degree but whether or not they think you're right for the role.
However, even though you don't have to have a degree in theater, I have heard that agents are more likely to pick up actors if they have gone to a lot of acting schools.
I call movies that are considered bad hated movies. -
isabel_pink — 10 years ago(July 21, 2015 11:14 AM)
I'm sure people can, but it doesn't make them good or bad actors, some people that never went to a drama school were excellent, others don't.
In the case o this particular actress, I haven't seen her in a challenging role to know if she's good, most of the parts I've seen her were parts where looks were more important than acting.