Evangeline Lilly stepping away from acting

LONDON

Evangeline Lilly announced on Instagram that she has stepped away from Hollywood for the foreseeable future and “might return one day.” Lilly, best known for playing Kate Austen in ABC’s drama series “Lost,” re-shared a video recorded in 2006 in which she expressed her desire to be a “retired actress” by the next decade.

“Ten years from now, where would I like to be? I am terrified to admit this to the rest of the acting world but ideally 10 years from now I’d like to be a retired actress and have a family,” Lilly said in the video. “I’d like to be writing and influencing people’s lives in humanitarian ways.”

In her caption to the video posted June 3, Lily writes: “I am so filled with joy and contentment today as I live out my vision. Praise God, I feel so grateful for my blessings. Stepping away from what seems like the obvious choice (wealth and fame) can feel scary at times, but stepping into your dharma replaces the fear with fulfillment. I might return to Hollywood one day, but, for now, this is where I belong.”

Lilly starred as Kate Bishop on all six seasons of “Lost,” which ran from 2004 to 2010. Her performance earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for best actress in a drama series.

She is also well known for playing Hope van Dyne/Wasp in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, debuting as the character in 2015’s “Ant-Man” and reprising her in 2018’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” and 2023’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”

She also played Tauriel in Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” trilogy, appearing in the latter two films “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.”