Nicole Evangeline Lilly (born August 3, 1979) is a Canadian Golden Globe-nominated actress. She is known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama Lost.Lilly was discovered on the streets of Kelowna, British Columbia, by Ford modeling agency. Although she initially decided to pass on a modeling career, she went ahead and signed with Ford anyway, to help pay for her University of British Columbia tuition and expenses. Despite being signed to Ford Models, she was never actually a fashion model, working instead with their acting branch.Her salary in 2004 for Lost was $80,000 per episode. On the heels of her role in Lost, she was voted one of the Breakout Stars of 2004 by Entertainment Weekly. Although Lilly placed 13th in the FHM "100 Sexiest Women in the World" of 2006 and initially placed 2nd on Maxim's "Hot 100" list of 2005, she slipped to 67th in Maxim's 2006 list. On December 14, 2006, Lilly was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Lead Actress-Drama. Action figures of Lilly's Lost character were released during the holiday season of 2006.
