Evangeline Lilly on her Hollywood journey: Walked away after Real Steel but returned only for The Hobbit

Actor Evangeline Lilly has said that she thought about quitting acting after the film Real Steel. The actor rose to prominence with TV show Lost where she played the role of Kate Austen across six seasons. She later starred in films such as Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel and The Hurt Locker. [caption id=“attachment_4682191” align=“alignleft” width=“939”]  File image of Evangeline Lilly.[/caption] Recalling her “unique journey” in Hollywood, Lilly said she felt “uncomfortable” with the stardom she received for Lost and had planned to take a sabbatical after completing Real Steel. “I did a film called Real Steel with Hugh Jackman and then I walked away. I said, ‘I’m done, I’m never doing this again.’ I had a baby, I was writing scripts, I had a quiet little life, and two years later and I mean, throughout those two years, I had no contact with Hollywood at all,” the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. Lilly said she was in a quandary after she received a call from Peter Jackson for the Hobbit series. “And I was so torn because I had genuinely retired, I thought I was done, but I really wanted to do the movie. The little 13-year-old girl in me was like ‘I get to be a woodland elf? What?’,” she said. The actor said she had once again planned to take a sabbatical from acting but she was offered Ant Man by  Marvel Studios . “As I was finishing press for The Hobbit, that’s when I got the call from Marvel, and I thought, ‘I just need to either draw a very firm line in the sand and say I’m done, or I need to just make my peace with the thing, find a way to be happy and do it in a way that makes me feel comfortable and satisfied’.” “So that’s what I ended up deciding. I just thought, ‘Well, I’m a smart lady. I can figure this out. I’m going to figure out a way to do this and be happy.’ And I am, I’m very happy, I’ve had a wonderful time promoting this movie, and I’ve had a wonderful time talking to people about things I care about because this movie brings up so many cool issues,” Lilly said. The actor is currently awaiting the release of _Ant-Man and the Wasp_ alongside  Paul Rudd . The film also features Michael Pena, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne and Michael Douglas.