Evangeline Lilly has announced her retirement from acting with no real guarantees that she would return to the profession anytime in the future. Best known for portraying the character of Hope van Dyne in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ant-Man movies, Evangeline Lilly made the announcement of her retirement in a new post on her official Instagram account.
The actress posted an old video of her answering the question where she sees herself ‘10 years from now.’ We don’t know exactly when ‘now’ is, but it’s safe to assume that the video is at least two decades old. Also, the video is shot on the location of the Lost TV show, the project that first brought Evangeline Lilly international fame.
In the caption of the post, Evangeline Lilly wrote, “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. A new season has arrived, and I AM READY… and I AM HAPPY.”
In the old video footage, Evangeline Lilly lists out her goals for the next 10 years and says, “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. I would like to have a family, and I’d like to be writing and potentially, you know, maybe influencing people’s lives in a more humanitarian way as almost everybody in the world now knows was my intention before I started the show.”
Before the end of the video, a short clip of American poet Maya Angelou pops up where she is in the middle of an interview with Mavis Nicholson on her Mavis on Four show back in 1987.
When Maya Angelou is asked by Mavis Nicholson, “Most of us get a kind of comfy idea of ourselves and we stick with it, don’t we? You don’t. Why not?” she answers saying, “Well, I know that we’re all in process, and as nice as this seat is and this room is, and how nice it is to be with you and have some relatives in the background, respectful and gracious directors and producers and floor managers around, this too will change. This will change. I know it. This cannot remain the same.”
In the clip, Maya Angelou continues, “I know that I did not come here to stay. I didn’t come to this earth to stay anymore than I came to London to stay. I’m in process. So, I do the best I can all the time, and I say bye. I may weep and gnash my teeth and wring my hands, but I’m gone.”
Apart from Lost and the Ant-Man movies, Evangeline Lilly has also starred in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. She was also featured in Avengers: Endgame.
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