Before they were famous: LOST stars' early TV roles revealed as show counts down to big finale

By Georgina Littlejohn

From singleton to survivor: Evangeline Lilly, who plays Kate Austen, appeared in a commercial for a Canadian dating service

They have become household names in the last three years thanks to one of the biggest TV shows of the 21st century.

But what did the stars of LOST do before they hit the big time?

All actors have to start somewhere and pay their dues in the most unlikely - and sometimes embarrassing - way.

There's just three weeks to go to the highly-anticipated finale, which producers have extended to two and a half hours.


EVANGELINE LILLY (KATE AUSTEN)

Canadian Evangeline, 30, is best known as fugitive Kate Austen who murdered her stepfather, became the love interest of Jack and Sawyer on the island and raised Claire's baby boy Aaron for the three years she was off the island. But a couple of years before she was cast as one of the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors, she appeared in a TV advert for Canadian dating service LiveLinks. Not sure what the independent Kate would have to say about that...


TERRY O'QUINN (JOHN LOCKE)

O'Quinn, 57, plays paraplegic hunter John Locke, who miraculously heals once on the island, resulting in him discovering the Hatch and subsequently leaving the island to convince the others to return to the island. He was murdered by Ben and his corpse was taken over by the Man In Black. But before facing his demons on the island, O'Quinn explored the final frontier when he appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1994. Beam me up, Lockey....


To boldly go: Terry O'Quinn as John Locke in LOST and in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation


MATTHEW FOX (JACK SHEPHERD)

Before being cast as Jack Shepherd, the neurosurgeon with father issues, who leads the survivors, leaves the island, returns three years later and discovers he is one of the 'Candidates', most fans would know Fox, 43, from the 90s TV series Party of Five. But sport was a huge passion of the actor who played American Football while studying at Columbia University, New York. Go long, Jack.


From jock to Doc: Matthew Fox, who plays the island's doctor Jack Shepherd, played American Football while studying at Columbia University


MICHAEL EMERSON (BENJAMIN LINUS)

He plays Benjamin Linus, the creepy former leader of the Others who was raised on the island from the age of eight, brought up by the Dharma Initiative, left the island, killed John Locke and convinced Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sun to return to the island with him where he killed Jacob. A few years before joining the LOST cast, Michael, 55, like Evangeline, made commercials, including an educational one for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in which he played a psychiatrist treating troubled inmates. Bit like the Dharma islanders then...


Troubled: Michael Emerson featured in a video for the US prison service before landing the role of creepy Benjamin Linus


JORGE GARCIA (HUGE REYES)

Better known as the obese, lovable and kind lottery winner Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes who believes his numbers were cursed and he brings trouble wherever he goes, Garcia, 37, had already starred in a successful TV series prior to LOST - successful in the US at least. He appeared alongside Ted Danson in Becker, a show about a misanthropic doctor. A far cry from Dr Shepherd...


Primetime: Jorge Garcia already had a taste of a hit TV show when he starred in Becker alongside Ted Danson

HENRY IAN CUSICK (DESMOND HUME)

Stars in LOST as Desmond Hume, time-traveller, husband of Penny, the daughter of Charles Widmore, who has a connection to the island and worked in the Swan station keeping the island's electromagnetism under control. He escaped along with the Oceanic Six, was reunited with Penny but has been brought back to the island under unknown circumstances. But early in his career, Cusick, 43, stuck with his Scottish roots when he starred in an episode of Taggart. See you in another life, brother..


There's been a murder: Henry Ian Cusick, as the sexy time traveller Desmond Hume, popped up in an episode of Taggart as his career was taking off


NAVEEN ANDREWS (SAYID ANDREWS)

As the softly-spoken former Iraqi Republican Guard torturer and interrogator Sayid, Andrews, 41, has won himself a legion of female fans for his role in LOST. But being a heart throb is nothing new to the Londoner, who first found fame as the lead role in the 1993 BBC series The Buddha of Suburbia as Karim Amir, an Anglo-Indian teenager growing up in 1970's suburban London.


From the suburbs to paradise: Naveen Andrews, who plays Sayid Jarrah, first found fame in the critically-acclaimed BBC series Buddha of Suburbia


JIM DALE (CHARLES WIDMORE)

To viewers in the States, New Zealander Alan Dale, 62, has become a familiar face to them in the last couple of years as he seems to have a part in every new TV show, including The O.C, Ugly Betty and Entourage. In LOST, he plays millionaire businessman Charles Widmore, a former member of the Others and now hell bent on revenge against the Man In Black. But for people in the UK and Australia, he is best known as Jim Robinson in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours, a part he played from 1985 to 1993.


Icing on the cake: Alan Dale needs no introduction as a star in The OC, Ugly Betty and, of course, way back when, in Neighbours

In just three weeks time, millions of Lost fans will finally be put out of their misery when the ground-breaking series comes to an end.

For the past six years, fans have been left delighted, enthralled and utterly confused by the mysterious goings-on in this award-winning series.

And while producers are remaining securely tight-lipped about the show's grand finale on May 23 (May 28 for British viewers), they have extended the show to two and a half hours - because there are so many unresolved issues to clear up.


The last hurrah: From left to right: Ilana Verdansky, Richard Alpert, Claire Littleton, Sayid Jarrah, Kate Austen, James 'Sawyer' Ford, The Man In Black (in John Locke's form), Jack Shepherd, Jin-Soo Kwon, Benjamin Linus, Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes, Sun-Hwa Kwon, Miles Straume and Frank Lapidus


What is the significance of the six numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42? What is the purpose and nature of the island? Who is the Man In Black? And will the survivors ever find their way home?

For those who never got into this global hit TV show, been on another planet or have never even heard of it, Lost tells the tale of a group of survivors whose Oceanic flight 815 plane crashed en route from Sydney to Los Angeles, leaving them stranded on a tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific.

They set about keeping themselves alive and desperately try and find a way home by whatever means necessary.

They soon realise, however, that the island is not all it seems, and they slowly begin to discover that it has plans for each and every one of them, with some losing their lives along the way.

There are many other twists and turns to this complicated tale and with just three weeks left, things are starting to slot into place but there is still no major clue as to what will happen in the last 150 minutes.

The show has been filmed on location in Hawaii and when it burst onto our screens in September 2004, the pilot episode attracted 18million viewers across America and seven million across the UK tuned in.

And while some have got bored or fed up with working out all the little mysteries, cliffhangers and storylines that may never be solved, there has been a constant faiful following that will be glued to the their screens in three weeks time, hoping and praying that their dedication and loyalty has been worth it.


In the beginning: The crash scene from the very first episode, the most expensive pilot in television history, costing between $10 and $14 million


source: dailymail