Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead. In the original plot, in which Jack dies when the group finds the cockpit, Kate was to emerge as the leader for the survivors, motivating them to build shelter and begin considering life as permanent residents of the island.

In the original description for Kate, she was a slightly older woman separated from her husband, who went to the bathroom in the tail-section of the plane. However, that idea ended up being used for Rose and her husband Bernard. Yunjin Kim originally tried out for Kate.

The producers liked her but didn't think she was right for the part, so they wrote the role of Sun-Hwa Kwon for her. Born and raised in Iowa, Kate is the daughter of diner worker Diane, and Sam, a U.S. Army Ranger and Gulf War Veteran. At an early age Kate's parents divorced, and Diane married an abusive alcoholic named Wayne.

As an adult, Kate killed Wayne, which she confessed to her mother before disappearing. Diane called the authorities, where Kate was arrested and pursued by Edward Mars. Kate then confronted Sam, who revealed that Wayne was her biological father.

Under the alias of Lucy, she met an out-of-luck con artist named Cassidy Phillips, who helped her confront Diane in a diner restroom, where Kate learned that despite Wayne's abusive nature, Diane still loved him. Kate fled to Miami under the alias "Monica", where she dated and soon married a police officer named Kevin Callis. After a pregnancy scare and Kevin's purchase of two Oceanic tickets to Costa Rica for their honeymoon, Kate confessed her fugitive past and laced his drink with a sedative before disappearing.

After months of traveling around the country under numerous aliases, Kate learned that Diane was dying of cancer, and decided to visit her. She reunited with her childhood friend Tom who arranged a meeting between Kate and Diane. As Kate tried to apologize to her, Diane started screaming for help, prompting Kate to flee the hospital with Tom.

A policeman opened fire on their getaway car, killing Tom and forcing Kate to flee the scene of the accident.

Similar to 0 things you like: