Born in the town of Mount Eliza, Australia on December 27, 1981, Emilie de Ravin used ballet as her path to fame and fortune. She began dancing seriously at the age of 9, and her steady routine and discipline paid off six years later when the well-known Australian Ballet School accepted her.

After de Ravin received intense ballet training at the school, she began performing with the Australian Ballet Company. As her tour of duty began to slow down, she turned to acting, taking lessons at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in her native country before moving to Los Angeles and enrolling at the Prime Time Actors Studio.

All the preparation paid off when, in 1999, Emilie received a supporting role in the fantasy/drama series Beastmaster. She then jumped right into her first major series, playing Tess Harding for two seasons on Roswell. After hosting two episodes of E!'s Wild On... and doing one-time guest appearances on CSI: Miami and Navy NCIS, de Ravin was well-positioned to break through on a solid series.

The series came in the form of the tropical, claustrophobic thriller Lost, the ABC hit that debuted in 2004. Playing Claire Littleton, de Ravin quickly became a television darling and gained the sway to experiment in film. She appears in the Sundance success Brick and the upcoming horror flick The Hills Have Eyes.