Little Known Facts About Lost or The Glory of Wikipedia

Here are some interesting tidbits about various cast members of everyone's favorite show, Lost. (Well, maybe not everyone's. But mine. And this is my blog. And I will write about whatever gosh darn thing I choose. Got it? Got a problem with that? Huh? Wanna step outside? Huh? Think you're so tough?)

Anyway.




Naveen Andrews (The noble, ingenious, and deadly Sayid Jarrah): Born in London, England, the son of Nirmala, a psychologist, and Stanley Andrews, a businessman, both immigrants from Kerala, India. He was raised in Wandsworth, South London (beside the River Thames) and had what he has described as a "very repressive" upbringing. Andrews was raised in the Methodist denomination. At the age of 16, whilst at Emanuel School, he fell in love with his mathematics teacher, Geraldine Feakins with whom he had a son, Jaisal, born in 1992.

Didja get that? Indian, not Iraqi. Methodist, not Muslim. Fell in love with and had a kid with his math teacher when he was 16? Say what now? Sayid is one of my favorite Lost characters so its a little disappointing to hear that kind of weirdness about the actor who plays him. Oh, and he was born on the same day as me.



William Mapother (The evil and murderous Ethan Rom): He is a first cousin of Tom Cruise (as his father and Cruise's father were siblings). Mapother had a cameo role in Minority Report opposite Cruise.

This connection never would have occurred to me in a million years but now that I think about it, I actually can see family resemblance. When Ethan beats the heck out of Jack in the rain in the first season, his grim "Don't mess with me" look is very similar to Tommy-boy's "I'm really intense and angry now" look.

Interesting Casting and Story Developments:
The main character Jack was originally going to die in the pilot, and was hoped to be played by Michael Keaton; however, ABC executives were adamant that Jack live.

Before it was decided that Jack would live, Kate was to emerge as the leader of the survivors; she was originally conceived to be more like the character of Rose.(Which, I guess, means older, wise and calm, and possibly black.)



Dominic Monaghan auditioned for the role of Sawyer, who at the time was supposed to be a suit-wearing city con man. The producers enjoyed Monaghan's performance and changed the character of Charlie, originally a middle-aged former rock star, to fit him.

Jorge Garcia also auditioned for Sawyer, and the part of Hurley was written for him.

When Josh Holloway auditioned for Sawyer, the producers liked the edge he brought to the character (he reportedly kicked a chair when he forgot his lines and got angry in the audition) and his southern accent, so they changed Sawyer to fit Holloway's acting.



Yunjin Kim auditioned for Kate, but the producers wrote the character of Sun for her and the character of Jin, portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim, to be her husband.

Sayid, played by Naveen Andrews, was also not in the original script.

Locke and Michael were written with their actors in mind.



Isn't trivia fun, kids?