Evangeline Lilly isn’t worried about aging in Hollywood — because she believes women don’t reach their “peak” beauty until their forties.

The Lost star — who turns 30 this year — insists she “loves” getting older.

“I love getting older!” she said. “I really believe that a woman doesn’t reach her peak until her forties.

“In your twenties you can be pretty, but you don’t accomplish real beauty until you find wisdom and depth. I know it’s going to take me another 15 years!”

The actress admitted that she isn’t planning on having surgery to halt the aging process, but says she isn’t ruling it out. “I always say ‘never say never’, but I have no intentions to at the moment,” she revealed. “If I could choose to have any work done, I’d change my skin pigment and have a tan all the time.

“I love brown skin — it’s so sexy. When you’re brown, you don’t need much make-up to look great.”

Evangeline Lilly thinks Angelina Jolie is in “ice queen” — but insists it’s not a bad thing.

The Lost actress tells Women’s Health for its June issue that she admires the Changeling star, but wouldn’t want to be as famous as Jolie.

“No one knows that woman; she’s a complete ice queen, which is perfect,” Lilly said. “Why should she be any more? She doesn’t owe us anything.”

“Sure, I’d love to be her, but just the [humanitarian] side,” she added.

Evangeline is also bored of rumors that she’s dating former costar Dominic Monaghan.

“If I were to tell you that Sandra Miggum and Henry Pickett are dating, would you ever care? They’re completely fictional, so you don’t know them,” she says. “Well, people don’t know us. So why should they care?”

“Right now, I’m happy doing a job that’s not my ultimate dream,” she adds. “Even if you’re unhappy, just pretend that you’re happy.

“Eventually, your smile will be contagious to yourself. I had to learn that — I used to think, ‘I’m being fake,’ but you know what? Better to be fake and happy than real and miserable.”

Evangeline Lilly is planning to put her acting career on hold – in a bid to become a charity worker and writer.

The actress – who plays Kate Austen in the hit show Lost – says she’ll take a break from acting when the drama series wraps up in 2010.

She explains,  “I intend on pursuing a lot of other things in my life. I’d love to have more time to devote to hobbies…

“Before the show I had intended to be some sort of humanitarian worker. I’ll definitely have more time to pursue more of that. Writing is my first and foremost passion – I can’t stop writing. I write all the time. So I want to try to either publish something I’ve written or sell a script or work on that.

“The reality is when you open a door, there is no sense in closing it – so I would never say I’ll never act again. But it’s definitely not my priority.”

EVANGELINE Lilly refuses to set foot on a beach.

The Canadian beauty — who played a sexy castaway on hit show Lost — has come to hate being seen as a bikini babe and the attention that comes with it — she’s had to give up her love of the sun, sea and surf.

Lilly explains, “I’ve had to change my whole life,

“For the last two years in Hawaii I won’t be caught dead on the beach. I can’t go because I’m tired of seeing myself in a bikini on the cover of a tabloid magazine and being that woman.

“I’m not that woman. If I was that woman then great I’d go down to the beach every day and would wear the cutest bikini anyone has ever seen. But in order to kind of represent myself in the public eye, I’ve stopped going to the beach.”

Evangeline Lilly says she is constantly having to hide her ugly side – for the sake of women everywhere.

The Lost star says she makes a point of playing down her imperfections through concern for her fellow females.

She explains, “I know women with eating disorders or who are not happy with their bodies.

“It’s so important for women to say to other women, ‘I like myself how I am.’ But it’s hard because in your heart of hearts you are thinking, ‘I don’t really.’ But you have to learn to say it.

“You have to make yourself say it when you’re in the spotlight. Imagine what a world it would be if people felt good about themselves the whole time.”