50 facts about actress Maggie Grace

She admires a number of English poets as well as William Shakespeare. Learn 50 things you didn't know about Maggie Grace.

1. Her full name is Margaret Grace Denig but she is known professionally as Maggie Grace.

2. She is best known for her roles in Lost and the Taken trilogy.

3. Is originally from Worthington, Ohio.

4. She dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce.

5. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the web-based video series Rachel's Room in 2001.

6. She went on to earn a Young Artist Award nomination in 2002 with her portrayal of 15-year-old murder victim Martha Moxley in the television movie Murder in Greenwich.

7. In 2004, Grace was cast as Shannon Rutherford in the television series Lost, on which she was a main cast member for the first two seasons, winning a Screen Actors Guild Award shared with the ensemble cast.

8. Starred opposite Tom Welling in The Fog in 2005.

9. She appeared in Suburban Girl, The Jane Austen Book Club (both 2007), and opposite Liam Neeson as Kim Mills in Taken in 2008.

10. She reprised the role in Taken 2 (2012) and Taken 3 (2014).

11. She played the lead role, Alice, in Malice in Wonderland, a modern take on Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

12. Grace reprised the role of Shannon in two more episodes of Lost, including the series finale.

13. In 2013, she appears in the sixth season of Californication. She portrays Faith, a groupie and a muse to the stars, who captures the eye of Hank Moody played by David Duchovny.

14. Grace is one of three children.

15. Her father ran a family jewelry business.

16. Her family lived in a 200-year-old house, the first saltbox house in central Ohio.

17. She attended Worthington Christian Schools from kindergarten through ninth grade and briefly attended Thomas Worthington High School, where she began acting in school plays and community theater, including a 2000 Gallery Players production of The Crucible, at a local Jewish Community Center (though she is not Jewish).

18. As a kid Grace was a big reader.

19. She is a self described "Shakespeare nerd".

20. Told the Sun-Sentinel that at age 13, she "was really into Jane Austen, kind of like how some kids are into Star Trek.

21. Her parents divorced "amicably" when she was 16 years old.

22. Grace dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles, California with her mother, while her younger siblings Ian Denig and Marissa Palatas (married to Nick Palatas) continued to live with their father.

23. In Los Angeles, Grace and her mother moved around often as they struggled financially, taking out short-term rents rather than paying for permanent residence while eating a basic diet, as it was all they could afford.

24. Grace acquired an agent within a week of relocating to Los Angeles and enrolled in acting classes.

25. She landed her first role in Rachel's Room, a 2001 web-based video series about the affairs inside a teenage girl's bedroom that was created by Dawson's Creek executive producer Paul Stupin.

26. Her next role was on the 2002 television series Septuplets, which was cancelled before the first episode had aired.

27. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her portrayal of Moxley in the Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Leading Young Actress category, but lost to Clara Bryant for Tru Confessions.

28. She went on to feature in minor roles on the television series CSI: Miami, The Lyon's Den, Miracles, Like Family, Cold Case and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and the films Twelve Mile Road and Creature Unknown.

29. In mid-2004, Grace's agent sent her the script for the pilot episode of Lost; she was given the role of Shannon Rutherford after a successful audition.

30. She was nominated in 2005 for a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance - Female for her role on Lost, but lost to Desperate Housewives?'? Eva Longoria.

31. She lived in Hawaii during the filming of the show's first season, and signed on to star opposite Tom Welling in The Fog, a 2005 remake of the 1980 horror film of the same name, as a character originally played by Jamie Lee Curtis.

32. She joined the other principal Lost cast members of season 2 onstage at the 12th Screen Actors Guild Awards where Lost won the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

33. Grace's next role was in the 2007 independent film Suburban Girl, alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin.

34. In 2007, she starred in The Jane Austen Book Club, based on Karen Joy Fowler's novel of the same name.

35. She is a fan of Jane Austen and had read Fowler's novel when it was released in 2004. When she was given the film's script, she met with the director Robin Swicord, with whom she says she "geeked out", and was given the role of Allegra.

36. After the filming of The Jane Austen Book Club was completed, Grace briefly returned to Hawaii to shoot a guest spot on the Lost season 3 episode "Exposé".

37. Liam Neeson was at the top of a list of male actors Grace wished to work with.

38. In 2010, Grace starred in the drama Flying Lessons, and appeared opposite Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in James Mangold's film Knight and Day, as well as in Faster, with Dwayne Johnson.

39. Grace's busy schedule prevented her from returning as Shannon in "LA X", the season premiere for Lost's sixth and final season, but she eventually returned for the series finale "The End".

40. In December 2012, it was announced Grace would be making her Broadway debut in Picnic. The play opened for previews on December 14, running at the American Airlines Theatre. Sebastian Stan co-stars with Grace in the Pulitzer Prize winning play.

41. In February 2015, it was announced that the actress would be leading a new CBS series titled Code Black, but later exited the show for creative reasons.

42. Grace lived in Honolulu, Hawaii while working on Lost, saying "I love it here, but it's not a place you can really pursue acting."

43. Actor Josh Holloway once offered to help her select dates from a portfolio of male models with whom he previously worked.

44. Grace and Ian Somerhalder, her onscreen stepbrother, dated in April 2006 after both had left Lost.

45. While still working on Lost, Grace and Somerhalder adopted a feral cat named Roo which they found "literally dying" in the jungle on the set. She said that the cat is now her "travel buddy."

46. From 2008 to 2009, she dated Blake Mycoskie, a contestant on the second season of The Amazing Race and founder of TOMS Shoes.

47. On February 18, 2015, Grace announced her engagement to Matthew Cooke via Instagram.

48. Grace often credits her mother as her source of inspiration.

49. When asked about her closest friend, she said that she and her mother were more like sisters and that she is "lucky to have an exceptionally cool mum."

50. She is a self-proclaimed Anglophile, having written to a pen pal in the Lake District from the age of eight, having first visited England at 13 years old. She admires a number of English poets as well as William Shakespeare.