Mira Furlan

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Mira Furlan
Mira Furlan by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Furlan at the Phoenix ComiCon in 2013
Born (1955-09-07)7 September 1955
Zagreb, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.[1]
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active 1985–2016
Spouse(s) Goran Gajić (m. 1998)
Children 1
Website www.mirafurlan.net

Mira Furlan (7 September 1955 – 20 January 2021) was a Croatian actress and singer. Internationally, she was best known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn on the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–98), and as Danielle Rousseau on Lost, and also appeared in multiple award-winning films such as When Father Was Away on Business and The Abandoned.

Early life

Furlan was born to an intellectual and academic family that included a large number of university professors in Zagreb, which was at that time part of Yugoslavia. She was born to a Croatian–Jewish mother,[2][3][4] and a father of Slovene–Croat heritage.

As a child, Furlan was obsessed with American rock and roll music.[5] She became interested in acting as a teenager.[5]

Furlan graduated from the Academy for Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and held a university degree, equivalent to a B.F.A., in theatre.[3] Simultaneously, she took language classes at the university in Zagreb, becoming fluent in English, German, and French.[5]

Career

Acting

Furlan was a member of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb[5] and frequently appeared in Yugoslav television and films.[6] She played Ankica Vidmar in the film When Father Was Away on Business, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[5] In the late 1980s, she performed in theater productions in both Zagreb and Belgrade.[5]

Furlan became a member of the Actors Studio in 1992 after moving to New York City to flee turmoil in Yugoslavia.[5] Later that year, her theater contacts in the U.S. helped her get the necessary work permits to perform with the Indiana Repertory Theatre as the lead role in Yerma.[5]

She appeared on the stage in New York City and Los Angeles. She played the central ensemble role of Minbari Ambassador Delenn for all five seasons of Babylon 5, and some of the associated TV movies. Between 2004 and 2010 she played the recurring role of Danielle Rousseau on Lost. In 2009, she appeared on an episode of NCIS, titled "South By Southwest".[6]

In 2002, she returned to Croatia after eleven years to take the lead role in Rade Šerbedžija's Ulysses Theatre Company's production of Euripides' Medea.[7][6]

Singing

In the 1980s, Furlan briefly appeared as singer for Le Cinema, a spin-off from the rock band Film.[8] In 1998, she released an album, Songs From Movies That Have Never Been Made.[8][9]

Writing

Furlan wrote the play Until Death Do Us Part (Croatian: Dok nas smrt ne razdvoji), which is set in 1970s Zagreb.[10] A collection of her columns in the now-defunct Croatian magazine Feral Tribune was published as the book Totalna rasprodaja in 2010.[11]

Personal life

Furlan's husband was director Goran Gajić,[5] who is an ethnic Serb.[3][4] He directed her in an episode of Babylon 5 and several plays, including a production of Sophocles' Antigone.[12]

Furlan was active in the Yugoslav feminist movement in the 1980s.[7]

Twice a month during the late 1980s, Furlan made the three-hour commute between Zagreb and Belgrade, where her husband was based, to act in theater productions in both cities.[5] After the Croatian War of Independence began in 1991, she was fired by the Croatian National Theater for refusing to quit acting in a Belgrade theater production.[5] An ensuing public smear campaign turned her colleagues and friends against her as she received threatening messages on her answering machine.[5] The couple finally left in November 1991 with what they could carry and moved to New York City.[5]

Furlan gave birth to the couple's only child, Marko Lav, in 1998.[6]

Furlan died on 20 January 2021, at her home in Los Angeles. She was 65, and suffered from complications of West Nile virus in the time leading up to her death.[13][14][15]

Awards

Selected filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes Ref
1985 Horvatov izbor Eva Horvatek [19]
1985 When Father Was Away on Business Ankica Vidmar [20]
1986 The Beauty of Vice Jaglika [20]
1988 Braća po materi Vranka [20][19]
2008 The Tour Sonja [20]
2010 Cirkus Columbia Lucija [19]
2010 The Abandoned Cica [21]
2013 Twice Born Velida [22][20]
2014 With Mom Jasna [23]
TV
Year Title Role Notes Ref
1990–1991 Bolji život Finka Pašalić [24]
1993–1998 Babylon 5 Delenn [22]
1997 Spider-Man Silver Sable voice [25]
2004–2010 Lost Danielle Rousseau Recurring Role (Season 1–4)
Guest (Season 6): 22 episodes		 [22][20]
2008 Vratiće se rode Jagoda [24][26]
2009 NCIS Dina Risi "South by Southwest", Season 6, Episode 17 [22]
2016 Just Add Magic The Traveller "Just Add Mamma P", Season 1, Episode 7 [20]
Video Games
Year Title Role Notes
2015 Payday 2 The Butcher[27] Voice and likeness, also appeared in live action trailer

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Script error: No such module "In lang".
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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