Mira Furlan

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, and a father of Slovene-Croat heritage.

Career

Furlan graduated from the Academy for Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and holds a university degree, equivalent to a B.F.A., in theatre. She was a member of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and frequently appeared in Yugoslav television and films, including Cannes Film Festival winner When Father Was Away on Business (1985).

In the 1980s, she briefly appeared as singer for Le Cinema, a spin-off from the rock band Film. She appeared on the stage in New York City and Los Angeles. She released an album, Songs From Movies That Have Never Been Made. She played Minbari Ambassador Delenn for all five seasons of Babylon 5, and some of the associated TV movies. From 2004–10 she played Danielle Rousseau on Lost. In 2009, she appeared on an episode of NCIS, titled "South By Southwest".

In 2002, she returned to Croatia after some eleven years to take the lead role in Rade Šerbedžija's Ulysses Theatre Company's production of Euripides' Medea. A collection of her columns in the now-defunct Croatian magazine, Feral Tribune, was published as a book in 2010.

Personal life

Furlan's husband is director Goran Gajić, who directed her in an episode of Babylon 5 and several plays, including a production of Sophocles' Antigone.

In late 1991, she and her husband, who is an ethnic Serb, emigrated from the former Yugoslavia to escape the warfare which resulted in the breakup of the country, with the attendant political turmoil and ethnic tensions. Furlan gave birth to the couple's first child in 1998.