- Mira Furlan
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Mira Furlan 
Furlan in 2008Born September 7, 1955
Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia (now Croatia)Occupation Actress Spouse Goran Gajić Website http://www.mirafurlan.net Mira Furlan (born 7 September 1955) is a Croatian actress and singer currently residing in the United States. She is well known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn on all five seasons of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (aired 1993 - 1998), and Danielle Rousseau on Lost.
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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 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now the capital city of the Republic of Croatia. She was born to a Jewish mother,[1] and a father of Slovenian and Croatian heritage.
Career
Furlan graduated from the Academy for Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and holds an equivalent to the BA in theatre.[2] She was a member of the Croatian National Theatre 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 has also appeared on the stage in New York and Los Angeles. She has released an album, Songs From Movies That Have Never Been Made. Furlan played Minbari Ambassador Delenn for all five seasons of Babylon 5 and some of the associated TV movies. From 2004-2008 she could be seen playing the character Danielle Rousseau in the ABC television series Lost.
In 2002, she returned to Croatia after some 11 years to take the lead role in Rade Šerbedžija's Ulysses Theatre Company's production of Euripides' Medea. During the mid-to-late 2000s she also had an irregular column in the now-defunct Croatian magazine, Feral Tribune.[citation needed]
Personal life
Furlan's husband is director Goran Gajić,[3] who has directed her in an episode of Babylon 5 and several plays, including a production of Sophocles' Antigone.[citation needed] Her husband is an ethnic Serb.[2]
In late 1991, she and her husband emigrated from the former Yugoslavia to escape the warfare which resulted in the breakup of former Yugoslavia, with the attendant political turmoil and ethnic tensions.
On December 15, 1999, Furlan gave birth to the couple's first child, Marko Lav Gajić.[3]
References
- ^ "Voices of Yugoslav Jewry". The case of Mira Furlan. Paul Benjamin Gordiejew. http://books.google.hr/books?id=b1-fPeon4S4C&pg=PA403&lpg=PA403&dq=mira+furlan+jewish&source=bl&ots=pJdYWl8YjH&sig=eG46wSoGBNf2mLwRm-8FVcmUpCw&hl=hr&ei=JKsUTY68L5Gu8QOptKCDBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFwQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=mira%20furlan%20jewish&f=false. Retrieved 2010-12-24.
- ^ a b ""Lost" Actress Finds New Life in Hollywood". Hillel. April 10, 2006. http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2006/apr/20060410_lost.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
- ^ a b "Biography for Mira Furlan". Internet Movie Database. Amazon.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001245/bio. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
External links
Golden Arena for Best Actress Yugoslav competition
(1955–1990) Tamara Marković (1955) · N/A (1956) · Ljubinka Bobić (1957) · N/A (1958) · Olga Spiridonović (1959) · Dušica Žegarac (1960) · Duša Počkaj (1961) · Milena Dravić (1962) · Majda Potokar (1963) · Olivera Marković (1964) · Majda Potokar (1965) · Mira Stupica (1966) · N/A (1967) · Mia Oremović (1968) · Radmila Andrić (1969) · Milena Dravić (1970) · Dušica Žegarac (1971) · Božidarka Frajt (1972) · Ružica Sokić (1973) · Majda Grbac (1974) · Jagoda Kaloper (1975) · Milena Zupančić (1976) · Milena Zupančić (1977) · Svetlana Bojković (1978) · Gorica Popović (1979) · Mirjana Karanović (1980) · Mira Banjac (1981) · Jelisaveta Sablić (1982) · Ljiljana Medješi (1983) · Sonja Savić (1984) · Mirjana Karanović (1985) · Mira Furlan (1986) · Anica Dobra (1987) · Neda Arnerić (1988) · Snežana Bogdanović (1989) · Mirjana Joković (1990)
Croatian competition
(1992–present) Mirta Zečević (1992) · Alma Prica (1993) · N/A (1994) · Katarina Bistrović-Darvaš (1995) · Nataša Dorčić (1996) · Ena Begović (1997) · Sandra Lončarić (1998) · Lucija Šerbedžija (1999) · Dora Polić (2000) · Lucija Šerbedžija (2001) · Leona Paraminski (2002) · Alma Prica (2003) · Darija Lorenci (2004) · Anja Šovagović-Despot (2005) · Zrinka Cvitešić (2006) · Nataša Dorčić (2007) · Jadranka Đokić (2008) · Dijana Vidušin (2009) · Marija Škaričić (2010)
Categories:- 1955 births
- Croatian film actors
- Croatian Jews
- Croatian stage actors
- Croatian television actors
- Living people
- People from Zagreb
- Croatian people of Slovenian descent
- Croatian expatriates in the United States
- Golden Arena winners
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