Mira Furlan, Lost and Babylon 5 Actress, Is Dead at 65
Mira Furlan #MiraFurlan
Mira Furlan, the actress best known for her work on Lost and Babylon 5, has died at the age of 65. The news was announced on social media via Furlan’s Twitter page and a post from Babylon 5 director J. Michael Straczynski. The cause of death is unknown to the public, however in his post Straczynski wrote that the cast and crew of Babylon 5 had “known for some time now that Mira’s health was fading.” “Mira was a good and kind woman, a stunningly talented performer, and a friend to everyone in the cast and crew of ‘Babylon 5,’ and we are all devastated by the news,” continued Straczynski’s post. “The cast members with whom she was especially close since the show’s end will need room to process this moment, so please be gentle if they are unresponsive for a time. We have been down this road too often, and it only gets harder.”
Born in the former Yugoslavia, Furlan was a member of the Croatian National Theatre before she emigrated to the United States in 1991. In 1993, she landed the role of Delenn in the space opera television series Babylon 5 which she would star in for its entire 5 season run. In 2004, she landed the role of Danielle Rousseau – a scientist who’d been shipwrecked on the show’s island 16 years before the crash of the Oceanic Flight 815 – in ABC’s hit series Lost. She’d go on to recur throughout the series over the course of its next few seasons. Furlan also appeared in films Beauty of Vice, Three For Happiness, In the Jaws of Life, and Emir Kusturica’s Oscar-nominated When Father Was Away on Business. She is survived by her husband director Goran Gajić and their son, Marko Lav Gajić.