Mira Furlan, an extraordinarily gifted actress, now a legend for her role as Ambassador Delenn in the popular science fiction saga Babylon 5 started her life in Zagreb, Croatia where she was born.
From an early age Mira was raised in an environment filled with art, language
and culture. Her father, now retired, taught child psychology at the University
of Zagreb. Also a professor of English he translated many books on psychology
into Serbo-Croatian from English and Russian. She inherited her love of
theatre from her mother, who often took her to see plays during her childhood.
Her mother was a professor of French and Yugoslav literature. Also, a
successful librarian, she designed a new way of cataloging books. Though
her mother passed away many years ago, they shared an extremely close
bond that continues to live on. "If I have any talent, emotional
depth, passion, or capacity for love, it definitely comes from her."
Spending most of her childhood with her grandmother, a gifted linguist
and a professor of French and Yugoslav literature at a classical high
school in Zagreb, it was from her that Mira gained a knowledge of languages.
"my grandmother spoke with me in German when I was a baby, and later
taught me the basics of French.
While English was the main language at the high school she attended the
school also focused on the study of other foreign languages. The English
skills she acquired through her formal education benefited her greatly
when she later established herself in America.
It was during her high school years, on the opening night of a play she
had been rehearsing for a year, that she realized her calling in life.
"in those moments when I entered the stage, trembling with stage
fright and excitement, under those spotlights, I felt that I'd found the
one thing that I wanted to do in my life. Nothing could match that flow
of adrenaline."
After graduating high school she attended the University of Zagreb to
study English and French and also Zagreb's Academy for Theatre, Film and
Television. In her second year at the Academy she landed her first leading
role in the TV movie Cross The River If You Can, playing a junkie who
dies of an overdose. She also got her first role in the theatre play An
Inspector Calls. By her fourth year Mira was playing the lead in her first
TV series Velo Misto, aka The Little Big Town and shortly thereafter,
she joined the Croatian National Theatre where she became a prominent
member of this theatre company and also performed regularly at the Dubrovnick
Summer Festival.
Mira's first film role in Cyclops saw her honored with a Golden Arena
Award (Yugoslav Oscar) for Best Supporting Actress at the Film Festival
in Pula. Her film career took off as she worked with the country's leading
actors and directors. Despite the lack of money, union rules and countless
other benefits enjoyed by her American counterparts she still found it
artistically fulfilling. "you were willing to forget all the abuse,
waiting, cold weather, and the lack of any financial rewards." She
continued to work in theatre, film and television simultaneously, earning
yet another Golden Arena for Best Actress in the movie The Beauty of Vice
and numerous awards for her theatre performances. She recorded an album
in the eighties called Mira Furlan and Davor Slamnig's Orchestra and sang
in a band doing old American rock and roll such as the Ronettes Be My
Baby. It was during a gig that she met her husband Goran Gajic, a Serbian
film director, when he came to shoot a video of the band. "Goran
was studying film in Belgrade at the time, so I moved to Belgrade with
him coming occasionally to my hometown of Zagreb in order to do a play
in my theatre, a TV film, or a movie."
When the first rumblings of war broke out and nationalism reared its ugly
head, she attempted to keep communications between Zagreb and Belgrade
open by performing in two different plays in Zagreb and Belgrade at the
same time, believing that "even when things are at their very worst,
as they are now, we must insist to our last breath on building and sustaining
bonds between people. "
She wrote a statement to the newspapers explaining her reasons for appearing
at the Belgrade International Theatre Festival. The Croatian theatres
boycotted the festival and Mira was the only actress from Zagreb who had
appeared there. For refusing to take sides, she was attacked by the Croatian
media. The Serbian media countered, using the controversial case as an
example of Croatian fascism. A dismissal from the Croatian National Theatre
soon followed and life in the former Yugoslavia became impossible.
Mira and her husband left in November 1991 for New York City, to begin
a new life in America. She now resides in Los Angeles, California with
her husband, Goran Gajic and their son Marko, who was born in Los Angeles
on December 15 1998.
In a city where artistic integrity is often lost in the pursuit of the
almighty dollar, Mira Furlan remains true to her art.
We are truly blessed to have her with us.