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Between the Candle and the Star — Mira Furlan
Babylon 5 is ancient television history for many how, but for us older folk it was a revelation…and a change in how television was even done. The idea that a TV show could be one coherent story, across multiple episodes and seasons, was alien to an industry that had focused for so long on episodic storytelling with minimal continuity.
The idea that a TV show could have a planned ending was even more alien.
Babylon 5 was the brainchild of J. Michael Straczynski, and featured one of the most amazing ensemble casts ever.
And one of those actors was Mira Furlan.
Who was Mira Furlan?
Mira Furlan was born in 1955 in Zagreb, to a family of mostly university professors. Her father was Slovene and Croat and her mother Croatian and Jewish.
But she did not go into academia; instead she became an actor at a young age and went to stage school in Zagreb, gaining a BFA equivalent in theatre, and becoming fluent in English, German, and French. She was hired by the Croatian National Theatre and had a strong career in Yugoslavia.
Then came the war. Furlan, who had married Serbian director Goran Gajić, was acting in both Zagreb and Belgrade. The Croatian National Theater was unhappy with her for refusing to quit the…