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Mira Furlan, an actress best known for her roles on the fantastical television series “Babylon 5” and “Lost,” died on Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 65.
The cause was complications of the West Nile virus, her manager, Chris Roe, said.
From 1993 to 1998, Ms. Furlan was one of the stars of “Babylon 5,” a space opera that followed the relationships, politics, interspecies tensions and galactic conflicts aboard a United Nations-type space station in the mid-23rd century. Her character, Ambassador Delenn, represented an alien race, the Minbari, on the space station.
She twice won a Sci-Fi Universe Award for best supporting actress for her work on the show, which also starred Bruce Boxleitner and Stephen Furst. She appeared in all 111 episodes and in two “Babylon 5” TV movies.
On “Lost,” the popular ABC drama about a group of survivors stranded on a remote mysterious island after the crash of their jetliner, Ms. Furlan portrayed Danielle Rousseau, a scientist often referred to as just “the Frenchwoman,” from 2004 through the show’s final season, in 2010.
Mira Furlan was born on Sept. 7, 1955, in Zagreb, Croatia, where she was a leading actress in theater, film and TV and was part of the Croatian National Theater. One profile described her as “the Balkan equivalent of Meryl Streep.”
Amid civil war in her homeland, she emigrated in 1991 to New York City with her husband, Goran Gajic, a writer and director. She lived in the city and worked as an actress until moving to Los Angeles for “Babylon 5.” In addition to her husband, she is survived by their son, Marko Lav Gajic.
Her other acting credits include appearances on “NCIS,” “Law & Order: LA” and more than 25 films. She most recently appeared in another science fiction series, “Space Command,” playing a former archaeologist.
At her death, Ms. Furlan was working on her autobiography. An excerpt released by her manager and posted on her website invoked space to describe her sense of peace as she battled illness.
“I look at the stars,” she wrote. “It’s a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That’s where I’ll be going soon.”
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