What The Cast Of Babylon 5 Is Doing Today
In 1993, a low-budget science fiction series starring a cast of largely unknown actors began airing on the then-new Prime Time Entertainment Network. Though it remained in the shadows of various broadcast TV successes of the time, and never rose above the status of a cult hit, Babylon 5 made a massive impact on the overall landscape of science fiction storytelling. Over the course of five seasons and half a dozen TV movies, J. Michael Straczynski's epic saga changed the face of genre TV, and the ripple effect is still being felt all across the sci-fi landscape today.
In addition to the leaps it made in terms of storytelling and early online fandom, Babylon 5 also made its cast of character actors and up-and-coming stars into legends among the show's devotees. Whether they were playing human characters just trying to maintain order or brash aliens covered in makeup, the Babylon 5 cast were all unforgettable parts of a massive ensemble. Here's what ten of the series' main stars are up to today.
Bruce Boxleitner - Captain John Sheridan
Bruce Boxleitner began building his acting resume with TV appearances in the early 1970s, then secured his rise to stardom with a leading role in How the West Was Won in 1976. Regular work followed, including more starring roles in shows like Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Kenny Rogers' series of Gambler TV movies. In the early 1980s he also secured his place in sci-fi history with the dual roles of Alan Bradley and Tron in Tron, but another iconic piece of science fiction was yet to come.
Boxleitner took over command of Babylon 5 after the show's original star, Michael O'Hare, left the series due to health concerns after just one season. As Captain John Sheridan, he became a key figure in the show's overall mythology, and remained a part of the series until its conclusion.
Since then, Boxleitner has continued to work regularly. He reprised his roles as Alan Bradley and Tron in the sequel Tron: Legacy, and continued to provide the voice of Tron for the TV series Tron: Uprising. His most recent major TV work includes guest starring on NCIS and a long-running supporting role as the President on Supergirl. He can also be seen in the TV series Space Command.
Peter Jurasik - Londo Mollari
Peter Jurasik's screen acting career began in the late 1970s, and within a few years he was a TV character actor mainstay thanks to guest starring roles on everything from M*A*S*H to Taxi to Night Court. In 1982 he landed the role of Sid the Snitch on Hill Street Blues, and it would become the character that defined the decade for him. He continued to play Sid for five years on Hill Street and then carried Sid over to a spinoff series, Beverly Hills Buntz.
Then came Babylon 5. As Londo Mollari, the Centauri ambassador who soon became a scene-stealing presence thanks to his big hair and even bigger personality, Jurasik established himself as an unforgettable part of the series. He continued to play Londo for the entire run of the series.
Though no starring TV series roles have arrived for Jurasik since Babylon 5, he has continued working steadily on both the big and small screen. After Babylon 5 came guest starring roles on 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dawson's Creek, and Sliders, and Jurasik still appears somewhat regularly on film and television. His most recent role was a one-episode guest spot on Mercy Street.
Clauda Christian - Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova
Claudia Christian began cementing herself as a TV and film mainstay with numerous roles throughout the 1980s, including guest appearances on Dallas and The A-Team and a regular role on the series Berrenger's, as well roles in films like The Hidden and Arena. As Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova on Babylon 5, Christian became one of the show's mainstays, providing a steady hand and an often dry wit in support of both Commander Sinclair and, later, Captain Sheridan. While she only appears briefly in the show's final season, Christian did return to the character of Susan Ivanova after work on the main series ended, appearing in both the In the Beginning and Thirdspace TV movies spinning off from the main series.
Since then Christian has continued appearing in film and television roles. On the small screen, her work includes guest spots on NYPD Blue, Freaks and Geeks, and Everwood, as well as regular roles in Broken News, Starhyke, and more recently the hit series 911. She's also a prolific voice actor who works frequently in the world of video games, with credits including Fallout 76, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. She'll next be heard as the voice of Hera in Netflix's animated fantasy series Gods & Heroes.
Jerry Doyle - Security Chief Michael Garibaldi
Jerry Doyle's path to acting came not as part of a lifelong pursuit, but as part of a sudden career change after working first as a pilot and then as a stockbroker. In the late 1980s, already in his 30s, Doyle moved to Los Angeles to try to make it as an actor and soon found work, picking up guest spots on Moonlighting and Homefront, among other shows. Then came Babylon 5. As Chief of Security Michael Garibaldi, Doyle proved to be a match for all of the big personalities on the series, playing the role with humor and swagger. He later reprised the role of Garibaldi in the Babylon 5 TV movies The River of Souls and A Call to Arms.
Doyle continued acting throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, with appearances in shows like JAG and NYPD Blue, but he eventually changed careers again. After an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2000, Doyle launched his own talk radio program, The Jerry Doyle Show, on the Talk Radio Network. He died suddenly in 2016 at the age of 60.
Mira Furlan - Delenn
A native of Croatia in the former Yugoslavia, Mira Furlan's career began with numerous film and television appearances in her own country, some of which brought her international attention well before moving to America. In 1985, she co-starred in the film When Father was Away on Business, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In the 1990s, she left the former Yugoslavia as the country was torn by war, and landed the role of Minbari Ambassador Delenn on Babylon 5. Her character, a wise and passionate alien with an affinity for humanity, ultimately became central to the series' overall arc. She reprised the role of Delenn in the Babylon 5 TV movies In the Beginning and Thirdspace.
In the 2000s, Furlan added another sci-fi classic to her resume when she was cast as Danielle Rousseau on the hit series Lost. Her character remained a part of the story for all six seasons of the series. Her later credits included Just Add Magic and the upcoming TV series Space Command. Sadly, Furlan passed away in January of 2021 after succumbing to what her manager described as "complications of the West Nile virus." She was 65.
Richard Biggs - Dr. Stephen Franklin
A graduate of the USC School of Theatre, Richard Biggs' screen acting career began with a variety of TV guest starring roles before he moved on to a recurring role as Marcus Hunter on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives. As Dr. Stephen Franklin, the chief medical officer on Babylon 5, Biggs played a passionate man of conviction who'd rather save lives but was willing to fight for what he believed in. He remained with the show for its entire run and reprised the role of Dr. Franklin in the TV movies In the Beginning, Thirdspace, and The River of Souls. He also put in a guest appearance on the short-lived Babylon 5 spinoff series, Crusade.
After Babylon 5, Biggs kept landing regular TV work, including roles on Any Day Now and Strong Medicine, which was still on the air at the time of his death. Bigs died suddenly in May of 2004 due to an aortic tear. He was 44. His final TV work was a guest appearance on the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh.
Stephen Furst - Vir Cotto
Stephen Furst's acting career had barely begun when, in the late 1970s, he was cast as Flounder in Animal House, which would become one of the most successful and influential comedies of all time. He went on to reprise his role in the short-lived spinoff TV series Delta House, and from there the roles just kept coming. Furst worked regularly throughout the 1980s, most notably in the role of Dr. Elliot Axelrod in the hit series St. Elsewhere. Then, in the 1990s, Babylon 5 arrived.
As Vir Cotto, the aide to Ambassador Londo Mollari, Furst was able to use his natural comedic gifts to play a put-upon, often submissive character who was often capable of surprising strength and intelligence in a crisis. He played Cotto throughout the run of the series, and reprised the role for the TV movie Thirdspace.
Furst continued to work regularly throughout the rest of the 1990s and into the mid-2000s, appearing in film and television and working as a voice actor on series like Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. Lifelong health issues also led him to become a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association. Furst died of diabetes-related complications in 2017 at the age of 63.
Bill Mumy - Lennier
Bill Mumy became part of genre television history from a very early age. A child actor who started acting as "Billy Mumy" in the late 1950s, he began earning a string of high-profile TV credits in the 1960s, including roles on The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1965 he became part of a science fiction classic when he was cast as Will Robinson in Lost In Space, and he continued to work regularly throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Then came the 1990s, and Babylon 5.
As Lennier, the patient and loyal diplomatic aide to Delenn, Mumy played a key role in the action on Babylon 5 for all five seasons. Since the show ended Mumy has remained a fixture of genre television as both a live-action and voice performer. He returned to his Will Robinson role for a Lost in Space epilogue short in 2015, and in 2018 he joined the cast of Netflix's Lost In Space reboot as Dr. Zachary Smith. His other major recent credit includes frequent voice work on the acclaimed animated series Bravest Warriors. He is set to join his Babylon 5 castmates Mira Furlan and Bruce Boxleitner in the upcoming series Space Command.
Andreas Katsulas - G'Kar
Andreas Katsulas' career in American screen acting began to pick up steam in the early 1980s, when he made appearances on Another World, American Playhouse, Guiding Light, and more. In the late 1980s he began drawing in high-profile film work, including roles in Someone to Watch Over Me and The Sicilian, and by the 1990s he was an established character actor on both the big and small screen. In 1993, he was immortalized in cinema history as Sykes, the "one-armed man" at the center of the mystery in Harrison Ford's hit thriller The Fugitive. Then came Babylon 5, and Katsulas' career-defining role.
As G'Kar, the Narn ambassador aboard the titular station, Katsulas turned in a series-long performance that's equal parts funny and tragic, thoughtful and strange. His frequent clashes with Peter Jurasik's Londo formed a key part of the show's mythology, and he remains one of the most memorable characters in the series. Katsulas' screen acting career slowed down a bit in the aftermath of Babylon 5, but he did continue working. He reprised his role as G'Kar for the Legend of the Rangers TV movie, made appearances on NYPD Blue and Star Trek: Enterprise, and contributing voice acting work for several video games. He died of lung cancer in February of 2006 at the age of 59.
Patricia Tallman - Lyta Alexander
Patricia Tallman's screen acting career began in the realm of genre legends. Her first film was George A. Romero's Knightriders, and soon after she landed a role on Tales from the Darkside and a role in yet another Romero film, Monkey Shines. As the 1980s turned into the 1990s Tallman landed a role on the TV series Generations and then picked up another high-profile genre gig in Tom Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead, in which she played Barbara. She also spent time on each of the three Star Trek series to air in the 1990s — The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.
On Babylon 5, Tallman played Lyta Alexander, a telepath whose long and convoluted journey took her from the title station to the Vorlon homeworld and back. Though she didn't become one of the series main stars until the latter seasons, Lyta was a major presence in the overarching Babylon 5 story, and played key roles in both the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War.
Tallman continues to act today, with recent roles including guest spots on Castle and Criminal Minds. She's also an accomplished stunt performer, with credits including the Austin Powers franchise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Bewitched.