The Frenchwoman is one of the more mysterious aspects of the island ever since the survivors first hear her voice on a recorded automatic distress call in the second half of the pilot. In the episode "Solitary" Sayid, off by himself on a self imposed exile from the other survivors out of the shame he feels for his torture of Sawyer, discovers a cable half-buried in the beach. Following the cable into the woods, Sayid falls prey to a trap that ensnares him. Waking up, he finds himself a captive of the slightly deranged Frenchwoman, whose name is Danielle Rousseau and who, after sixteen lonely years by herself, is looking forward to having some company--whether Sayid likes it or not.

If Rousseau looks familiar to fans of science fiction TV, then that's because she's played by Mira Furlan, who also played Delenn, the Minbari ambassador to the space station Babylon 5 for all five years of that series' running time. She's also reprised the character of Delenn in several TV movies. Furlan was a popular actress of the stage, screen and TV in her home country, the former Yugoslavia. Before her role on Lost, Furlan returned to Croatia to perform the lead role in the classic play Medea during the summers of 2002 and 2003. Furlan has returned on "Lost" as Rousseau in the first season episodes "Numbers" and "Exodus Parts One & Two". --SF