BarBara Luna

Barbara Ann Luna (born ), also stylized as BarBara Luna, is an American actress from film, television and musicals. Notable roles include Makia in Five Weeks in a Balloon and Lt. Marlena Moreau in the classic Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror". In 2004 and 2010 she appeared in the first and sixth episodes of Star Trek: New Voyages, a fan-created show distributed over the Internet (retitled Star Trek: Phase II in 2008). Biography BarBara Luna (as spelled on her official site) was born in Manhattan, New York. Her mother was Jewish from Budapest, Hungary and her maternal grandfather was from Italy. Her father was born in Manila, Philippines and her paternal grandmother was from Spain. With this background, Luna was cast in a variety of Hispanic and ethnic roles. Luna played Ngana, in the original Broadway production of South Pacific, in which she helped sing the show's opening song, Dites-Moi. She next appeared in The King and I as one of the Siamese children, advancing to the more important role of "Royal Dancer" by the time the show closed on Broadway. Not wishing to drop out of school to go on the road, she auditioned for and won the understudy role of Lotus Blossom in Teahouse of the August Moon. After graduating from high school a few months later, she was given the starring role of Lotus Blossom in Teahouse and toured with the show's company from its launch in December 1954 to its final performance in June 1956. Director Mervyn LeRoy saw Luna's performance as Lotus Blossom in Los Angeles and cast her to play Camille, the blind girl who was Frank Sinatra's love interest in The Devil at 4 O'Clock three years after she made her film debut in Tank Battalion (1958). This led to roles in other films, including as Meli in Firecreek, as Amparo in Ship of Fools, as Cat in The Concrete Jungle and as Makia in Five Weeks in a Balloon.