Miroslava Stern was born Miroslava Stanclová in Prague, Czechoslovakia, during the tumultuous interwar period. Her life took a dramatic turn when her father passed away, and she was subsequently adopted by a Jewish doctor, Oskar Leo Stern, who married her mother, Miroslava Becka. This union resulted in the actress having a half-brother, Ivo Stern, who was born in 1931.
The Stern family's life was forever changed when they fled their native Czechoslovakia in 1939, following the outbreak of World War II. They were interned in a concentration camp, before seeking refuge in various Scandinavian countries and eventually emigrating to Mexico in 1941.
Miroslava's early life in Mexico City was marked by a beauty contest win, which led to her studying acting in Los Angeles. However, her European features and accent often limited her to playing mysterious women or foreign beauties on screen. Her breakthrough role came in Luis Buñuel's 1955 film, The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, which would also become her final and most enduring film.
Tragedy struck soon after the film's completion, as Miroslava took her own life reportedly due to a broken heart, following the marriage of the man she loved to another woman. In a haunting coincidence, the film's premiere coincided with her own cremation in a Mexican graveyard. Her short and tumultuous life has inspired a 1990 short story and a 1993 film, both titled Miroslava.
