Biography

New Yorker Claire Catherine Danes was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Carla (Hall), a day-care provider and artist, and Christopher Danes, a computer consultant and photographer. She has an older brother, Asa. Her paternal grandfather, Gibson Andrew Danes, was a Dean of the Yale School of Art and Architecture. She is of mostly German and British Isles descent.

Claire was educated at Dalton School, New York, The New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, The Professional Performing Arts School and Lycée Français de Los Angeles. From 1998, she attended Yale University, studying psychology, but dropped out after two years to concentrate on her acting career.

Danes first came to major public attention when she appeared as "Angela Chase" in My So-Called Life (1994). She won an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award for this performance. A successful film career followed, including the role of "Juliet", opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). She continued acting in such varied project as The Hours (2002), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and Stardust (2007).

In 2010, she appeared in the HBO Production, Temple Grandin (2010), playing the title character. She received huge critical acclaim for the role, and won an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance. Since 2011, she has starred on the SHOWTIME series Homeland (2011), receiving great critical acclaim and winning Emmys and Golden Globes.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Completed two years at Yale University pursuing a psychology degree but never finished. [2002]

Flew to Los Angeles for the casting of Schindler's List (1993), after she was discovered for the role in My So-Called Life (1994). Steven Spielberg finally gave her the role which she had to turn down, because they were not willing to give her tutoring in the Polish language.

Auditioned for the role of Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted (1999). The role went to Angelina Jolie which won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.

Auditioned and was the first choice for the role of Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic (1997).

Has at least four songs written about her. The Ataris' "My So Called Life" (album: "Look Forward to Failure" EP), Size 14's "Claire Danes Poster" (self-titled album), "The Five Mile Line"'s "Claire Danes" ("Busride Home" demo) and "Claire Danes", a low-fi indi ballad by "John Parker Music" which was released on Subversive Records Limited in 2004.

Danes grew up in SoHo, Manhattan with Zac Posen and Julia Stiles. Her mother, Carla Hall, an artist, ran a daycare center in their SoHo loft, called "Danes Tribe". Her father, Chris, is a computer consultant and photographer. She has one sibling, an older brother, Asa, who is a corporate lawyer. She began studying modern dance at the age of six. She played a duck in an avant-garde production involving stilt-walkers. By age 10, Danes was enrolled at Lee Strasberg's Theatre Institute and appeared in films by students attending the acting schools of New York and Columbia universities. For junior high, she briefly attended New York City Lab School from 1991-92 (Morena Baccarin was a classmate) but graduated from the Lycée Français (Los Angeles) in 1997 after her family relocated to California.

Is mentioned in actor Canyon Prince's song "Life" from his album "Live and Funked Up" (2003).

Very close friends with actor Jason Schwartzman.

She was awarded the Nova Award at the 2007 Maui film Festival.

Engaged to Hugh Dancy as of February 2009. They met on the set of Evening (2007), and in September 2009 they married in France.

Was in attendance at the wedding of Mamie Gummer to Benjamin Walker on July 16, 2011.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) was the first film Danes did the DVD audio commentary for.

Has two sons with her husband Hugh Dancy: Cyrus Michael Christopher (b. December 17, 2012) and Rowan (b. August 27, 2018).

Is a certified scuba diver.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6541 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on September 24, 2015.

She is of German, English, and smaller amounts of Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish, Croatian, and Polish descent.

[on co-star Kate Beckinsale and hoping to become friends] That was wrong. We didn't. She's complicated. She's prickly.

[on education vs. career] I was told that my going to college wouldn't be good for my career. I think that's nonsense. It's good to empower yourself by cutting yourself off from this business every once in a while.

My line about Arnold Schwarzenegger is that he doesn't get in his own way. He is not apologetic about achieving his goals. And when you have that attitude, it's amazing what one can accomplish. He wanted to give me relationship advice. I was having trouble with a female friend, and he said, "Be really forthright and do not accommodate her needs excessively." I took his advice and we're not friends anymore. So there you go.

It's very difficult to judge yourself. Extreme self-doubt is only attractive when it's fictionalized. Which is why people love the movies. They are so reassuring.

I was a very confident child. I knew I wanted to be an actress from the age of 5. Madonna was my original muse -- around 5, I saw her perform on television, and I realized that performing could be one's vocation. Then, at 7 or 8, I realized that most actors don't make a lot of money, and I amended my plan. But at 9, I seized my destiny. I made a formal announcement to my parents that I had to be true to my art. Money or no money, acting is my calling.

I think that everybody wants to create, to do something that feels genuine and kinetic and spontaneous. I think actors want to surprise themselves. When it's really good, you kind of transcend yourself, and that happens infrequently. Very, very rarely. You might get one or two of those moments on a film, say, and sometimes they don't even use the takes where that happens. And I'm not really that moralistic about how you get there.

[on her notorious swimsuit scene in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)] I'll never wear a thong again. I'm a Speedo gal.

The point of acting is to share, to connect. That's why I act. Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.

[on husband Hugh Dancy] He's such a cutie patootie. While relationships are work, this just didn't feel like it. It's the kind of work that feels energizing rather than enervating. I find it very freeing to know that, okay, it takes constant nurturing and attention, but I can also stop looking for the one.

[what she gained from working on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)] It made me realize I'm a professional actress.

They had written Carrie [from Homeland (2011)] as bipolar without even knowing it. At first, I was concerned that it would just be a gimmick. I still am because it's fun to see crazy Carrie.

This business can be very erratic. You can be the subject of great attention, both positive and negative. You really do have to tether yourself when you're a teen star. If you don't have that tether, than you're really lost.

Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.

Growing up, I wanted desperately to please, to be a good girl.