We have compiled the details of the life of Claire Danes, who started her career with dancing, continued with acting and became famous by taking part in many successful films, TV shows and stage productions.
Her full name is Claire Catherine Danes, she was born on April 12, 1979 in Manhattan, New York City. She was born the daughter of her mother, sculptor and printmaking artist Carla Danes Hall, and her father, photographer Christopher Danes. She has an older brother named Asa, who is a lawyer. Danes' mother ran a small childcare center called "The Danes Tribe" and later served as its director. Her father, on the other hand, worked as a general housing contractor for a company called "Overall Construction", which he managed in New York.
Living with her family in an artist's penthouse on Crosby Street, Danes enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School for middle school. She attended Dalton School in high school for a year before moving with her family to Santa Monica, California, and they moved two days after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
After graduating from the Lycée Français de Los Angeles in 1997, Danes began her studies at Yale University the following year. After studying psychology for two years, she dropped out of school to focus on her acting career. Danes began taking dance lessons at the age of six, and at the age of 10 she began taking dance lessons from Ellen Robbins and acting lessons at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. Having acted in different theater and video productions in New York, Danes has shifted her focus to acting, although she continues to dance. At the age of 11, she was able to act in many student films thanks to her auditions with director Miloš Forman. The following year, she signed a deal with Karen Friedman at the Writers & Artists talent agency.
Danes got her first big job at the age of 13, starring in the TV sitcom "Dudley" with Dudley Moore. Danes guest-starred as a teenage murderer in the police procedural and legal drama TV series "Law & Order" in the third season episode "Skin Deep". Later, she appeared in an episode of HBO's TV series "Lifestories: Families in Crisis" titled "The Coming out of Heidi Leiter".
Later, she played the character of Angela Chase in the teen drama TV series "My So-Called Life". She earned a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award nomination for her performance. Despite being canceled after 19 episodes, the series has established a huge cult following. That same year, Danes starred as Beth March in the 1994 film adaptation of Gillian Armstrong's historical drama movie "Little Women." After the cancellation of "My So-Called Life", she appeared in the family comedy-drama "Home for the Holidays" in 1995 and the romantic drama "I Love You, I Don't Love You" in 1996 and the romantic drama "Gillian on your 37th Birthday". She has appeared in many movie roles, including the drama. She also appeared in the music video for Soul Asylum's song "Just Like Anyone" in 1995.
She made her screen debut when she played Juliet, co-starring with Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1996 romantic crime film "Romeo + Juliet" directed by Baz Luhrmann. The film, which received generally positive reviews from critics, was a great success, grossing over $147 million against its $14.5 million budget.
The following year, Danes reprized her role as Kelly Riker in the legal drama "The Rainmaker" directed by Francis Ford Coppola and as Jenny in the neo-noir crime thriller "U Turn" directed by Oliver Stone. In 1998, she appeared as Cosette in "Les Miserables" based on the novel of the same name, and as the pregnant teenage daughter of Polish immigrants in the comedy-drama "Polish Wedding". In 1999, she made her debut in the English version of the Japanese animated epic historical fantasy "Princess Mononoke". That same year, she played the role of Julie Barnes in the crime drama series, a big-screen adaptation of the 1970s TV show "The Mod Squad." She also starred in the drama movie "Brokedown Palace" with Kate Beckinsale.
Danes started with performances in "Happiness", "Punk Ballet" and "Kids Onstage", where she choreographed her own dance at the New York City theatre. In April 2000 she appeared off Broadway in Eve Ensler's play "The Vagina Monologues". In November of the same year, she appeared as Emily Webb in a one-night-only reading of Thornton Wilder's book "Our Town" in Beverly Hills, with the production staged by Bess Armstrong.
Returning to the cinema in 2002, Danes returned to her career with the comedy-drama film "Igby Goes Down". Later that year, she appeared as the daughter of Clarissa Vaughan in the Oscar Award-nominated psychological drama "The Hours." The following year, she starred in the sci-fi action movie "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" followed by the romantic period movie "Stage Beauty" (2004).
In September 2005, Danes starred in choreographer Tamar Rogoff's solo dance piece "Christina Olson: American Model," in which she portrayed Andrew Wyeth's famous painting Christina's World. Taking part in the portrayal of someone suffering from muscle breakdown that left her weak and partially paralyzed, Danes was praised for her dancing skills and acting on the project.
In 2005, she received critical acclaim and acclaim when she starred in the romantic comedy-drama movie "Shopgirl" and the comedy-drama movie "The Family Stone." Two years later, she appeared in the fantasy romantic adventure movie "Stardust", which she referred to as the "classic model of romantic comedy". In the same year, she continued to make a name for herself by appearing in the drama movie "Evening" and the thriller "The Flock". Later in 2007, Danes made her Broadway theatrical debut as Eliza Doolittle in a remake of George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" directed by David Grindley at the American Airlines Theatre. She also appeared in the 2008 drama "Me and Orson Welles" with Zack Efron and Christian McKay.
In 2010, Danes was featured in the HBO production of "Temple Grandin," a biographical drama about the autistic animal scientist. While the film was well received, it received great acclaim for her performance. Additionally, for her performance, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or Anthology Series or Movie, a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie, and an Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Television Movie for Screen. Won the Actors Guild Award.
In March 2016, Danes performed with John Krasinski, Hank Azaria and Sanjit De Silva in Sarah Burgess' "Dry Powder" directed by Thomas Kail.
Danes appeared in the Showtime espionage thriller TV series "Homeland" from 2011 to 2020 as Carrie Mathison, a CIA agent with bipolar disorder. She won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress and Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Television Series Drama and Drama Series for her performance. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2012. In 2012, Margaret Atwood's audiobook recording of "The Handmaid's Tale" was released and her performance won the 2013 Audie Award for fiction. In 2015, her career was rewarded by earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On February 10, 2021, it was announced that she will star in the Apple romantic period drama miniseries "The Essex Serpent" as Cora Seaborne.
Private life
Danes met singer Ben Lee in 1997. The couple dated for six years, from 1997 to 2003. In 2003, she began a relationship with actor Billy Crudup, with whom she co-starred. The couple's relationship continued until 2006. Danes met actor Hugh Dancy on the set of a movie in 2006. The couple got engaged in February 2009 and were married that year in a private ceremony in France. The couple has two sons born in 2012 and 2018. In January 2023, Danes said they were expecting their third child.
Danes, who has been in therapy since the age of six, said she saw it as "a useful purpose for self-reflection and some insight." Danes and her mother became supporters of "Afghan Hands", a charity that helps women in Afghanistan earn independence, education and livelihoods. She is also a longtime supporter of a website called "DonorsChoose" that allows public school teachers to create project requests. Danes, a feminist, thinks that women are underrepresented in Hollywood. In 2012, she was named "2012 Woman of the Year" by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theaters.