When I was 18 I went to college for two years and didn't work for a year which was essential for me, because my identity had been so influenced by my being an actor and I think I just needed to discover what it was to be myself, divorced from all that responsibility.

Her mother Carla (née Hall) is a day-care provider painter and textile designer who later served as her daughter's manager and her father Christopher Danes (born May 6 1944 in Austin Texas) is a computer consultant and former architectural photographer. Later that year Claire Danes co-starred as Clarissa Vaughan's (played by Meryl Streep) daughter in the Oscar-nominated The Hours with Nicole Kidman Julianne Moore and Ed Harris. She stars as Carrie Mathison in the Showtime series Homeland.

She stars as Carrie Mathison in the Showtime series Homeland. For her work Claire Danes has been awarded two Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards among others.