Entertainment

5 Ways Claire Danes' 'Vogue' Interview Makes Us Love Her Even More

Over the past decade, Claire Danes has gone from playing the angsty, hair-dye happy Angela Chase on My So-Called Life to playing a character that some have suggested is Angela's grown-up counterpart, Homeland's endearingly unstable Carrie Mathison. The transition may have appeared to be effortless, but Danes' interview with journalist Elizabeth Rubin in August's Vogue reveals the huge amount of work she's put into being a Hollywood natural, and makes us love her that much more.

by Rachel Reid

Claire Danes on child actors, mental illness, and being the next Meryl

Over the past decade, Claire Danes has gone from playing the angsty, hair-dye happy Angela Chase on My So-Called Life to playing a character that some have suggested is Angela's grown-up counterpart, Homeland's endearingly unstable Carrie Mathison. The transition may have appeared to be effortless, but Danes' interview with journalist Elizabeth Rubin in August's Vogue reveals the huge amount of work she's put into being a Hollywood natural, and makes us love her that much more.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

She chose her career at age 9

Like other natural-born superstars such as Julia Stiles and Emma Stone, Danes took the reigns on her own future at an age when most of us were trying to prepare ourselves for puberty. At 9, she told her parents, ‘Money or no money, I have to act. There’s no plan B. That’s it.’ I like to imagine the laughter that would have ensued if I'd said that to my parents as a kid. image: ABC

Her portrayal of Carrie is revolutionizing the CIA

Officials over at Langley came right out and said that they're hoping for Homeland to inspire this generation's young women to join up. “When I spent the day at Langley, they were very forthright and said”—she switches to a deep man’s voice—“‘You know, we’re always recruiting, and it’s not all that often that we’re rendered in pop culture. We’d like to have some influence on that.’" Any Homeland fan who says they haven't thought about signing up is a liar. image: Showtime

She breastfed minutes before winning a Golden Globe

We have instant respect for working moms, and that respect is multiplied by 1,000 when the work is award-winning performances and the motherhood is in the breastfeeding phase. Danes didn't bother to get a babysitter for Golden Globes night — she simply brought her newborn son, Cyrus, along to one of the biggest award shows of the year. “I went on the red carpet, went upstairs, fed Cyrus. Went into the ceremony, got the award, went back to feed Cyrus, went out again ... Then it was ‘Now you meet the president.’”

Handout/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

She gets tips from Meryl Streep and Jodie Foster on the regular

When Claire Danes gave her legendary performance as Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, the director called her "the Meryl Streep of her generation." She was a method actress at 16, and has followed in Streep's footsteps ever since. Danes names Streep and Foster as her mentors, and talks about the most important thing she's learned from them: “You have to pick your battles on set. You have to come to work from a place of love. You have to stay hydrated when you have crying scenes. You have to go to college. And you have to ask for money because there’s always more money and they won’t give it to you because you’re a girl!”

She's a child at heart

Possibly the most surprising and adorable thing we learned from this interview is that Claire Danes loves crafting. Seeing her pretend to be a CIA powerhouse every week might have had something to do with it, but she never struck us as a crochet enthusiast. How wrong we were: the actress' friends call her style "Kindergarten Sophisticate," namely due to the swing she had installed in her old SoHo loft and the crazy amount of crafting she does. Add Knitting With Claire Danes to our list of everyday things we want to do with celebrities.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
16