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She won the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Learn 50 facts you didn't know about actress Claire Danes.
1. Danes was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
2. Her mother, Carla, is a day-care provider, painter, and textile designer who would later serve as her daughter's manager.
3. Her father, Christopher Danes, is a computer consultant and former architectural photographer.
4. Danes has described her background as being "as WASPy as you can get".
5. Her paternal grandfather, Gibson A. Danes, was the dean of the art and architecture school at Yale University.
6. She has a brother, Asa, who graduated from Oberlin College and works as a litigation attorney for the law firm of Paul Hastings.
7. Danes attended the Dalton School in New York City, the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, the Professional Performing Arts School, and the Lycée Français de Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California.
8. In 1998, Danes went to Yale University (her father's alma mater). After studying for two years as a psychology major, she dropped out of Yale to focus on her film career.
9. Claire Catherine Danes is an American actress who first came to prominence with her role as Angela Chase in the 1994 series My So-Called Life. The role won her the first of four Golden Globe Awards.
10. She made her film debut the same year in Little Women (1994).
11. Her other films include Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Rainmaker (1997), Les Misérables (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Igby Goes Down (2002), The Hours (2002), Shopgirl (2005) and Stardust (2007).
12. From 1998 to 2000, Danes attended Yale University before dropping out to return to acting.
13. She appeared in an Off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues in 2000, and made her Broadway debut playing Eliza Doolittle in the 2007 revival of Pygmalion.
14. In 2010, she portrayed Temple Grandin in the HBO TV film Temple Grandin, which won her a second Golden Globe and the first of three Emmy Awards.
15. Since 2011, she has starred as Carrie Mathison in the Showtime series Homeland, for which she has won two Emmys and two Golden Globes.
16. She has also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
17. Her brother named Asa Danes is a lawyer.
18. Danes' parents met when they were both studying at the Rhode Island School of Design.
19. Danes' mother was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1945 and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Education from Rhode Island School of Design (1967), an Associate of Applied Science in Textile Design from Fashion Institute of Technology (1971), a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College (1987), and a Masters of Fine Arts from Otis College of Art and Design (2002).
20. During Danes' childhood her mother ran a small toddler day-care center called Danes Tribe out of the family's SoHo loft to supplement her work as a painter and textile designer, and later served as Danes' manager.
21. Danes' father was born in Austin, Texas in 1944 and, after initially studying Biology and Civil Engineering at Brown University, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design (1968), where he studied with Harry Callahan.
22. During Danes' childhood her father worked as a general contractor for 20 years, working on residential buildings in a company he ran called Overall Construction in New York. He also worked as a photographer and computer consultant.
23. Danes is named after her paternal grandmother, Claire Danes (née Tomowske), who died in 1953.
24. The family lived in an artist's loft on Crosby Street.
25. Danes attended the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies in New York City (the same school her Homeland co-star Morena Baccarin attended).
26. She attended The Dalton School for one year of high school before moving with her parents to Santa Monica, California for the role in My So-Called Life.
27. Danes said they moved two days after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
28. Danes graduated from the Lycée Français de Los Angeles in 1997.
29. In 1998, Danes went to Yale University. Director Oliver Stone wrote a letter of recommendation. After studying for two years as a psychology major, she dropped out to focus on her film career.
30. Danes started studying dance when she was six years old.
31. Danes took dance classes from Ellen Robbins at Dance Theater Workshop and acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute at the age of ten.
32. She appeared in theater and video productions in New York City.
33. Although she continued to dance, Danes said that her focus shifted to acting by the time she was nine years old.
34. Her audition with Miloš Forman when she was eleven led to roles in several student films.
35. She signed with agent Karen Friedman at the Writers & Artists talent agency at the age of 12.
36. At age 13, Danes' first big job was working on the Dudley Moore TV sitcom pilot called Dudley, which was shot at Silvercup Studios in Astoria, Queens.
37. She appeared in an episode of HBO's Lifestories: Families in Crisis entitled "The Coming out of Heidi Leiter".
38. In March 1993, a pilot episode was shot, when she was 13 years old. It would be almost another year and a half before broadcast.
39. She then starred as the 15-year-old Angela Chase in the television drama series My So-Called Life, starring in the show and providing voiceovers for 17 of the series' 19 episodes, including the pilot episode. For her role, she won a Golden Globe Award and received an Emmy nomination.
40. She won the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film and the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries award.
41. In 2012, Danes' audiobook recording of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale was released at Audible.com. Her performance was nominated for a 2013 Audie Award in the Fiction category.
42. She hosted the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo.
43. Before she had her first kiss in real life, she had her first on-screen one in an episode of My So-Called Life.
44. Danes met Australian singer Ben Lee at her birthday party in 1997-they dated for almost six years. Their relationship ended in 2003.
45. In 2004, Danes began a relationship with former Stage Beauty co-star, Billy Crudup, that lasted until 2006.
46. Danes met actor Hugh Dancy on the set of Evening in 2006 in Newport, Rhode Island. They began dating and announced their engagement in February 2009. They married in France in a secret ceremony in late August or early September 2009.
47. They have one child, a son named Cyrus (born 2012).
48. They live in the West Village neighborhood of New York City.
49. Danes and her mother are supporters of the charity Afghan Hands.
50. Danes is also a long time supporter of Donorschoose.org, a website that allows public school teachers to create project requests. Donors then choose what projects inspire them, and help to fund those projects.
Source: facebook.com/ClaireDanes, Wikipedia.org
