Claire Danes biography

Claire Catherine Danes is a naturally talented actress from New York City who was born on April 12th 1979. She was always known for her willingness to perform, act and sing from a very early age, and her mother and father who were both very artistic played an active role in encouraging her to get involved with the entertainment industry.

At just six years old Claire was studying modern dance, and just a few years later she began to start up classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She had a various number of stage roles very early on in her career which gained her plenty of experience and she eventually managed to break into film work at just 11 years old in a 1992 movie called 'Dreams of love' where she played a tragically abused child. From there Claire also went on to take on a small role in the hugely popular TV show at that time 'Law and Order'.

Her big break undoubtedly came when she won the starring role of 'Angela' in a new TV series aimed at teenagers called 'My so called life' it soon became a cult show and reached extremely large audiences right up until its final episodes, making Claire a household name on the lips of teenagers everywhere.

Claire quickly jumped back into the acting business when 'My so called life' came to an end, and took on a role in 'Little Women' as Beth, the dying young girl. She starred alongside such Hollywood names as Susan Sarandon and Wynona Ryder. She also starred in a couple more movies that same year, namely Jodie Foster's movie 'Home for the holidays' and the successful film 'How to make an American quilt'.

One of Claire's biggest film roles however was still to come, in 1996 was chosen by Director Baz Luhrman to play the role of Juliet alongside popular actor Leonardo Dicaprio in a fantastic modern day version of the classic yet tragic love story 'Romeo & Juliet'. Audiences were impressed by the chemistry between the two actors and it soon became a hit film in countries worldwide.

The next three years saw Claire take on a number of different roles in well received films such as Oliver Stone's U Turn in 1997 and Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Rainmaker'. Claire later decided to take a break from acting in 1998 and enrolled herself in Yale as a freshman.

When she returned to the acting scene Claire starred in the new sequel Terminator 3: Rise of the machines and managed to prove to critics that she was back on top form. To train for the role, she strapped on a karate uniform and trained in the martial arts.

Claire Danes has often been linked to a variety of top actors including Matt Damon, Andrew Dorf with the most recent object of her affection rumoured to be Australian musician Ben Lee.