Claim: Homeland's protagonist is female.

Carrie Anne Mathison , played by actress Claire Danes , is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television drama/thriller series Homeland on Showtime , created by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon . Carrie is a CIA officer who , while on assignment in Iraq , learned from a CIA asset that an American prisoner of war had been turned by al-Qaeda . After a U.S. Marine sergeant named Nicholas Brody is rescued from captivity , Mathison believes that he is the POW described to her . Carrie 's investigation of Brody is complicated by her bipolar disorder and results in an obsession with her suspect .   For her performance as Mathison , Claire Danes has received several major acting awards , including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series , the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress -- Television Series Drama , the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series , the Satellite Award for Best Actress -- Television Series Drama , and the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama . She is the second actress to win all the five main TV acting awards for her performance in the Lead Drama Actress categories .