Claire Danes

**Claire Catherine Danes** (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. Danes gained early recognition as Angela Chase in the 1994 teen drama series *My So-Called Life*. She made her film debut the same year in *Little Women* (1994). Her other films include *Home for the Holidays* (1995), *Romeo + Juliet* (1996), *The Rainmaker* (1997), *Les Misérables* (1998), *Brokedown Palace* (1999), the 1999 English dub of *Princess Mononoke* (1997), *The Hours* (2002), *Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines* (2003), *Shopgirl* (2005), *Stardust* (2007), and *A Kid Like Jake* (2018). She will portray a character in ***Full Circle***.

## Early life and education

Danes was born in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of sculptor and printmaking artist, Carla Danes (née Hall), and photographer Christopher Danes. Her older brother, Asa, is a lawyer. During Danes's childhood, her mother ran a small toddler day care center called "Danes Tribe" out of the family's SoHo loft and later served as Danes's manager. Danes's father worked as a residential general contractor in New York for 20 years in a company he ran called "Overall Construction". He also worked as a photographer and computer consultant. Danes is named after her paternal grandmother, Claire Danes (née Tomowske). Danes is primarily of German and British descent.

The family lived in an artist's loft on Crosby Street. Danes attended P.S. 3 and P.S. 11 for elementary school and Professional Performing Arts School for junior high school. She attended the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies in Manhattan. 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*. They moved two days after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Danes graduated from the Lycée Français de Los Angeles in 1997. In 1998, she began studies at Yale University. After studying for two years as a psychology major, she dropped out to focus on her film career.

## Personal life

Danes has been in therapy since the age of six and considers it "a helpful tool and a luxury to self-reflect and get some insight".

In 1998, Danes was declared persona non grata by the Filipino officials. The restriction involved a ban from entering Manila or the Philippines and prohibition on distribution of her films in the region. The ban came after Danes said Manila, the capital of the Philippines, "smelled of cockroaches, with rats all over, and that there is no sewage system, and the people do not have anything – no arms, no legs, no eyes". Danes later apologized for those remarks, but the Filipino authorities refused to lift the ban.

Danes and her mother are supporters of the charity Afghan Hands, which helps women in Afghanistan gain independence, education, and livable wages. Danes is also a long time supporter of DonorsChoose, a website that allows public school teachers to create project requests.

Danes is a feminist and has been critical of female under representation within Hollywood.

### Relationships and family

Danes met singer Ben Lee at her eighteenth birthday party in 1997. They dated for six years before separating in 2003.

In 2003, Danes began dating actor Billy Crudup, with whom she starred in *Stage Beauty*. Their relationship attracted significant media attention, as it led to Crudup's break-up with actor Mary-Louise Parker, who was seven months pregnant with their child at the time. Danes and Crudup's relationship lasted until 2006. Reflecting on their relationship, Danes had commented in 2016, "That was a scary thing. It was really hard. I didn't know how to not do that. I was just in love with him, and needed to explore that, and I was 24 ... I didn't quite know what those consequences would be. But it's OK. I went through it."

Danes met actor Hugh Dancy on the set of the film *Evening* in 2006. They announced their engagement in February 2009 and married in France in a private ceremony later that year. They have two sons, born in 2012 and 2018.

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