Claire Danes

Claire Danes: I'm so happy I'm not a teenager anymore. The hormones have finally chilled out, and I'm profoundly grateful.

Claire Danes: It's so funny, because getting a role on Broadway is kind of like getting pregnant. All of a sudden, people start bombarding you with all kinds of advice and personal experiences.

Claire Danes: I went to my first make-out party when I was 12, and I didn't know anybody there. That was the kinkiest I've ever been! His name was Peter, and he was from Sweden. Not a bad way to start.

Claire Danes: When I was younger--like 14--I was desperate to find that "true love" experience, but really, if you have to ask yourself if you're in love, then you're not.

Claire Danes: Television is incredibly impactful and powerful. The failure of a show accesses more people than the most successful movie. Movies are talked about with kind of more reverence or something, but they're not as powerful culturally. TV stars have a whole other level of celebrity.

Claire Danes: I was told that going to college wouldn't be good for my career, but I think that's nonsense. It's good to empower yourself by cutting yourself off from this business every once in a while.

Claire Danes: (on turning down a soap opera role in 1999) I didn't want my acting style to be tainted. You know, I had some integrity when I was 12.

Claire: (on getting used to fame and the paparazzi) The media has become so much more voracious in the last 10 years. I think the proliferation of the tabloids has changed actors' lives pretty profoundly.

Claire: I love dancing and I think my dancing served me and my singing because I have a sense of rhythm and timing.

Claire: There's certainly something very uncomfortable about the voyeurism involved in being in the press, being an actor, where people have a seemingly insatiable curiosity about, you.

Claire: (on her relationship with Australian rock star Ben Lee) We follow each other around. It's a priority for both of us, I think. Our lives are quite erratic, and we provide a sense of constancy and consistency. Yeah, we're each other's anchors.

Claire: You don't realize how useful a therapist is until you see yourself one and discover you have more problems than you ever dreamed of.

Claire: (about her two years of college at Yale) We ordered pizza at midnight and played video games, and I went to a few frat parties. I didn't know how to "hang out" properly before that!

Claire: College is hardly "just being a kid." It's really hard.....I was such a nerd. I was nerdier than most of the other students. My best friend would get so frustrated with me, because I was quite anal and would get so obsessive over papers and exams. I took it all so seriously. It was as if I was sustaining a 100 million dollar movie or something.

Claire: (on her role in Shopgirl) I was playing a girl who was essentially my age and at a similar stage in her life... the parallels were easy to find.

Claire: It was never our intention to hurt anyone. Billy and I fell in love, it happens. His feelings for Mary Louise had since changed, and we just acted on what we were feeling. Unfortunately, we did hurt two very special people, intentionally, or not.

Claire: I have a huge, active imagination, and I think I'm really scared of being alone; because if I'm left to my own devices, I'll turn into a wild woman.