Age: 18
Born: New York City, NY
Lives: Santa Monica, CA
Birthdate: April 12, 1979
Height: 5'5 1/2';
Weight: 110-120 lbs
Hair: Dark Blonde in reality (crimson glow, light blonde, strawberry blonde, etc)
Eyes: Grey green
Father: Chris Danes, Computer Consultant, former Architectural Photographer
Mother: Carla Danes, Day Care Provider, Painter, Textile Designer
Brother: Asa Danes, Oberlin College Grad, NFP organization
Claire grew up in New York City and, at the age of 9, started taking acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Studio. In the sixth and seventh grade, she was enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School. She also stared studying modern dance at the age of six. Claire has been involved in gymnastics through her youth and attributes her early 'maturity' to the sport. Claire was raised in a very creative household. Her mother is a painter and used to work as a teacher before taking on the job of being her daughter's manager. Her father has worked as a computer consultant and an architectural photographer. She also has an older brother, Asa, who works for a not for profit orginization. Cliare has a cat, Fifi-Champion. Claire resides in Santa Monica, California and I belive she still has a residence in New York City.
National Association of Fan Clubs Off Broadway:
P.O. Box 7487
Burbank, CA 91510-7487
LKNAFC@aol.com
"Happiness"
"Punk Ballet"
"Kids on Stage" (in which she choreographed her own solo dance)
TV appearances:
"Law and Order" playing "Tracy Brandt" in episode: "Skin Deep" (episode # 3.1) 9/23/1992
"No Room for Opal" (w/ Tyne Daley)
"The Coming Out of Heidi Lieter" 1994
"Just Like Anyone" Soul Asylum Video
"My So-called Life" 1994
"Saturday Night Live" 1995
Film debut:
"Dreams of Love" (Milos Foreman, exec. prod.)
Other Films:
"Thirty" (short film)
"Pesky Suitor" (festival short film)
"Little Women" 1994 Release, with Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon
"How to Make an American Quilt" 1995 Release, with Winona Ryder
"Home for the Holidays" 1995 Release, with Holly Hunter, directed by Jodie Foster
"I Love You, I Love You Not" European Release.
"To Gillian on her 37th Birthday" 1996 Release
"Romeo & Juliet" 1996 Release, with Leonardo DeCaprio directed by Baz Luhrmann
"U-Turn" aka "Stray Dogs" 1997 Release, Directed by Oliver Stone
"Rainmaker" 1997 Release, Directed by Francis Coppola
"Polish Wedding" 1998 Release, Directed by Theresa Connelly
"Monterey Pop" 1998 Release, Directed by Des McAnuff
"Flora Plum" 1998 Release, Directed by Jodie Foster
"Brokedown Palace" aka "Two Girls" 1998 Release, Directed by Jonathan Kaplan
"Misérables, Les" 1998 Release, plays Cosette, Directed by Bille Augest
"Mod Squad, The" 1998 Release, Directed by Scott Silver
When the bean counters at ABC decided to cancel My So-Called Life, critics and viewers rallied to save the critically acclaimed but ratings-deficient teen drama. Paramount among the pro-Life protesters' concerns was that sixteen-year-old series star Claire Danes, who played anguished redhead Angela Chase, would not only slip away from series television, but lose her foothold in Hollywood entirely. Well, the program perished in 1995, but contrary to the fans' worries, the young actress found herself more in demand than ever.
Raised by artist parents in Manhattan's funky SoHo neighborhood, Danes developed her penchant for performance early on. She enrolled in a dance class at age six, and three years later was studying Method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Her first professional gigs were "small artsy-fartsy things" in off-off-Broadway theatres. At age eleven, Danes portrayed a molested child in a student film called Dreams of Love (1992), which boasted director Milos Forman as executive producer. She debuted on television, in 1992, with a one-episode appearance on Law and Order, as a teenager who kills her photographer-lover. Later that year, Danes auditioned for My So-Called Life and for a small role in Steven Spielberg's opus Schindler's List. The actress declined Spielberg's offer (because of his film's grueling shoot in Poland), and opted instead to do the pilot for My So-Called Life, which was filmed in early 1993 and aired just prior to the series introduction in 1994.
By that time, Danes had caught the eye of actress Winona Ryder, who encouraged the producers of Little Women (1994) to cast the budding thespian. The well-receive cinematic adaptation of Alcott's classic launched an impressive string of small yet potent feature-film roles for Danes. Following Life's cancellation, she signed up to play the childhood version of Anne Bancroft's character in How To Make an American Quilt (1995), which starred chum Ryder and was produced by Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Next up, Danes played Bancroft's granddaughter and Holly Hunter's daughter in Home for the Holidays (1995). Danes was thrilled to work on the film, since it afforded her the chance to meet her idol, Jodie Foster, the former child star turned admired actress-director-producer. Foster not only gave Danes performance pointers, but she recounted the joys of attending college, something Danes vows to make time for.
While Danes has completed co-starring roles--in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996), starring Michelle Pfeiffer, and I Love You, I Love You Not (1996), a Holocaust drama featuring French actress Jeanne Moreau--her first starring role proved to be a bit of a battle. She wanted to play Juliet to Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo in director Baz (Strictly Ballroom) Luhrmann's reworking of the Shakespearean classic. She faced stiff competition from Alicia Silverstone, who was fresh from her Clueless (1995) success and was also quite keen on the role. But Danes snagged the part, thanks partly to lobbying by Foster. While Danes has yet to achieve superstardom on the big screen, she has cultivated a small, loyal group of well-connected Hollywood fans who are confident the public at large will one day share their enthusiasm.