I have plenty of vanity in my life. I want to look pretty in the world. But it can be this bottomless pit.
— Claire Danes
It's OK to want to look and feel your best. It's OK to work at being attractive, whatever that means to you. And it's also OK to not expect to be defined by that. It's OK to be powerful in every way: to be big, to take up space. To breathe and thrive.
I exercise more for mental relaxation than anything else.
I don't want to be an actress. I want to be doing good work that is well written and has good people in it.
It's a very young mistake to assume that life is very serious. I get the joke now.
People talk about 'date night,' and it is true: Sometimes you have to apply yourself, or at least apply lipstick to yourself. You kind of have to dress up, just because. You know, wear heels to your own dinner table.
My goal is always to do something that feels just beyond my reach, and 'Homeland' continues to do that. Every season, they find new ways to scare me. The show is like a diamond that fell from the sky. I'll always feel slightly bludgeoned by it, but in the best way possible.
Germany's fascinating. It's a really rich landscape to film and dramatise.
I've never been interested or particularly good at censoring my experience.
I think people are made uncomfortable by uncensored expressions of emotion.
I am a feminist.
If I hadn't been an actress, I was thinking seriously about going into psychology. It's just really what I'm interested in: the human psyche and how we process information.
I was a pretty nerdy kid. I was pretty nerdy. I'm still kind of nerdy. I have all of the worst qualities of being a nerd - all of the affect and none of the smarts. I'm a useless nerd! That's pretty bad.
My first offer was when I was 12, and it was for a soap opera. And I turned it down because I knew that I was an unformed actor, and I didn't want to develop bad habits.
Growing up in New York City, I was always encouraged to question authority, and I think I confused patriotism with jingoism.
I'm just a big old nerd.
I've always had a really active imagination. Lots of kids have imaginary friends. Mine just took on a rather demonic form.
I'm very vain about my performance. I want to give as honest a performance as I can. But I'm not so worried about being regarded as beautiful when I'm playing a character.
The Brexit and Trump phenomena are informed by similar forces and social and economic movements. I think it's been really stressful; it's been really scary.
I try to eat sensibly. I cheat, but for the most part, I eat in a clean way.
I just want to be a sane person. I wanna be a person who has a life and who acts.
I do feel like I've gotten younger as I've aged.
Working gives you this new perspective. You don't take everything too seriously, and you realise that if you don't do too well on a history test, it's not the end of the world.
It's been a great privilege to see how interwoven nations are and how incredibly complex these relationships are. It's so elaborate.
I love Berlin.
I still have a book club with my friends from when I was 5. That's the privilege of growing up in a place where people want to remain. It's a huge gift.
I'm happier in my thirties. I feel clearer about who I am and less apologetic about it, and more accepting of my limitations and also more aware of the ways in which I'm capable.
I care about being formally physically attractive in my life, and I think that I am quite vain about my performance. I'm just not vain about how I look while I give the performance.
I really have never been concerned about being beautiful on-screen. That's just not my jam.
Television lets audiences deeply connect with characters.
I have to say that my dad's face is very malleable. He's barely got any cartilage in his face. I think I maybe inherited that Play-Doh-like physicality from him.
I would not say that secret-keeping is one of my finer skills, actually.
I was a serious kid to an absurd degree. I was overwhelmed with responsibility. You know, trying to play grown up. I overdid it.
As a young performer, I didn't know that you can have a great time playing someone in terrible crisis. The more you know it's not real, the deeper you can go into it. And the easier it is to let it go when it's done.
Oh, I'm full of fear. I care about things; therefore, I have fears. I like to think that I'm brave, which is different. Brave means you're able to admit that you care. If you care, you are vulnerable.
Some of my happiest moments have been dancing.
I eat in moderation and try not to worry about it.
I think you can become dependent on fame and be as known as you want to be, you know?
When somebody asks me who I'm wearing, I always see myself with a BabyBjoern, carrying a little tiny Karl Lagerfeld, like, 'I'm wearing Chanel.'
I was an actor who happened to be a kid.
I wouldn't say that I'm a naturally political beast.
I would be a terrible CIA officer in real life.
You have to come to work from a place of love.
The twenties are a deceptively challenging-slash-painful time. I'm just glad to be out of that phase.
I love sitting in the makeup trailer and getting my makeup done in 15 minutes as opposed to an hour and a half.
I started working when I was very young. I got an agent when I was 12, and fortunately was employed consistently from that point on. So I didn't really go to a conventional high school. I was tutored on sets and things.
Relationships are a constant negotiation and balance.
So much of my job is about finding another job, and that's really boring.
I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior. I am really interested in feelings and think they are what define us as a species. When you really get it right in acting, it's an act of empathy. You feel less distant from others, and that is really exciting.
I don't know any celebrated people that register in a big way who aren't unique.
