Claire Danes
I took three years off. I differentiated myself from the industry. Found my identity - sort of... I haven't graduated yet. I'm not legitimately educated yet, but maybe one day.Collection: Graduation
Growing up, I wanted desperately to please, to be a good girl.Collection: Teen
It's funny with jeans now, because if they don't feel like a pair of sweatpants, I don't have patience for them anymore! I think I'm becoming increasingly lazy.Collection: Patience
Growing up in New York City, I was always encouraged to question authority, and I think I confused patriotism with jingoism.Collection: Patriotism
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 just turn into a madwoman.Collection: Imagination
I used to have nightmares when I was a little kid that I woke up prematurely and opened all the Christmas presents. And then I would be so relieved when I woke up and I realized that I hadn't done it.Collection: Christmas
Narciso Rodriguez was my first fashion big brother. He made my wedding dress, which was wonderful.Collection: Wedding
Growing up in New York with artist parents - a very liberal environment, where we were always encouraged to challenge the status quo - I think for a long time I confused jingoism with patriotism. And that is a mistake.Collection: Patriotism
There was a solid year and a half, perhaps two years, after making 'Temple Grandin,' when I didn't do anything. I just didn't have much patience for roles that were silly, or light, or inconsequential.Collection: Patience
Once you get over that peak of puberty, you hit a nice stride.
Relationships are a constant negotiation and balance.
Some of my happiest moments have been dancing.
I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior.
Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.
Fame doesn't end loneliness.
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've always very earnestly tried to do my best, so I just have to trust that and forgive myself for being fallible.
It just seems like the most successful, iconic love stories are not so easy or escapist. I think the ones that stay with us and resonate are full of conflict, discord and misunderstandings 'cause that's what makes drama happen or tension even if it's a comedy.
My go-to gifts are scarves from my friend Matin Maulawizada's nonprofit organization, Afghan Hands, which supports disenfranchised women in Afghanistan. In exchange for their beautiful embroidery, the women are given financial aid and classes in math and literacy. The scarves are all stunning and one of a kind.
I have this book club, and we don't read one book; we offer up a few suggestions and create a library over time.
My parents never condescended to me. As a child, I always sat at the head of our dinner table. I was always given a lot of responsibility.
I think 'Breaking Bad' is incredible.
I think because I am as earnest as I am, people were accepting of my evolving into a certified, legitimate, and grown up and I did take three years off.
I should be so lucky to be a misfit. I aspire to be a misfit.
I became very successful at a young age... I had lots of opportunities and lots of power and had no idea how to focus it.
I'm so impressed by Jennifer Lawrence and Carey Mulligan. They have this exquisite taste. They are very gifted in their ability to make great choices.
You don't realize how useful a therapist is until you see yourself on e and discover you have more problems than you ever dreamed of.
You know, let a few years go by until I hit my midlife crisis. Then that can be documented on film.
Yeah, there was the Flora Plum thing, where I trained for about a month and I had taken a semester off for that, and two weeks prior to filming, the financing collapsed.
When I was 18 I went to college for two years and didn't work for a year which was essential for me, because my identity had been so influenced by my being an actor and I think I just needed to discover what it was to be myself, divorced from all that responsibility.
What I needed was a connection to life that was real and lasting.
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.
My character was kidnapped by the Terminator and I was kidnapped by the Terminator production.
Maybe philosophy - I love talking about ideas. Or maybe art history. I was thinking about psychology, then I got really afraid because everybody says it's terribly boring.
I'm only realizing now that I was a child actress because I always took myself so seriously.
I would sign on for projects that were meant to shoot in July, and then they would postponed and they would bleed into the following semester, and then I'd take a semester off, and then the movie would collapse.
I really liked Yale, although it was extremely intimidating. When I visited the campus, I was hiding behind trees, I felt so unworthy.
I know, it's true. I've played these tortured teenagers. I can't wait to shed that image.
I have this home in New York, I have a long-term relationship with my boyfriend, who's from Australia, and I had this business that I had maintain. Even though I wasn't actively shooting, there's a lot of peripheral work.
I hadn't been free from adult responsibilities since I was 12, and I needed to experience that. I really needed to just be a kid again.
I get a little jealous of these actor boys. They walk into a club, and in two seconds flat there are swarms of girls who are wanting so badly to touch them or just say hello. That's not the case with me, or any other girl I know.
I finally realized that yeah I did want to be an actor and it wasn't out of habit, but I needed to grow up for myself and then kind of re-enter the industry with a sound understanding of what my sensibilities and my values are as a relatively formed human being.
However, I'm at a very comfortable place in my career and celebrity, in that I don't have to audition as extensively as I used to for roles but yet I'm not immediately recognizable.
But I don't know if people are meant to be together. You have to have a lot in common, choose well and be really fortunate. It's not like you're sprinkled with fairy dust. You have to believe that love will be there when you need it.
I think it's important to never play 'crazy' - you have to know what kind of crazy you're playing.
The first time I realised I was patriotic was after September 11th.
Psychology and acting are very closely linked. It's just about studying people and how they work. It can be an incredible discipline and exercise.
On a film you can really get away with learning the scene the night before and that's often just not possible with TV, so you have to be a little bit more prepared a little bit more in advance.
Steve Martin is one of my favorite performers, writers, artists of all time.
Any story is better with a little love in it, right?