Claire Danes breathed life into 15-year old Angela Chase when her role in the 1994 drama series “My So-Called Life” launched her to stardom when she was just 13. The show, which opened the door to her now nearly three-decades-long acting career, won her a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination. Hailed as an anthem for many teens in the mid-1990s, it still has a cult classic following to this day.
That same year, she starred as Beth March in the film adaptation of Little Women. She was cast alongside A-list actors Susan Sarandon, Wynona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, and Christian Bale.
These two roles led to her first leading role on the big screen as Juliet in 1996’s “Romeo + Juliet,” starring opposite a pre-“Titanic” Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie’s director, Baz Luhrmann, reportedly called the 16-year old Danes "the Meryl Streep of her generation.” Later that year it was revealed that she turned down playing the female lead in “Titanic.”
Other notable films Danes starred in during the 1990s are “The Rainmaker,” “Les Misérables,” “Brokedown Palace,” and “The Mod Squad.” Following these films, she took a break from acting and attended Yale University for two years, studying Psychology. Her comeback film, “The Hours,” also starring Meryl Streep, was Oscar-nominated.
After several more successful films, Danes starred in HBO’s “Temple Grandin,” winning Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.
In 2011, Danes was considering whether to accept the lead role for the television series “Homeland” or the part of a secretary in Clint Eastwood’s biopic of J. Edgar Hoover.
“I was like, ‘Do I want to play the secretary to the boss man, or do I want to be the boss man?’ I want to be the boss man,” Danes said to Vogue magazine in 2013.
The show ran for nine years and won her two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama. She earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015.