Carrie Mathison （Claire Danes） is fixated on a TV， on which her longtime mentor， Saul Berenson （Mandy Patinkin）， now head of the CIA， can be seen at a congressional hearing on a bombing. Without uttering a word， the trembling wrinkles on Carries face reveal the incredulity that overcomes her when Saul refers to an unstable case officer. The only indication that any acting is going on is the monitors behind the set.

When Carrie sits back on the sofa with a gesture of abject disbelief， director Lesli Linka Glatter throws up her arms as if Danes has scored a goal， which， in a way， she has. “Cut！ Thats great！” Glatter calls.

All this is observed by The New Yorker magazines John Lahr in a profile on the actress， Varieties of disturbance： where do Claire Danes volcanic performances come from？

Its a question well worth asking after Danes intriguing performance in the US drama thriller Homeland， which won her two Golden Globes.

Some will remember when Danes wakes up to find Leo DiCaprios Romeo dying in the 1996 adaptation of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. She was 16 and won acclaim for her first big screen role. But one can be excused for struggling to recall much of her work between then and now.

Dana Stevens， Slate magazines film critic， suggested： “Perhaps Hollywood hasnt found a role thats right for her.”

In Homeland， however， the actress finally proved that she can grab the audiences attention， with her brilliant portrayal of Carrie， a CIA analyst with bipolar disorder.

The daughter of a photographer and a painter， Danes enjoyed a privileged， bohemian upbringing in New York City. She took modern dance classes from the age of 4 and enrolled at the renowned Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. Her route to fame began， aged 14， with the short-lived but long-admired teen drama My So-Called Life.

In 1994， Danes told People magazine： “Its really hard being a kid doing a grown-up job... Im so lonely that I will just sit on a sidewalk and look at other teenagers. But then I just stop and think： I made this decision， and look what I have instead — a TV series.”

In 1998， she began a degree in English and psychology at Yale University， where her grandfather had been dean of the art and architecture school. Her father is an alumnus， too. Danes told USA Today： “The one thing I really have to do， or I will be rejected by my family entirely， is going to college.”

Even so， she later dropped out of the prestigious university to star as Meryl Streeps daughter in The Hours， a film based on Michael Cunninghams book about three women who are connected by a Virginia Woolf novel.

But she never managed to find the right role until Homeland.

Danes once told The New York Times in an interview： “Actors want to surprise themselves. When its really good， you kind of transcend yourself， and that happens infrequently. Very， very rarely.”

With Carrie Mathison， it seems Danes struck gold.

凱瑞·馬西森（克萊爾·丹妮斯飾）目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地盯著電視，因?yàn)樗L(zhǎng)久以來(lái)的導(dǎo)師、現(xiàn)任中情局局長(zhǎng)索爾·貝倫森（曼迪·帕廷金飾）正在出席就一場(chǎng)爆炸事件而召開的國(guó)會(huì)聽證會(huì)。當(dāng)索爾提及調(diào)查人員中有內(nèi)鬼時(shí)，凱瑞雖然一言未發(fā)，但臉上的表情卻一震，心中充滿疑惑。唯一能表明這是拍攝現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的就是布景后的監(jiān)視器了。

就在凱瑞靠坐在沙發(fā)上，做出絕望和懷疑的動(dòng)作時(shí)，導(dǎo)演萊斯利·林卡·格拉特高舉雙手，仿佛丹妮斯射門得分了一樣，從某種程度上來(lái)說(shuō)，她的確如此。格拉特說(shuō)：“卡，太棒了！”

這一切都被來(lái)自《紐約客》雜志的約翰·拉爾看在了眼里。拉爾撰寫了一篇丹妮斯的個(gè)人傳記——《種種困惑：克萊爾·丹妮斯充滿爆發(fā)力的表演源自何處？》。

這是一個(gè)值得探究的問(wèn)題，因?yàn)榈つ菟箲{借在懸疑美劇《國(guó)土安全》中的出色表演兩獲金球獎(jiǎng)。

可能有人還記得1996年根據(jù)莎翁戲劇改編的影片《羅密歐與朱麗葉》中的一幕，丹妮斯飾演的朱麗葉醒來(lái)后卻發(fā)現(xiàn)萊昂納多·迪卡普里奧飾演的羅密歐已經(jīng)死去。那時(shí)16歲的丹妮斯首次亮相大銀幕便廣受贊譽(yù)。但人們卻很難再回憶起她之后的作品。

《石板》雜志影評(píng)人德納·史蒂文斯表示：“可能好萊塢還沒(méi)有找到適合她的角色?！?/p>

但是，在《國(guó)土安全》一劇中，丹妮斯演活了凱瑞這個(gè)患有躁郁癥的中情局分析員角色，最終證明了自己的人氣和實(shí)力。

丹妮斯的父母分別是攝影師和畫家，她從小在紐約長(zhǎng)大，成長(zhǎng)環(huán)境優(yōu)越，過(guò)著無(wú)拘無(wú)束的生活。她從四歲起便開始學(xué)習(xí)現(xiàn)代舞，之后被著名的李·斯特拉斯伯格戲劇電影學(xué)院錄取。14歲時(shí)，她因出演青春偶像劇《我所謂的生活》而開啟了成名之路；該劇雖然“短命”，卻倍受贊譽(yù)。

1994年，丹妮斯在接受《人物》雜志采訪時(shí)表示：“讓一個(gè)孩子去從事大人的工作這真的很難。我感到很孤獨(dú)，有時(shí)會(huì)坐在人行道旁，看著來(lái)來(lái)往往的同齡人。但后來(lái)我靜下來(lái)想了想：這個(gè)決定是我做的，而我也收獲了一部電視劇作品?！?/p>

1998年，她前往耶魯大學(xué)攻讀英文和心理學(xué)學(xué)位。她的爺爺曾是耶魯大學(xué)建筑與藝術(shù)學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)，父親也是該校校友。丹妮斯對(duì)《今日美國(guó)》報(bào)說(shuō)：“有件事我必須做，否則我就會(huì)被逐出家門，那就是上大學(xué)?！?/p>

即便如此，她后來(lái)為了出演電影《此時(shí)此刻》中梅麗爾·斯特里普的女兒一角，還是選擇從這所一流名校輟學(xué)。該片改編自邁克爾·康寧漢的小說(shuō)，講述了因一本弗吉尼亞·伍爾芙的小說(shuō)而結(jié)緣的三個(gè)女人的故事。

但是，直到出演《國(guó)土安全》，她才成功地找到了適合自己的角色。

丹妮斯在接受《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》采訪時(shí)表示：“演員都想給自己驚喜。如果成功的話，就等于你超越了自己，但這種事發(fā)生的概率，真的、真的很低。”

憑借凱瑞·馬西森這一人物角色，丹妮斯似乎時(shí)來(lái)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)了。