New Yorker Claire Catherine Danes was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Carla (Hall), a day-care provider and artist, and Christopher Danes, a computer consultant and photographer. She has an older brother, Asa. Her paternal grandfather, Gibson Andrew Danes, was a Dean of the Yale School of Art and Architecture. She is of mostly German and British Isles descent.

Claire was educated at the Dalton School, the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, the Professional Performing Arts School, and Lycée Français de Los Angeles. From 1998, she attended Yale University, where she studied psychology, but dropped out after two years to concentrate on her acting career.

Danes first came to major public attention when she appeared as Angela Chase inMy So-Called Life (1994). She won an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award for this performance. A successful film career followed, including the role of Juliet, oppositeLeonardo DiCaprio, inBaz Luhrmann'sRomeo + Juliet (1996). She continued acting in such varied project asThe Hours (2002),Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), andStardust (2007).

In 2010, she appeared in the HBO ProductionTemple Grandin (2010), in which she played title character. She received huge critical acclaim for the role and won an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance. Since 2011, she has starred in the Showtime seriesHomeland (2011), receiving great critical acclaim and winning Emmys and Golden Globes.