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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.

-Claire Danes

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As A Young Performer,

Claire Danes

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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.

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Playing Someone

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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.

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In A Way, That's Really Reassuring. I'm Not Just A Very Limited Person To Not Have Figured It Out At This Point. But It's Also Intimidating. Well, How Long Is It Going To Take Before You Can Have A Good Time?

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I Really Have Never Been Concerned About Being Beautiful On-screen. That's Just Not My Jam.

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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 Guess I Stopped Acting When I Was 18 And Didn't Pick It Up Again Until I Was 21. That Wasn't The Plan, Though. When I First Started At Yale, The Plan Was To Do A Movie Each Summer.

I Love Sitting In The Makeup Trailer And Getting My Makeup Done In 15 Minutes As Opposed To An Hour And A Half.

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 Actually Haven't Been Approached A Whole Lot For Television, Believe It Or Not.

At Every Stage In Life You Think About Death. But Teenagers Especially Are Sort Of Invincible. They're Not Supposed To Be Thinking About Dying Yet, Or Else They'd Be Too Afraid To Live.

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I Like Marriage. I Feel Very Secure. It Helps When You Are In Love With The Person You Are Married To.

I Like Reading Novels Because It Provides Insight Into Human Behavior.

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.

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There Is Real Honor In Being A Total Goofball

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 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.

Actors Want To Surprise Themselves. When It's Really Good, You Kind Of Transcend Yourself, And That Happens Infrequently. Very, Very Rarely.

I Was A Serious Kid To An Absurd Degree. I Was Overwhelmed With Responsibility. You Know, Trying To Play Grown Up. I Overdid It.

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.

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I Have To Expose Myself And Then Accept The Judgment That Audiences And Critics Will Have. And That's Okay. I Appreciate The Elliptical Nature Of It. Sometimes People Are More In The Mood To Be Nice To Me Than Others, And That's Great.

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 Was Very Driven To Act From A Very Young Age, And My Parents Were Not Only Tolerant Of That Drive But Also Encouraging.

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What I Needed Was A Connection To Life That Was Real And Lasting.

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Acting Is The Greatest Answer To My Loneliness That I Have Found.

Acting Is A Humiliating Job, From Start To Finish.

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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.

Playing Someone

Huge Events Take Place On This Earth Every Day. Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Even Glaciers Move. So Why Couldn't He Just Look At Me?

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