CLAIRE DANES HAS BECOME THE ULTIMATE CROSSOVER ARTIST:
Sophicated and sexy enough to draw older fans, yet still just as appealing to the teen crowd as the first day in 1994 when she walked into the set of her (now cult worthy) television show, My So-Called Life. Since then, Danes has gone on to star in several feature films-- most of which have helped her delevope quite a celebrated following. Romeo + Juliet, The Rainmaker, The Mod Squad, Brokedown Palace--These are but a few of the films that she has graced, making her one of today's most sought after actors. But one look at this star who has just entered the twenty-something bracket will demonstrate that she doesn't look much different than that curious and awkward little girl that she made so popular--Angela Chase
What is different about the new Danes? She is now a confident, careful and collected young woman, intent on graining a well-rounded education (She is currently matriculated at Yale University where she is studying psychology), spending some quality time with Aussie rocker boyfriend Ben Lee, and trading in formal wear for tennies. And if it seems that everything has changed but her hair, you've hit the nail directly on the head!
Danes was blessed with soft, shimmering, finely-textured hair--the kind of strands that billow, making any breeze a sexy affair. From her Manic Panic reds to her current fawn-like auburn with delicately blonde highlights, Danes has seen more color in the last few years than most performers. But don't let her hair fool you. She is as down to earth as the girl next door. Her strands are so basic, in fact, that the youthful star was forced to wear a wig in both Romeo + Juliet and Les Miserables, and special woven extensions in Polish Wedding.
"It was fun having to have long hair, but it was really heavy and kind of annoying. It was like having a pet or something," she later said about the weave. However, any screenwriter seeing how lovely she looks with her normally mid-length, layered hair, would undoubtedly create all her characters with just that same style. Her individualized look isn't too trendy or progressive either--and it doesn't give the suggestion that she intends to become fussy. It simply is.
This summer finds the glowing princess in the title role in Jodie Foster's newest endeavor, Flora Plum. The part finds Danes reworking a well-known Hollywood role: the twisted tale of Eve in a re-make of the 1950's classic that starred Bettie Davis, All About Eve. She reportedly turned down her prior commitment to film Head Over Heals, a feature with co-star Freddie Prinze Jr., because she felt the part was "innappropirate." But Danes can afford to be impulsive.
Just a year ago she began to be just that. Seperating from her close family and going "on the road" with boyfriend Ben Lee, Danes experienced the other side of life: staying in the "Motel 6," eating fast food and bumming around the country. It turned out to be the perfect pre-cursor to her university beginnings in New Haven and an experience that helped her evaluate the urgency she once felt to "hang" with people her own age. Overall, she called the experience one that allowed her to feel new sense of "confidence." And looking at her recently, we wouldn't agree more!