Claire Danes is “Tough and Nervous"

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Best People with Nicolle Wallace

Episode: Claire Danes is “Tough and Nervous"

Date: December 1, 2025
Host: Nicolle Wallace
Guest: Claire Danes

---

Overview

In this episode, Nicolle Wallace has a warm and candid conversation with acclaimed actor Claire Danes about her life, career, and the complexities of balancing motherhood, marriage, and intense artistic work. Danes opens up about vulnerability, ambition, playing complicated women, family life, the emotional cost of acting, and her reflections on fame and activism in a tumultuous era. The episode’s tone is intimate, thoughtful, and honest, with both Wallace and Danes sharing personal anecdotes about parenting, presence, and purpose.

---

Key Discussion Points

The Extremes of Working and Parenting

[01:01, 09:39]

• Danes reflects on the unusual cycle of her career: intense periods away working, then stretches of family time.
  • “It's just so extreme the way our lives are organized, you know, because of our business. Then I have these swathes of time where I am only available, which is great, and I just try to bank the hours.” — Claire Danes [01:01]
• On missing her kids and making up for lost time:
  • “You binge your kids.” — Host [01:12]
  • “I binge.” — Claire Danes [01:13]

The Emotional Roots of Her Craft

[02:08, 02:41]

• Wallace asks how Danes channels vulnerability and power.
  • Danes attributes her emotional depth partly to her parents and recalls a recent set visit:
    • “If there's anybody who really can see the truth, it's you. And she said ‘No, no Claire, you're good. You're tough and nervous.’ Tough and nervous.” — Claire Danes [02:54]
  • She discusses being typecast as someone who’s “intense” and her feelings about the so-called “cry face”:
    • “I'm just feeling stuff, guys, on a few different levels in a way that I imagine we all do and it registers on my face. ... Sometimes people experience it as a provocation or something, which... I want to stir feeling, sure, but I'm not doing it as a hostile gesture.” — Claire Danes [04:48]

Universality of Complex Characters

[05:44, 06:16]

• Wallace suggests Danes’ characters mirror our own fears:
  • “She holds up a mirror to the complicated parts in all of us.” — Host [05:52]
• Danes and her husband (actor Hugh Dancy) view acting as raising the stakes of ordinary emotions, inviting viewers to empathize deeply.

Partnership and Life with Hugh Dancy

[06:54, 08:00]

• Danes’ admiration for her husband:
  • “I super married up. ... He's a great artist. He's a great cook. ... He's just a naturally curious, kind, hot guy.” — Claire Danes [06:57]
• Navigating busy careers and parenthood together, figuring out how to share cultural experiences amid chaos.

Parenting Challenges: Presence and Letting Go

[08:30, 10:58]

• Balancing attention among three children of different ages and needs (“the best and the best, but each is intense in its own way”).
  • “If you look away [from a teenager], they'll go somewhere else. ... And then a toddler, you look away and you know you're fucked.” — Host [09:18]
• The bittersweet of kids growing up:
  • “Cyrus now takes the train to school on his own ... He's like starting to drift and recede ... exist in the world.” — Claire Danes [10:41]

Portraying Grief and Trauma Onscreen

[11:15, 12:11, 12:43]

• Tackling roles involving a mother who’s lost a child:
  • “That was a big fat bowl of no, thank you.” — Claire Danes [11:15]
  • “I listened to Rob Delaney's book about losing his son ... it takes nothing. It is the nightmare.” — Claire Danes [11:24]
• The almost metaphysical toll of grief:
  • “There is something that…like comes into play that you just have to ride ... and in order to jar herself out of it, she has to encounter this really volatile force. Evil force.” — Claire Danes [13:45]
• On being fearless after trauma:
  • “If you feel like the worst thing has already happened to you ... she, in my mom brain, she has the upper hand.” — Host [14:23]
  • “She and Carrie Matheson have that in common, that they have very little to lose.” — Claire Danes [14:41]

Work, Research, and Authenticity—Especially with "Homeland"

[18:56, 19:33]

• The show’s dedication to reality; the writers’ “spy camp” with real CIA, senators, and journalists:
  • “We were connected with somebody there who organized what we ended up calling spy camp ... and so the writers would get this forecast, this massive download, and then spin a season out of it. ... They asked these experts what they were afraid of, what was keeping them up at night. And then ... the season would eventually be born.” — Claire Danes [20:16]

Filming While Parenting & Family on the Move

[22:17, 24:44, 25:47]

• Stories of acting on "Homeland" while heavily pregnant; workarounds for action and intimacy scenes.
  • “Every time we shot a scene that was wider than a closeup, the first AD would scream ‘belly pass’ ... And a woman who ... had a similar frame ... would then step in and like retrace my steps.” — Claire Danes [22:32]
• Traveling with young children internationally for shoots:
  • “He went to kindergarten in Berlin, literally, and started having temper tantrums and would scream ‘nein, nein, nein’” — Claire Danes [24:47]
  • “When they're little, it's much harder now that they're like realized people ... we're just trying to figure out how to work on projects in town. ... Local gigs is what we're in pursuit of.” — Claire Danes [26:20]

Growing Up in New York and Acting as a Child

[29:10, 30:41]

• Nostalgia and comfort from raising her own kids where she grew up.
  • “No place feels cozier to me than like New York City, which is silly because it’s, it's like a big neighborhood.” — Claire Danes [29:33]
• Danes’ early certainty about acting:
  • “I just really knew at 5 that this is what I wanted to do.” — Claire Danes [30:53]
  • “I actually made an announcement at the dinner table and was like, you know what? Who am I kidding? This is my call. Like, I am an actor, money or no money.” — Claire Danes [31:44]

Insecurity, Imposter Syndrome, and the Unknown

[33:25, 34:40]

• Even with success, the self-doubt remains:
  • “I'm about to start another job, and I'm just flooded with imposter syndrome. ... this is me in that point on the continuum where I am convinced I am going to fail. And I see that in pretty much every actor I know.” — Claire Danes [33:40]
• What draws Claire to a script—sometimes a “grip” she can’t quite define until she’s in the role.

Reflections on “Fleishman is in Trouble” and Artistic Fate

[35:00, 35:12]

• The serendipitous way Danes came to the role.
  • “I didn’t even read the script. Cause I was like, that's too weird.” — Claire Danes [36:04]

Family Privacy and “Fame” at Home

[36:26, 37:32]

• Claire and Hugh rarely show their kids their own work—family comfort comes first.

Parenting, Sacrifice, & Generational Cycles

[37:32, 37:42]

• Danes’ deep appreciation for her parents’ commitment, admitting she’s not sure she could do the same for her own children.

Activism, Public Persona, and Artistic Responsibility

[38:11, 38:31, 40:00]

• Danes prefers her work to speak for her and resists using her platform for constant personal advocacy.
  • “I would rather do my communicating in my work. ... The less they know about me, really, the more access they have to the character that I've been trying to, you know, figure out and share.” — Claire Danes [38:31, 39:24]
• She finds value in being “rooted and real” in activism but intentionally stays off social media for mental health and authenticity reasons.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Tough and nervous. Which, you know, which I think is maybe an apt description of everything I play.” — Claire Danes [02:54]
• “I'm just feeling stuff, guys, on like a few different levels in a way that I imagine we all do and it registers on my face. ... I am trying to create a place where people can reflect on their own circumstances and their own internal lives.” — Claire Danes [04:48]
• “If you feel like the worst thing has already happened to you, what do you... I mean, so I always feel like she kind of... in my mom brain, she has the upper hand.” — Host [14:23]
• “I’m about to start another job and I’m just flooded with imposter syndrome...I am convinced I am going to fail.” — Claire Danes [33:40]
• “The less they know about me, really, the more access they have to the character that I've been trying to, you know, figure out and share.” — Claire Danes [38:31, 39:24]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:01, 09:39, 10:01] — Parenting, work cycles, “bingeing” your kids
• [02:41] — “Tough and nervous” label from her mother
• [05:44 - 06:16] — Universality and emotional resonance of complex female roles
• [06:54] — Marriage dynamic with Hugh Dancy
• [11:15 - 12:43] — Preparing to play grief and parental loss
• [18:56 - 21:58] — Research and authenticity for “Homeland”
• [22:17 - 24:44] — Filming while pregnant, parenting on set
• [29:10 - 30:41] — New York upbringing and city kids
• [33:25 - 34:40] — Self-doubt, imposter syndrome despite success
• [38:11 - 40:03] — Artists’ responsibility, privacy, and activism

---

Tone and Takeaways

Claire Danes comes across as deeply reflective, unfiltered, passionate, and fiercely human. She laughs easily, speaks warmly of her family, and admits to the struggles and doubts behind her composed public image and celebrated career. The conversation highlights the emotional labor of acting, the sacrifices of family, and the acute desire to remain authentic—both on and off screen.

---

For those who haven’t listened, this episode is a rewarding exploration of resilience, connection, and the ongoing quest for purpose in art and life, sprinkled with humor and moments of poignant honesty.

Transcript

[Advertisement Voice]

Whenever I need to send roses that are guaranteed to make someone's day, the only place I trust is 1-800-flowers.com with 1-800-flowers. My friends and family always receive stunning, high quality bouquets that they absolutely love. Right now, when you buy a dozen multicolored roses, 1-800-flowers will double your bouquet to two dozen roses. To claim this special double roses offer, go to 1-800-flowers.com sxm that's 1-800-flowers.Com sxm.

[TikTok Business Advertiser]

Looking for a new way to grow your business with TikTok? For business, anything is possible. If you've ever thought about advertising on TikTok, now's the time to do it. You can drive more customers to your website, sell products right in the app, and you can even use TikTok's creative tools to easily make content and find creators to help sell your products for you. Find new customers today, just open your browser, type in getstarted.TikTok.com tiktokads and grow your business fast.

[Claire Danes]

It's just so extreme the way our lives are organized, you know, because of our business. You know, then I have these swathes of time where I am only available, which is great, and I just try to bank the hours.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah, you binge your kids.

[Claire Danes]

I binge.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

That's right. Yeah, me too.

[Claire Danes]

Just looking at photos of them on my phone, you know, on stuff it's worth.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

It's like mother porn.

[Claire Danes]

Totally.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Welcome to this week's episode of the Best people podcast. This week's guest is someone I've admired from afar for many, many, many, many, many years. She's brilliant. She's an iconic actor. She encapsulates what it means to be driven and purposeful and carry your burdens lightly in service to something larger than oneself and the role she plays. And then I get to meet her, and I am one of those people who never wants to meet her heroes, but in real life, she's even better. So without any further ado, this week's best person is. Claire Danes. Thank you.

[Claire Danes]

Oh, thank you so much. This is so nice to talk to you.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Well, I never wanna meet anyone I admire, especially Carrie Matheson, because I make Carrie Matheson references all the time on my show. And it's a pleasure to know you just a little bit. And to see you in the Beast in me is like, how do you keep doing this? So I guess my first for you is what is your well that you draw on to be so powerful and so vulnerable at the same time? For all of us.

[Claire Danes]

It'S Funny. Matthew and I were shooting that scene where. The highest floor of his latest floor project. Yeah. And my parents happened to be coming into town. Maybe they were this time last year, it must have been for Thanksgiving or something. And I was like, they should just come to set. That's so cool. It's like they're like five minutes away. And so they came to set and this was a kind of, you know, a sweet surprise. And they were at Video Village watching the scene and suddenly I felt my mom's eyes on me and I got really self conscious and kind of nervous. And I then joined her back at Video Village and I said, mom, like I'm a little. I feel a little goofy with you being here. Cause you know, if there's anybody who really can see the truth, it's you. And she said, no, no, Claire, you're good. You're tough and you'. Nervous. Tough and nervous. Which, you know, which I think is maybe an apt description of everything I play. But yeah, I have been very fortunate to play people who are a lot more brilliant than I am, who have these wonderful minds. And it's so fun to cruise around in them for a season or two, you know, or take a spin. Yeah. In a, in a brain Porsche or something. But I also think, because of course it always starts from the very, very beginning. And it starts there in the deepest place, which is, you know, mom and dad and tiny, tiny little Claire that they decided to bring into this reality. And yeah, and I, and I, I am genuinely moved by their plights, by these characters efforts. And you know, if I concentrate on that and on them, then I have greater access to that feeling. But you know, there's this, all this talk about like the cry face and everything and how intense, which is like in some ways it's like meant to be kind of complimentary, but in other ways it can be sort of like flattening or you know, reductive. I feel like sometimes a little objectified by it in some way. And I'm also like, I'm just feeling stuff, guys, on like a few different levels in a way that I imagine we all do and it registers on my face. And I think that's like the actual job of an actor. So I don't know. And I think sometimes people experience it as a provocation or something which, you know, I want to stir feeling. Sure. But I'm not doing it as a, like a hostile gesture. I'm not trying to upset anybody. Exactly. I'm just, I am trying to create a place where People can reflect on their own circumstances and their own internal lives, you know, Anyway, I think that's.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

The trigger, though, right? I think the flattening piece is they say, oh, she plays all these brilliant, complicated women. And I've said, yeah, she holds up a mirror to the complicated parts in all of us. Like, the universality, like, the magnetic pull of all of these women isn't that they're over there because, oh, I don't have bipolar disorder and I'm not in the CIA or my child didn't die. It's not that they're over there. It's that they are our fears that we carry in every moment. That, to me is the tension is that there's something in all of these characters that we all carry, no matter our circumstance.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. I was talking to my husband, Hugh, who is also an actor, about what we do recently, and, gosh, he was quoting a friend of his that says, in our work, you want to imagine, like, a certain character, but up a tree with wolves barking at them. You know, like, the stakes just have to be a little higher. When you're asking people to, like, pay a ticket to a show, there should just be a slightly more exaggerated reality. Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah. What is that partnership like with you?

[Claire Danes]

With my husband. Oh, he's the best. I super married up. I really did. I love him. We've been together a long time now. We met on a movie called evening close to 20 years ago now, and we've been married for 16, and we have, like, three kids. It's a lot of life that we've been spinning together over these years. But he is an amazing actor. But he's a lot of other amazing things. He's a great artist. He's a great cook. I basically can, like, you know, toast a bagel, and he does everything else he whips through books. He's just a naturally curious, kind, hot guy. And he's, like, hot. You both are. I love him so much. I love him so much.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

When I met you, you guys had just gotten through. I don't mean it's arduous. I just mean it's long the brutalist.

[Claire Danes]

And I love your story of taking.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

That in together as artists, sort of consuming this piece together.

[Claire Danes]

Ye. Yeah. Well, actually, I mean, it's so hard with, like, when we're, you know, steeped in work and we're looking after our kids and stuff, like, to carve out the time to see movies and tv, you know, to absorb the culture.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

I'm a teenager to talk to you, too.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

It's hard.

[Claire Danes]

You have to be committed and determined. And we've decided. Oh, we had to, like, start watching things in increments. We're just. This chapter in our life is pretty dense. Do you.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

What are so mine go, my son's about to turn 14 and my baby turned 2 yesterday. And I think you have a. You have a stand too.

[Claire Danes]

Right, so with like a 7 year old in the middle. So.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

Right. Cyrus is 12. He turns 13 soon in December. And Rowan is 7. And then. Yeah. We have a toddler, Shay, too.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah. What. I mean, for us, it's like the best and the best, but each is intense in its own way and requires you to be completely present. And I don't create the gifts that you create in art, but I do feel like for our audience, I have.

[Claire Danes]

To be present in the news plenty.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

But. But it's like. But to me, like, all these jobs require presence and that helps me organize myself. Like, I can't. You can't be distracted with a teenage boy or you miss them.

[Claire Danes]

You know, you just.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

They're. They're. They're sort of. If you look away, they'll go somewhere else.

[Claire Danes]

Also, the gravitational force to their room is very strong.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah. Or their friends or, you know.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

And then a toddler, you look away and you know you're fucked. They're dead.

[Claire Danes]

They're gone.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah. And. And then. So how do you, like, what are your. How do you organize yourself to be present for all of that?

[Claire Danes]

Oh, well, I. Yeah. I mean, there are periods of time when I don't see them enough, and that's painful.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

And then it's just so extreme, the way our lives are organized, you know, because of our business. You know, then I have these swathes of time where I am only available, which is great. And I just try to bank the hours.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah. You binge your kids.

[Claire Danes]

I binge.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

That's right. Yeah, me too.

[Claire Danes]

But no, it's just kind of just looking at photos of them on my phone, you know, it's like mother porn. Totally. Mom porn.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

But, yeah, I mean, I just. In the moments that I can be with them during those busier periods, I just, like, cuddle them and tell them I love them the kind of a distressing number of times. And taking them to school is very nice. I did get to do that with Rowan today, and there's something very kind of grounding about that.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Like sending them off into their day is nice.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

Cyrus now takes the train to school on his own. You Know, it's all. We're turning a corner and I can.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Crazy.

[Claire Danes]

He's like starting to drift and recede my. You know, and exist in the world. Swirl parts of himself away and, you know. Anyway, yeah, I have to.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

What is it about playing. I mean, to me, the most horrific thing that could happen to me is for something to happen to my child and for your character to be that character. How do you leave yourself and play her? How was that?

[Claire Danes]

That was a big fat bowl of no, thank you.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Basically, it's like the one thing I can't contemplate. I can't read a novel where that's the plot. I can't.

[Claire Danes]

It was really not my favorite part of the process, but an essential one because it really is so at her core. But no, I read a few books about complicated grief and about paternal grief. And I listened to Rob Delaney's book about losing his son, which was so, so wrenching and so beautifully communicated and very layered and at times very funny. But that was really helpful. Oh, God. I think cry just thinking about it now. I mean, just. It takes nothing. It is the nightmare. It is the nightmare. But yeah, no, I just have to kind of consider it, you know, and my hands are literally sweating as I'm talking about it.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Well, so Esther Salas is a judge whose son was murdered by an assailant who was looking for her. And I've gotten to know her and my question, and I ask her this all the time. How do you walk through life having had your heart broken like that? And the beauty of what you're talking about, these layers of grief and purpose, and obviously it's a different arc, right, that your character travels, but just the whole, how do you exist? How can you be with that part of your heart gone? Just the part of the story that I find so riveting.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, I mean, I thought it was interesting that the catalyst for change, you know, like for release and, you know, from this horrible kind of purgatory comes in the form of this really dangerous guy. There were just a lot of competing forces at play. None of it was obvious. And I liked that conceit that, you know, the darkest part of you would, like your shadow self would become incarnate in another person who you then are in actual active relationship with. But yeah, I mean, I read many accounts of people who fall into these, like a decade long period of grief that doesn't end, you know, Cause it. I mean, the few times that I have grieved, never. I've never had to withstand pain like that, you know, losing a child. But I have lost people that I've loved. And I've always found it really interesting that it, it's like an, it's a physical involuntary experience. You know, it's like falling in love or, you know, having a baby. I don't know. It's just, there's a, there is something that like comes into play that you just have to ride and you know, and there are phases and in order to jar herself out of it, she has to encounter this really volatile force. Evil force.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

I think though it makes her so. I mean, and this is maybe me projecting this onto her, but she's so fearless with him because I think if you feel like the worst thing has already happened to you, what do you. I mean, so I always, I always feel like she kind of, he's scary, but she, in my mom brain, she has the upper hand.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, I think you're right. And she and Carrie Matheson have that in common, that they have very little to lose. I thought of Carrie as like Edward Scissorhands because she knew that her condition would make it very difficult to have an intimate relationship, like a, you know, a long standing partnership. She just decided that about herself. So, you know, there was something kind of nun like about her. Like she was married to her country kind of thing. Even though she had a lot of like sex along the way. But it was.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

No, but it's always like the insurance, the monogamous.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

And like the one steady thing.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

And it's so consistent even when she becomes a mother. The one steady thing is her North Star is her service to her country.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. And that was really fun to play. Cause it was so clear and constant and unwavering. And the same is kind of true of Aggie. Although she really is desperate to be with her partner again.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

We'll take a quick break here. Next up, much more of my conversation with award winning actor and producer Claire Dane. Stay with us.

[Advertisement Voice]

Year after year, Harry and David makes my family's holiday season feel special with treats. Handcrafted in Medford, Oregon, Harry and David still handpicks and packs every Royal Riviera pair, makes their iconic moose munch popcorn using the original recipe and ties each bow by hand on their tower of treats gifts. And they all taste as good as everyone remembers. Make your own holiday magic and get 20% off site wide at haryanddavid.com, promo code PEAR20. That's haryanddavid.com code PEAR20 TikTok for business.

[TikTok Business Advertiser]

Is helping owners like you reach new customers every day.

[Advertisement Voice]

We saw up to a 10x return on our TikTok shop ads a few years ago. I started sharing my love for fashion on social media and Willow Boutique was born. We're not just a place to shop, we've really become a community. TikTok allows us to find more people to have that great experience. I cannot imagine my business without TikTok. It's completely changed my life and I could not be happier.

[TikTok Business Advertiser]

Head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTokapps busy.

[Advertisement Voice]

Work weeks can leave you feeling drained. Prolon's five day fasting mimicking diet rejuvenates you at the cellular level, lets you enjoy real food, does not require an injection. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute, Prolon supports biological age reduction, metabolism, skin health and fat loss when combined with proper exercise and nutrition. Get 25% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe at prolonlife.com PandoraProromo.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

I mean you played with this idea of complicity and rubbernecking. You can lay both of those over our political moment. Right. Those of us in the media have been complicit in the sensational sort of shiny object covered to the last 10 years and the rubbernecking of like, sure, there are other important things happening, but this thing over here is like a car crash on top of a train crash on top of a sinking boat every day. What is that piece in us that we can't look away?

[Claire Danes]

I think it's such a strong natural response. It takes a lot of discipline and self awareness to temper that urge. Yeah, but I think shamelessness is a superpower too that we kind of, that most people are sort of awed by.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Cause you think what could I do if I had no shame?

[Claire Danes]

Right. And we actually, I can't imagine it because we do. So we can draw some parallels pretty comfortably with what's happening in our current moment. But yeah, all the attention grabbing too that beyond politics. Yeah, beyond politics. That is. It's tough to be a balanced, you know, just focused human when we have these devices and we have, I don't know, so many influences kind of barking at us, you know, so to speak.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

How much of your time on Homeland informed what you consume in terms of news? I mean everybody, I obviously worked in the White House on 911 and everybody that I knew in politics and government was obsessed with Homeland, with how prescient it was, with how accurate it was, with how that which was dramatic, really was dramatic, you know, how Nuanced it was how much of being Carrie for all those years turned your attention toward, you know, the places in the world where they're still roiling.

[Claire Danes]

It was an amazing gift to be able to metabolize what was happening in our political moment in, like, real time with such an incredibly gifted, responsible team. You know, our writers were just amazing at what they did. I mean, every writer in that writer's room had been a showrunner themselves. Everywhere you turned. They were so skillful. And yes, and we really did do our research. One of the writers, Henry Brummell, who had passed away way too young, and he was wonderful, wonderful guy and such a gifted writer, but he died in our third season. But his family worked in the CIA, and so that provided this inroad. And we were connected with somebody there who organized what we ended up calling spy camp. And we would spend a week at a clubhouse in Georgetown and talked to so many people who were really at the center of this stuff and who had very different opinions. Sometimes it was a little awkward in, like, the waiting room. Cause there were very contrasting, you know, conflicting opinions at play. But, you know, so journalists and ambassadors and senators and spooks and policymakers and stuff. So it was really, really thrilling and totally, like, overwhelming. And they were long, dense days. There was barely a break. Cause everybody was just so eager to make the very most of that time. And so the writers would get this forecast, this massive download, and then spin a season out of it. And they went in really open. I mean, they really just asked these experts what they were afraid of, what was keeping them up at night. And then, you know, that was the diviner. And then the season would eventually be born. So it was a really thorough examination. And I think they tried their best to, you know, obviously it was television, so we took some liberties. But I think they did try to at least have different arguments, have sufficient airtime.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I think that comes through. And the characters are living their own storylines. And so they're contending with all these debates, which I think were going on in real time when it was being made. It comes through. I wonder what it. You had little. Little kids, though, while you were filming Homeland, right? Did you take them with you?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, well, so I was pregnant with Cyrus in our second season. I was, like, eight months pregnant by the time we wrapped. And they. Every time we shot a scene that was, like, wider than a closeup, the first AD would scream belly pass. Which was, like, the grossest term. I'm like, can we call it something else, guys. And a woman who, you know, had a similar, like, frame to my non pregnant one would then step in and, like, retrace my steps. Because your girl was very physical. Yeah, yeah. And then they would cut and paste her torso onto mine in post production. That's crazy. And I did these scenes, like, sex scenes with Damien where I was like this massive belly and we had to stage it. So, like, I was. How did we do it? My back was like facing a mirror, so you kind of got some skin there. And he was like, hiding my stomach and just thrusting. And because we couldn't really show anything, we just tried to compensate by moaning, like, even louder.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

I kind of remember that was sex scene.

[Claire Danes]

And like, oh, it was so uncomfortable. People just kept leaving set. They were like, I can't, I can't with this, like the indignities. Yeah. And. Yeah, so I was battling terrorists and having these sex scenes as a very pregnant person. And then he. Then he arrived and Leslie, our wonderful shared friend, who was our producing director, would literally direct while cradling him. I mean, in her arms. And then it got to a point where he would call action and cut. When he learned how to speak some words.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

It's amazing. Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

And it's funny what he absorbed. Like, my friend just reminded me last night, there was a script on the table and he was playing with like some plastic cutlery on my script. And I said, what are you doing? He said, I am cutting your line.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

That's amazing.

[Claire Danes]

He would get mad at me when he was like three or something, or four. Maybe, like, maybe he's a little bit older, like four or five. He would say, back to one, Mommy. And back to one is when they say, back to your first position. When you finish a take, you say, back to one. Everybody goes back to their mark on the ground. Their first mark on the ground, anyway.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

That's amazing.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. And he traveled all over the world with us.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Where did you take him?

[Claire Danes]

So he was a toddler when we filmed in Cape Town, which was standing in for Pakistan and Afghanistan. And then he went to kindergarten in Berlin, literally, and started having temper tantrums and would scream, nein, nein, nein. What's happening? So there's a touch of German in there. And then he went to a school in Budapest for about a month and a half and ate a lot borscht, a lot of soup. It was like so much soup here. And then went to a school in Casablanca for half a year. And. Yeah, like, still has a trouble eating couscous. Cause I think they ate it every day at school.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Does he remember all that time? And some of. He is really, really little, but I'm not sure.

[Claire Danes]

I think he has faint memories of say, Berlin or something. He remembers Morocco really, really well. And at that point, Rowan. So I was pregnant with Rohan in our penultimate season and he was around. He was a baby on those Moroccan days. Yeah. I mean, it was more possible to travel like that when we only had one child who was under the age of five. When they're little, it's much harder now that they're like realized people whose needs go well beyond the nuclear family. And so. So we're just trying to figure out how to work on projects in town.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

You know, close to home.

[Claire Danes]

Local gigs is what we're in pursuit of. Yeah. So we don't, we don't mess with their routines.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Me too. I used to travel a lot more to do more reporting and it's invaluable, but it's not possible.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, I mean, I actually loved that dimension of the job. I learned so much about the world and really got to, you know, got to inhabit these places and work with people from these places. And I feel like I got a much richer understanding of these different cultures than I would have if I was just breezing through. And that's a great joy, actually. Exhausting. But yeah, that won't happen again for another 10 years of this.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

I was gonna say you're now at the beginning of it again.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

My conversation with Claire Danes continues right after the birthday break. We'll be back in one minute.

[TikTok Business Advertiser]

Own a small biz and need a reliable way to reach new customers. Try TikTok for business. We've generated over 100,000 leads which has converted into over 40,000 sales for our pet insurance policies. I am the CEO of Spot Pet Insurance. TikTok's Smart Plus AI powered automatically automation takes the guesswork out of targeting, bidding and optimizing creative. If I can advertise on TikTok, you can too. Drive more leads and scale your business Today with TikTok for business, head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTok ads Ever wonder.

[Advertisement Voice]

Why so many people regain weight after stopping a GLP1? Up to 40% of the weight lost can come from lean muscle. This weakens the body, slows metabolism and makes it easier to put the pounds back on creating a cycle of dependency. Prolon's five day fasting mimicking diet offers a drug free way to maintain results and support long term metabolic health. When Paired with proper diet and exercise in just five days, it activates fasting pathways to burn fat, protect muscle and rejuvenate cells, all while letting you enjoy real food. Get 25% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you [e-mail] PandoraPromo these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. See site for details.

[DSW Advertiser]

DSW Cyber Monday Sale is on no Reindeer games here. Get 30% off almost all the must have shoes and Fun [e-mail] Yep, designer shoe Warehouse has something for everyone on your list, including you, at prices you'll spend all season bragging about. If ever there was a time and a sale to stock up on shoes, this is it. And you don't have to leave the house. Shop the Cyber Monday sale today [e-mail] exclusions apply. DSW let us surprise you.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

What is raising kids in? You grew up in New York, right?

[Claire Danes]

I grew up in New York, yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

And now you're raising your kids in New York. Is there like a cycle to that? Like, I didn't grow up in New York, and I love having city kids and I love that. Like, my son can take the subway and is so confident. There's like a confidence to being a gritty. Not that he's like gritty, but to being a city kid. Yeah. What is that like, having grown up in the city yourself?

[Claire Danes]

Well, it's very sweet. Like, no place feels cozier to me than like New York City, which is silly because it's, it's like a big neighborhood.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah, no, I know. I know what you mean.

[Claire Danes]

It's just very tender, like, to go back to my. I mean, they don't go to the same school that I went to, but it's in the same neighborhood that I grew up in. And just to, to, you know, have that overlap, you know, to literally be walking down those same streets holding their hands. It's just very. Like I'm flooded with warmth. But yeah, it's. I mean, I remember when I was little, actually just wanting very badly to live in the burbs like my cousins and, you know, live in a cul de sac and ride my bike all day. And then when I became sort of 11, I found the freedom that the city affords a young person. And I was like, oh, no, this is great because it flips. You know, like, once you enter the, like, adolescence, then it's a different game. Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

You were acting by the time you were Cyrus's age, right?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Do you think about.

[Claire Danes]

That's a trip, right? Because I really didn't feel like a kid ever, I don't think. But it's very clear to me now that I'm an actual parent. That I had to have been one.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

Like, it doesn't work that way. So the math is suddenly, like, very surprising. And it doesn't. Yeah, doesn't quite work. But it was weird. Like, I just really knew at 5 that this is what I wanted to do. I had that clarity and that real zeal, like, real, real passion for it. And then, like, learned that most actors didn't make money. And that was. That concerned me. And I thought, oh, okay, well, I'll be a therapist and I'll do acting workshops from the side to like, feed my spirit, you know. Oh, my God. I was literally like 8, 9 or something. And I was gonna live next door to my best friend, and we were gonna have a pool that would be between our houses with slides in our respective yard. It was very thorough.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

I love it.

[Claire Danes]

And then I actually made an announcement at the dinner table and was like, you know what? Who am I kidding? This is my call. Like, I am an actor, money or no money.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

And what age was that that you came back to?

[Claire Danes]

I was 10. I think I was 10 when I made that declaration. And my parents were like, okay, whatever, it's fine. And I started taking acting classes at Lee Strasberg, and I really loved it. And then there was a performing arts junior high school that I learned about. And I met kids who. Who did this professionally there and then started going on auditions when I got an agent. Cause I'd done some student films along the way and was able to show those to agents. And I would literally rollerblade from audition to audition. I still remember, like, my wristbands, you know, with the Velcro sounds kind of coming into the office, like, clomp, clomp, clomp. Like such, like throwback 90s much. But yeah. And would get jobs, you know. And then there was this momentum, and suddenly we were all transplanted in Los Angeles, where my parents still are to this day.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Was that for my so called life?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, for my so called life. My brother's seven years older, so he was at college at this point, which made it just about possible for us to kind of be available to this adventure. But it's very surprising. None of this should have happened. It's super weird, but it's great. And I've always loved it. And I feel very fortunate that I Keep getting to do it.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

I know when you went to school, you took two years and you had these doubts that you would have the success again. I mean, do you still ride that roller coaster, or do you trust the patterns now that there will always be something incredible for you because you're you?

[Claire Danes]

No, no. I mean, I'm about to start another job, and I'm just flooded with imposter syndrome. Like, it's every time I am just roiling with self doubt. And I mean, like, I've done it enough. It's familiar. Like, this is me in that point on the continuum where I am convinced I am going to fail. And I see that in pretty much every actor I know.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Every person. Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

I think if you really care, if you're really invested, if there's a sense of actual risk, then you're vulnerable and you're unsure. And starting a job is so hard because you have to. That's the real heavy lifting. Making those choices and putting those first big pieces together and drawing those critical initial connections.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Is there stuff that has to do you have to feel something, or does it have to. What does it have to do for you to say yes?

[Claire Danes]

Usually the script has to be good. Like, it has to grip me in some way that is real. And sometimes I don't know why it's gripped me. And then I discover that over the course of playing the role within the story.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

But, like, with Fleischman, was that like, did you read the book and like it, or did you read the script?

[Claire Danes]

That was funny. That was a funny bit of kismet, Fleischman. Because my best friend, who I was gonna. Who is a therapist now, also who.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

You were gonna share the slides with.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

O.

[Claire Danes]

We talk about my roles a lot. Like, when I'm first cracking them, it's like we're playing with Barbies, but as grownups. And it's so wonderful. But anyway, we were having lunch and she dragged me to her local bookstore and she bought me Fleischman's in trouble. She was like, I need you to read this because I have to talk to you about the ending. And I was like, all right. And so I went to do reshoots on another limited series I did called the Essex Serpent, which is a very different milieu. It was like Victorian England. And that was my set book. And I was in a corset reading about contemporary New York couple divorcing. And then I got this call like, oh, they want you to play this character. And I didn't even read the script. Cause I Was like, that's too weird.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

That's telepathic.

[TikTok Business Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

And I was also really enjoying the novel, but that was a wonderful experience, and I loved everybody involved with it. But, yeah, it's usually something to do with the story that feels like germane and some. Like, that has a resonance. And the team. And now the location.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Right, right. With the three kids. Have your boys watched you in anything?

[Claire Danes]

It's a little uncomfortable for them, I think, to see mom in any other role. So Hugh and I both have a movie each that would be appropriate for kids. So I did a movie called Stardust, and he was in Ella Enchanted. And finally they agreed to watch Ella Enchanted. Cyrus was so uncomfortable. He kept leaving the room.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

They don't want to see you as anything.

[Claire Danes]

He couldn't tolerate it. And then it became clear that Rowan, like, we stopped midway through the film. He was really little. He was like three, maybe four. We were like, you know, that's daddy. That's dad. And his face just fell. And he said, I didn't know you were such a good dad. You could fight ogres. But, yeah, like, he just refused to accept. It was so impossible, you know, that, yeah, he could recognize his own dad.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Could you imagine, like, moving your whole family if Cyrus was like, I wanna act and got a part in la? Like, could you imagine the cycle repeating? No, no.

[Claire Danes]

I'm not nearly that generous. Like, I really am. I marvel at what my parents did to help me do this thing that I love so much. I mean, it was. There was a lot that was incredibly selfless about it. It's very boring being on a set day in and day out, if you don't. I mean, she did actually have a job to do. She really was actively looking out for me. But still, I asked a lot of them.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Do you see this moment where people are so divided around politics? And it's not just politics. Right, Left. It feels like everything is up for so much debate. Do you see the role of an artist like yourself as letting the art do the talking, or do you think artists should speak out outside of their art?

[Claire Danes]

That's a good question. And I think I would rather do my communicating in my work. I also don't want to burden audiences with my personal opinions or my. My political biases or convictions or, you know, values. They matter. And yes, I go on no Kings marches, and, you know, like, I want to invite as many people as possible to the work that I'm making. Everybody is truly welcome and wanted. And the less they know about me, really, the more access they have to the character that I've been trying to, you know, figure out and share.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

So, I mean, I think on the outside, right? Like, we want everybody, you know, doing the same thing in the same moment. But I think I've spent a lot of time. I've talked to Joan Baez. I've talked to Sarah Jessica Parker. I mean, and people have really different ways of getting at people. You know, there's like, the megaphone that blasts. Right. Or for Joan that she, you know, sings like an angel to. And then there's the art that speaks, and then there's the culture, and then there's your platforms. Do you and your husband, like, do you wrestle with it? Do you talk about how public to be at a no Kings march or on voting day?

[Claire Danes]

Well, I, you know, I don't have any social media.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah, I. I gave up Twitter, too, because I thought it was more. It was all bad.

[Claire Danes]

I, you know, I'd say that's a very expensive decision not to have, you know, an Instagram. And my brain was so much healthier when I just disconnected from all of that. When I go to those marches, people are sort of surprised. You know, they'll say, good on you. And it doesn't even occur to me, like, oh, right, okay, I am. You know, that could mean a different thing, I guess, my being here than, I don't know, somebody who isn't on television. But I'm not thinking in those terms. And if, you know, we're on boards that, you know, that matter to us, and we try to make our contributions in those ways that are, like, you know, feel rooted and real. Yeah.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Yeah. Well, you've been so generous with your time. I've admired you. As I said, the beginning forever and a day. And to get to talk to you, like, this was such a treat.

[Claire Danes]

Oh, you're so wonderful. Thank you so, so much for having me. I'm a massive fan, so thank you.

[Host (possibly Michael Snow)]

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for listening to the Best People. You can continue to subscribe to our premium service on Apple Podcasts to get this and other msnow podcasts ad free. You'll also get early access and exclusive bonus content. All episodes of this podcast are also available on YouTube. Visit msnow. The best people to Watch. The Best People is produced by Vicki Bergelina. Our associate producer is Rana Shahbazi, with additional production support from Ann Gimble. Our audio engineers are Bob Mallory, Greg Devens II and Hazik bin Ahmad Fared. Katie Lau is our senior manager of audio production. Pat Berkey is the Senior Executive Producer of Deadline White House, Brad Gold is the Executive producer of Content Strategy, Aisha Turner is the Executive Producer of Audio and Madeline Herringer is senior your Vice President in charge of audio, digital and long form. Search for the best people wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to follow the series.

[DSW Advertiser]

DSW Cyber Monday Sale is on. No reindeer games here. Get 30% off almost all the must have shoes and Fun [e-mail] Yep, designer shoe Warehouse has something for everyone on your list, including you, at prices you'll spend all season bragging about. If ever there was a time and a sale to stock up on shoes, this is it. And you don't have to leave the house. Shop the Cyber Monday sale Today [e-mail] exclusions apply. DSW let us surprise you.