《国土安全》女星丹妮斯的成名之路

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.

凯瑞·马西森（克莱尔·丹妮斯饰）目不转睛地盯着电视，因为她长久以来的导师、现任中情局局长索尔·贝伦森（曼迪·帕廷金饰）正在出席就一场爆炸事件而召开的国会听证会。当索尔提及调查人员中有内鬼时，凯瑞虽然一言未发，但脸上的表情却一震，心中充满疑惑。唯一能表明这是拍摄现场的就是布景后的监视器了。

就在凯瑞靠坐在沙发上，做出绝望和怀疑的动作时，导演莱斯利·林卡·格拉特高举双手，仿佛丹妮斯射门得分了一样，从某种程度上来说，她的确如此。格拉特说：“卡，太棒了！”

这一切都被来自《纽约客》杂志的约翰·拉尔看在了眼里。拉尔撰写了一篇丹妮斯的个人传记——《种种困惑：克莱尔·丹妮斯充满爆发力的表演源自何处？》。

这是一个值得探究的问题，因为丹妮斯凭借在悬疑美剧《国土安全》中的出色表演两获金球奖。

可能有人还记得1996年根据莎翁戏剧改编的影片《罗密欧与朱丽叶》中的一幕，丹妮斯饰演的朱丽叶醒来后却发现莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥饰演的罗密欧已经死去。那时16岁的丹妮斯首次亮相大银幕便广受赞誉。但人们却很难再回忆起她之后的作品。

《石板》杂志影评人德纳·史蒂文斯表示：“可能好莱坞还没有找到适合她的角色。”

但是，在《国土安全》一剧中，丹妮斯演活了凯瑞这个患有躁郁症的中情局分析员角色，最终证明了自己的人气和实力。

丹妮斯的父母分别是摄影师和画家，她从小在纽约长大，成长环境优越，过着无拘无束的生活。她从四岁起便开始学习现代舞，之后被著名的李·斯特拉斯伯格戏剧电影学院录取。14岁时，她因出演青春偶像剧《我所谓的生活》而开启了成名之路；该剧虽然“短命”，却倍受赞誉。

1994年，丹妮斯在接受《人物》杂志采访时表示：“让一个孩子去从事大人的工作这真的很难。我感到很孤独，有时会坐在人行道旁，看着来来往往的同龄人。但后来我静下来想了想：这个决定是我做的，而我也收获了一部电视剧作品。”

1998年，她前往耶鲁大学攻读英文和心理学学位。她的爷爷曾是耶鲁大学建筑与艺术学院院长，父亲也是该校校友。丹妮斯对《今日美国》报说：“有件事我必须做，否则我就会被逐出家门，那就是上大学。”

即便如此，她后来为了出演电影《此时此刻》中梅丽尔·斯特里普的女儿一角，还是选择从这所一流名校辍学。该片改编自迈克尔·康宁汉的小说，讲述了因一本弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙的小说而结缘的三个女人的故事。

但是，直到出演《国土安全》，她才成功地找到了适合自己的角色。

丹妮斯在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示：“演员都想给自己惊喜。如果成功的话，就等于你超越了自己，但这种事发生的概率，真的、真的很低。”

凭借凯瑞·马西森这一人物角色，丹妮斯似乎时来运转了。