Claire Danes

I've always very earnestly tried to do my best, so I just have to trust that and forgive myself for being fallible.

The Brexit and Trump phenomena are informed by similar forces and social and economic movements. I think it's been really stressful; it's been really scary.

People talk about 'date night,' and it is true: Sometimes you have to apply yourself, or at least apply lipstick to yourself. You kind of have to dress up, just because. You know, wear heels to your own dinner table.

I know, it's true. I've played these tortured teenagers. I can't wait to shed that image.

I'm only realizing now that I was a child actress because I always took myself so seriously.

Every three seconds in the developing world, a child dies needlessly due to lack of basic health care and other things we all take for granted.

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.

Yeah, there was the Flora Plum thing, where I trained for about a month and I had taken a semester off for that, and two weeks prior to filming, the financing collapsed.

I would not say that secret-keeping is one of my finer skills, actually.

Most people assume that autistic people are not capable of empathy.

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 finally realized that yeah I did want to be an actor and it wasn't out of habit, but I needed to grow up for myself and then kind of re-enter the industry with a sound understanding of what my sensibilities and my values are as a relatively formed human being.