Claire Danes on Finding Love with Hugh Dancy

“Homeland” star Claire Danes takes Marie Claire's February cover. Inside, she talks about falling in love with her husband and playing the complex role of Carrie Mathison, a bipolar CIA operative.

When looking back to before she fell in love and later married her husband Hugh Dancy in 2009, Claire remembered, "I was very recently single, and I had never been single before, so we were just friends for a while. [Hugh and I] met in Rhode Island when it was at its most audaciously beautiful, in the fall. And there was one day when we were bicycling by the water and it was sparkly and idyllic, and I just had this dumb epiphany, like, 'I'm really just happy.'”

Her role is not an easy one to portray, but Claire seems to do it with ease. However, she does admit, "My goal is always to do something that feels just beyond my reach, and 'Homeland' continues to do that. Every season, they find new ways to scare me. The show is like a diamond that fell from the sky. I'll always feel slightly bludgeoned by it, but in the best way possible.”

The road to “Homeland” wasn't an easy one for the Emmy-winning actress. She held out for two years until she found the role, having searched for one she felt would be meaningful in her life. “It was a nightmare. I was in such agony. I had been so stimulated and energized, and I felt really robust and capable and eager. But I couldn't go back to the ingénue role or the limited secretary-type roles. I wanted to play someone who would move the story forward."