The actress recently won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of CIA agent Carrie Mathieson in the drama Homeland. Claire was instantly attracted to the complicated role and has compared Carrie to a reclusive character made famous by Johnny Depp.
"Carrie is unlike any character I have ever come across, in any medium, and that was just too tantalising to pass up. She is wired in a different way. Claire revealed during an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph. "CIA work is very isolating and lonely.
"I think of her as Edward Scissorhands, too – she doesn't want to get too close to anybody."
The 32 year-old star has been acting since she was a child and landed the lead role in hit teen television drama My So-Called Life when she was 15.
Claire decided to take a break from her hectic work schedule before she hit her 20s and went to Yale University. However, she soon realised how much she missed acting and dropped out halfway through her psychology course.
"I didn't really go to high school, I was tutored, and I just wanted to meet people my own age. I needed to press pause, to figure out who I was as a person a little bit," she explained. "I had sated that need. And then I started really pining for work again."
Claire is now happily settled in New York City with her husband, actor Hugh Dancy. She has joked that being married to a British guy has changed her appetite for certain drinks.
"We don't so much have culture clashes, we have culture mergings," Claire smiled. "I've started drinking a lot more tea… and a lot more alcohol."
