From PEOPLE Magazine Click to enlarge
PAINTER CARLA DANES took a figural approach to preparing her daughter for stardom. "She told me, 'Eat more, Claire. You're too skinny,'" says the ethereal 18-year-old, who adds that she "only recently became aware of how I look because it's part of the job requirement." While playing the exquisitely tortured Angela Chase on My So-Called Life, the Manhattan-bred Danes says, "I learned how to hide my not-so-great features and accentuate the better ones." And not to worry. Mom: the 5'6" actress had filled out by the time she made the transition to movie star. "Everybody falls in love with Claire," says Baz Luhrmann, who directed her in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "She has an inner charisma." Clearly, it has risen to the surface. "Once you get over that peak of puberty," says Danes, "you hit a nice stride."