When she won Best Actress in a TV Drama at last night's Golden Globes, "Homeland" star Claire Danes said she was on the very same stage accepting a Globe when she was 15 years old. And she's right: Way back in ye olden times of 1995, Danes won the same award for her turn as angsty teen Angela Chase on the short-lived (but fondly-remembered) ABC drama "My So-Called Life." We managed to dig up her adorable acceptance speech from that year, her very first Golden Globe win, which you can watch right here (click to the 6:07 mark):
Now, as great as Danes was as Angela Chase, you might think it's kind of ridiculous that a 15-year-old won such a prestigious award... until you see who the other nominees were that year. Heather Locklear for "Melrose Place"? Angela Lansbury for Season 11 of "Murder, She Wrote"? "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman"??? Say what you want about the current state of TV, but based on these nominees, TV dramas have come a loooong way since the mid-'90s. So in hindsight, Danes was a very deserving winner indeed.And though she's accepting a major Hollywood award at a time when most of us are struggling to learn the gas pedal from the brake, Danes is surprisingly poised in her first big acceptance speech. She fumbles a little, even slapping herself in the forehead mid-speech, but manages to thank the "MSCL" cast and crew, her agents, and even her "bestest, bestest friends in the world." (Awww... how teen girl of her!)
She ends her speech with a humble nod to her lack of experience: "It's a huge honor to be acknowledged at such a young age." Of course, the acknowledgment didn't stop there. Danes, now 33, has racked up a total of four Globe wins: one for "My So-Called Life," one for playing the title role in the 2010 HBO movie "Temple Grandin," and now two for "Homeland."
To come full circle (and to marvel at the evolution of Claire's hair color over the years), here's her acceptance speech from last night, with the "when I was 15" reference:
