Temple Grandin

Claire Danes is a bona fide award season darling; she won the outstanding actress in a miniseries SAG tonight for her role in Temple Grandin. After winning the Emmy and the Golden Globe for the film as well, she joked about the SAG feeling "excessive," but she also had lots of compliments for the woman she portrayed onscreen.

• On getting yet another award for Temple Grandin: [joking] "It does feel excessive at this point! No, no. This is a really extraordinary role, one that I'm not going to find again any time soon; a role of this complexity and depth. It was really intimidating. There were so many ways to get it wrong. But I found her so compelling and so inspiring that I just couldn't not take the risk."
• On being impressed with Grandin's life: "I think autism is more prevalent than anyone knew; so it's really important that we know what it is and how it works, and how to work with it. Temple was hugely instrumental in allowing that to happen. All of this attention for my work is wonderful, but I can't help but defer to her. She lived it, I played it. There's a difference."
• On the misconceptions of autism that she discovered from playing Grandin: "Most people assume that autistic people are not capable of empathy, and I cannot think of a more empathic person than Temple Grandin. She has dedicated her life to represented those who are misrepresented."
• On Grandin's support of her: "She was so open and so supportive and validating from the word go. I was so grateful for that. . . she's so generous and so sincere. Her authenticity is so disarming and so wonderful. She's my biggest cheerleader. And obviously, it's reciprocal."
• On which actors inspire her: "Meryl. You know, what are you gonna do? Meryl. I remember seeing Sophie's Choice when I was 9 or 10 — I was probably too young to be watching it, my parents are very liberal — that was revelatory for me. [It was] when I first learned that acting could be important."

Be sure to stay tuned for more press room highlights and be sure to vote on all of our SAG winner polls!

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Photo courtesy of NBC