There's the gifted television actress who found fame as the star of My So-Called Life.

There's the budding movie star--the MSCL alum--currently establishing a big-screen presence in two new movies: Baz Luhrmann's over-the-top adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, in which she shares the screen with Leonardo DiCaprio; and the three-hanky Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday. So great is her emerging celebrity that Danes is now the subject of numerous breathlessly maintained home pages.

And then there's the 17-year-old (she turns legal in April) college-bound high school student, grappling with such universal teen challenges as sweating out the arrival of her SAT scores, getting a driver's license and falling in and out and in and out of love.

To talk to Danes is to encounter an unusually well adjusted and articulate young woman. Indeed, she is disarmingly open and willing to answer just about any question put to her about TV Claire, Movie Claire and even Wide-Eyed Teen Claire.

You've been called the poster girl for teen angst.
I know, it's true. I've played these tortured teenagers. I can't wait to shed that image. You know, let a few years go by until I hit my midlife crisis. Then that can be documented on film.

So are you as anguished as the characters you play?
Actually, right now, I'm relatively happy. I feel like I'm turning into more of a woman--I'm getting ready to leave home, go to college, be independent. It's an exhilarating time. And a terrifying one.

Have you loved and lost, as Juliet did?
Yeah, I have, actually. I fell in love a year and a half ago for the first time with this guy, and it was fairly intense. And we were actually breaking up at the time I started filming Romeo + Juliet. It was torture.

How was it making the movie?
We filmed it in Mexico, and everyone got sick. I remember walking into my hotel room one day and looking into the mirror. I was stark white; it really scared me. I asked my mom, "Am I dying?" But it only lasted two or three days. And then there were concerns about safety. We weren't allowed to take taxicabs because we were told the cabdrivers kidnap their passengers; they literally hold a gun to your head and rob you.

We were surrounded by real desperation and poverty. And there we were--in-your-face, obnoxious Americans. Not that we were rude, but we have so much, and we just take it for granted. I was nervous a lot of the time, but it was kind of amazing, too. The circumstances were very similar to the kind of world we were creating onscreen.

Sounds nerve-wracking. How was playing history's greatest lover opposite Leonardo DiCaprio? Was there some spark between you?
There was definitely a spark, but I don't think either of us knew how to handle it. So, we sometimes sort of ignored each other. It was too big for us to really accept.

How did you decide how far to go in the big love scene?
It was never an issue. I always knew that everything would be covered up with sheets. But we shot the "morning after" scene the very first day, and that definitely made us both nervous. We were both in G-strings under the sheets at whatever early hour of the morning. Leo was all squeamish, squirming around all over the place. He jumps around like a maniac. And there I was, being very stoic, lying in bed, just trying to breathe and get through it.

And in To Gillian, you have a scene in which you shock your father by wearing an itsy-bitsy bikini.
Can I just tell you how mortifying that was? I tried negotiating with the director--"Can't I just wear a really sexy one-piece?" He said, "No, Claire."

So, finally we found a bikini I thought was okay. But then we had to reshoot the scene. My best friend in the movie wears a thong, and they decided I had to wear one, too. Well, I threw on that robe the instant they said "Cut." I'll never wear a thong again. I'm a Speedo gal.

Is being a successful teenage actor harder for a girl than for a guy?
I get a little jealous of these actor boys. They walk into a club, and in two seconds flat there are swarms of girls who are wanting so badly to touch them or just say hello. That's not the case with me, or any other girl I know.

You've worked almost nonstop the past few years. What about your education?
I work with a tutor, and whenever I'm between takes we run into my trailer and get in at least 20 minutes of pre-calculus or economics or some other subject. It's difficult. It's like having two full-time jobs. Usually, my social life and my sanity and my health are the things that are sacrificed.

Of course, a lot of successful teenage actors don't bother to finish high school.
It's tricky to keep some sort of perspective. Here you are, making an astounding amount of money at a young age. Everybody loves you, and everything you say is brilliant. You think, Why do I need to go to school when I'm already a genius? But I really value my education. I know I'm far away from knowing it all.

Didn't you get some advice on this subject from Jodie Foster?
Yeah. I did Home for the Holidays with her, and she talked about her experience at Yale. She said college is just too much fun to miss. She emphasized that I could always come back to acting.

Have you decided to which schools you're applying?
The list includes Yale, Sarah Lawrence, Brown, Harvard, Vassar, Barnard and Columbia. I really liked Yale, although it was extremely intimidating. When I visited the campus, I was hiding behind trees, I felt so unworthy.

What do you want to study?
Maybe philosophy--I love talking about ideas. Or maybe art history. I was thinking about psychology, then I got really afraid because everybody says it's terribly boring.

That's all still a year away. What are you up to now?
I just finished a movie called Polish Wedding, with Gabriel Byrne and Lena Olin, and I'm about to do a film for Francis Ford Coppola. I also have a small role in Oliver Stone's Stray Dogs. Joaquin Phoenix plays my boyfriend. It's going to be interesting to be on a Stone set and a Coppola set at the same time. I don't think there could be two more different directors.

Do you ever think of how your life might be different?
If I were in high school, I'd really be into the subjects I was studying, and I might be on a sports team or the debate team. But I'm sure my life would be just as hectic and ridiculously overscheduled as it is now.

So, do you have a boyfriend now?
Yeah, I have a boyfriend. But I'm not ready for anything too serious, so it's working out pretty well.