Homeland star Claire Danes told Vogue, in her cover story for the magazine's August 2013 issue, that she struggled being out of work for two years before she nabbed the lead role in the Showtime series.

The actress, 34, poses in the magazine cover wearing a Burberry trench coat to evoke the fashion sense of her TV character Carrie Mathison.
She posed for her inside spread together with Damian Lewis for a photo shoot conducted by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. The television stars reenacted scenes from the series ahead of the show's season 3 premiere.

Danes and Lewis recreated a famous interrogation scene from Homeland's season 2 and in one shot, they laid together in a bed as Lewis stares straight into the camera.

See photos from the magazine spread here.

Before Danes got the role of a CIA officer in Homeland, she had not starred in a major project since 2010's TV movie Temple Grandin. The actress, who is mother to 7-month-old Cyrus Dancy with husband Hugh Dancy, talked about the challenges she faced during that time of being out of a job. 

"I was stuck ... It was confusing. I got a lot of plaudits, and it didn't translate into more work. I was really, really struggling during that time," she said. "It was grim. I was very hurt. Two years of not working was brutal. And a point came where I thought, 'I really like interior design.' Someone suggested, 'Maybe your real success is in your personal life.' " 

Commenting on her Showtime alter ego, she said about Carrie, "I have a good chemistry with her. We have a good time together." She praised her character for being smarter than her and also having a duality: having an ample amount of confidence but also being "a wreck."

When going through tough times in her professional life, Danes references advice given to her by other celebrities, such as Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon and Jodi Foster. She shared the lessons she learned from those women, saying the following:  

"You have to pick your battles on set. You have to come to work from a place of love. You have to stay hydrated when you have crying scenes. You have to go to college. And you have to ask for money because there's always more money and they won't give it to you because you're a girl!" 

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