Age: 32
Occupation: Actress
It seems so long ago that Danes starred in My So-Called Life. Though the show ran only 19 episodes, it defined her early career and distilled a moment in time in the early '90s. This year, Danes returned to television to headline Homeland, a taut, complex thriller that TIME's James Poniewozik called the best new series of the fall. As CIA analyst Carrie Mathison, Danes leads a show that perfectly captures the ongoing uncertainty in the age of terrorism.