CLAIRE DANES - CLAIRE DANES FINDS PEACE AT SCHOOL

ROMEO+JULIET actress CLAIRE DANES loved being a student - because she could escape from the film world and fit in with her peers.

The American star, 24, took a Hollywood hiatus to attend the prestigious YALE university. And Claire, who'd been in showbusiness since she was a young teen, found the experiencing enlightening socially as well as academically.

She says, "Before going to college I wasn't used to relating to kids my own age. I didn't know what that was like, because I hadn't been to high school and I was functioning in a world inhabited by adults. So going to Yale has been good for me.

"I've had a chance to exercise my mind and my social skills. And I've found all the cliches about college to be absolutely true - I have made my best friends there."

And despite her film fame, the star fitted in perfectly at Yale - because it's an environment for exceptional people.

She adds, "At college I was just so busy working. That's what I was concentrating on. So my being an actress was really a non-issue.

"Also, everyone at Yale is wildly accomplished. They're the stars of their own home towns and they were the stars of their schools. So they felt comfortable with my celebrity, probably because, in a way, they were celebrities themselves. And when you're working 18 hours a day and you're fretting over that psychology exam, everything else becomes irrelevant."