From her teenage years on TV in My So-Called Life to her most mainstream movie Terminator 3, Claire Danes makes looking ordinary on the big screen easy. Beautiful but not intimidating, intelligent but emotional, she's also the best blubber in Hollywood (see Romeo + Juliet and Stage Beauty for starters). Her latest project is Shopgirl, an adaptation of Steve Martin's novella about a lonely and seemingly unremarkable lass in LA who embarks on a romance with an older man - played by Martin himself - while a directionless lad nearer her own age (Jason Schwartzman) waits in the wings.

  WATCH: Claire Danes on playing an unusual heroine and why Steve Martin is actually rather sexy.

Shopgirl is released in UK cinemas on Friday 20th January 2006.