Here's the story:

Back in college, I was a social recluse and Internet junkie. I sat in my dorm room and chatted online with strangers on IRC (this was before IM) every night. On the evening of my otherwise lame 21st birthday in September 1997, I found myself chatting with a girl who claimed to be Claire Danes. After some persuading, I asked if we could talk on the phone, because I wanted to know if it was really her.

So she called. As we talked, I got the idea to flip the switch on my analog answering machine to record the conversation. If this really was Claire Danes, I thought it would be pretty cool to get it on tape. Of course, it was only one of those 15 minute mini-cassettes, so that's as much of the conversation as I got. As I remember it, the whole conversation lasted about 30 minutes.

Claire discussed her first time drinking, her ex, her celebrity friends, her upcoming movie ("U-Turn"), and her computer dumbness. I discussed how poor I am, how I don't watch TV, how I don't go to the movies (as a film major, no less), and how I don't travel. I'm going to come right out and say that I was a pretty big loser back in the day, so be nice.

The whole time I was chatting, I wondered if it was really her. I didn't know her voice, and I wasn't familiar with her work. Back in 1997, the web wasn't what it was now. It was sometimes tricky to find information and verify facts. But I did the best I could, furiously querying IMDB as we talked, fact-checking every bit of information she revealed. Everything she said checked out. While it was more likely to be an obsessed wannabe, I got the feeling that I really was talking to Claire Danes.

She had called me, and I didn't have caller ID or anything, so at the end of the conversation, I asked for her number. She refused, saying it probably wouldn't be a good idea giving her number out, seeing how she was famous and all. I asked for her e-mail address, but she wouldn't give it to me. I tried to figure out some way to continue my correspondence with her, but she wouldn't bite. So our conversation ended, and that was it.

For the next 3 years, I wondered. Was it her I talked to? Would I ever get a chance to find out?

Amazingly, on December 26, 1999, at the beginning of a life-changing trip to Australia, I spotted Claire Danes boarding my plane on my way down to Sydney. After taking off, I told the stewardess that I knew Claire Danes was on the plane and that I would love to have a word with her if she could tell me where on the plane she was sitting, trying not to sound like an obsessed stalker-type. She returned to tell me that Claire was busy cuddling with her then-boyfriend Ben Lee in business class, and that she didn't look like she wanted to be disturbed. I never got a chance to talk to her on the plane, so I vowed to catch up with her once we landed.

I got off the plane as quickly as I could and ran to baggage claim. I couldn't find her and quickly scanned the exits to see if she was on her way out. Just as I started getting discouraged, I spotted her. She was standing near one of the carousels, trying her best to look nondescript. Nobody except me seemed to know that it was Claire Danes standing there.

Knowing that if I didn't take this opportunity to get my question answered that it would bother me for the rest of my life, I found a confidence that I have never had before and walked up to her. Sensing that she didn't want to draw any attention to herself and knowing that I only had a moment before she would surely bolt, I very quickly told her my story and asked if it was her I talked to a few years back. By this time, she was quite famous, and she quite famously pulled her parka hood over her head before blurting "No, I don't do that kind of thing!" and scurrying off to her ride outside. Bystanders, who were beginning to recognize who was rushing past them, turned to me. I smiled and gave them a knowing nod.

There are lots of things that might explain Claire's reaction at the airport. Maybe it is a knee-jerk response for a famous person to deny everything a stranger might ask her about or accuse her of. Maybe she didn't remember. Maybe she did remember but was ashamed of it. Or maybe she really didn't talk to me. In any case, my question was finally answered, and I could put my mind at ease. I stopped stressing about it and instead was overcome with the fact that I found the balls to approach her and ask.

On December 30, 2007, I found the tape of our conversation and listened to it for the first time in 10 years. Now that I am more familiar with her work ("U-Turn" was great!) and her voice, and with more robust search engines for fact-checking, I am almost POSITIVE it's her. I've listened to the conversation countless times now, and her accent and laugh seem to match other clips I've seen. There seems to be a difference in pitch compared to what I've seen on television interviews from that time, but that could just be a "professional voice" vs. "casual voice" issue. Her responses are all snappy and frank, delivered without hesitation. And all of her facts check out, except for her claim of three brothers. Web research seems to indicate that she has only one, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Like I said, I think it was her. But if it IS a fake, she did an incredible job.

So here is the conversation. (It's also up on YouTube.) What do you think? Was it Claire Danes I talked to on the phone?

Claire, if you're out there...