Clarice Starling Clarice Starling Clarice M. Starling is a fictional character who appears in the novels "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" by Thomas Harris. In the film adaptation of "The Silence of the Lambs", she was played by Jodie Foster, while in the film adaptation of "Hannibal", she was played by Julianne Moore. Clarice Starling, as portrayed by Foster, was ranked the sixth greatest protagonist in film history on AFI's "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains", making her the highest-ranking heroine. In 1991, for her portrayal of Starling she also received the Academy Award for Best Actress. In "The Silence of
Clarice Starling revealing Buffalo Bill's identity. Lecter gives her clues in the form of cryptic, riddling information designed to help Starling figure it out for herself. The two grow to respect each other, so when Lecter escapes during a transfer engineered by Chilton to a state prison in Tennessee, Starling feels that he "would consider it rude" to kill her. Starling deduces from Lecter's hints that Buffalo Bill's first victim had a personal relationship with him, and so goes to the victim's home in Belvedere, Ohio, to interview people who knew her. She unknowingly stumbles onto the killer himself, Jame Gumb, who