Caitríona Mary Balfe (/kəˈtriːnə ˈbælf/; born 4 October 1979) is an Irish actress, producer and former fashion model. She is best known for her starring role as Claire Fraser in the Starz drama series Outlander (2014–present), for which she has won the Scottish BAFTA, the Irish Film and Television Award, two People’s Choice Awards, two Saturn Award and received four Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama along with two Critics’ Choice Television Awards.
In 1999, while studying Drama at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Balfe was offered work as a fashion model in Paris. She was featured both in advertising campaigns and on runways for brands such as Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Max Mara, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Salvatore Ferragamo, Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez, Bottega Veneta, Oscar de la Renta and many others over ten years before refocusing on acting. She had leading roles in the web series The Beauty Inside (2012) and H+: The Digital Series (2012–2013), and appeared in the films Super 8 (2011), Now You See Me (2013), Escape Plan (2013), Money Monster (2016), and Ford v. Ferrari (2019).
Early life
Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland, and grew up in the village of Tydavnet, near Monaghan, in a family of seven. Her father is a retired Garda Sergeant.
Career
Modelling
Balfe started modelling after she was scouted by an agent while she was collecting money for charity at a local shopping centre. At 18, after working as a model in Dublin for a few months, she caught the attention of a visiting Ford Models scout, who offered her the chance to work for them in Paris. Her career highlights include opening and closing shows for Chanel, Moschino, Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana, Alberta Ferretti and Louis Vuitton.
Acting
Balfe on the runway for Michael Kors in 2003
While living in New York, Balfe played the minor role of an employee of the magazine Runway in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. In 2009, after a decade-long modelling career, Balfe returned to her initial career choice and moved from New York to Los Angeles, spending her first year and a half in the city exclusively taking acting classes, first at the Warner Loughlin Studios and then at the Sanford Meisner Center and the Judith Weston Studios. Balfe has appeared in the films Super 8, as the protagonist’s mother, Now You See Me, as Michael Caine’s character’s wife, and Escape Plan, as the CIA lawyer that hires Sylvester Stallone’s character.
In 2012 she portrayed Alex #34 in The Beauty Inside, a social film divided into six episodes telling the story of a man named Alex (Topher Grace) who wakes up in a different body every day. In 2013 she starred in the music videos for “First Fires” by British musician Bonobo and for “Chloroform” by French band Phoenix, the latter directed by Sofia Coppola.
Balfe was part of the main cast of the Warner Bros. web series H+: The Digital Series during 2012 and 2013, in which she played Breanna Sheehan, one of the executives of a biotechnology company that develops an implanted computer which allows people to be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.
In September 2013 Balfe was cast as the lead character, Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser, on the Starz television series Outlander, based on the novels written by Diana Gabaldon; the series premiered in August 2014. She plays a mid-20th-century nurse who is transported back in time to the war-torn mid-18th-century Scottish Highlands. Both the series and her performance have received critical acclaim, with Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair saying “it helps immensely that Balfe is such an appealing actress, makes Claire a spirited, principled, genuinely heroic heroine”. Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Balfe is “reason enough to watch; she’s a confident actress who brings various shades to her character”. James Poniewozik of Time labelled Balfe’s portrayal as “wry, infectiously engaging”. Angelica Jade Bastién of The New York Times called Balfe “one of the most stunning actresses on television”.
In December 2014, Entertainment Weekly named Balfe one of its 12 Breakout Stars of 2014; that month she was also voted “Woman Of The Year” at BBC America’s Anglophenia Fan Favorites tournament.
In April 2015, Balfe received Best Actress in a Lead Role Drama and Rising Star Award nominations for the 12th Irish Film & Television Awards, and was named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World”. She won Saturn Awards for Best Actress on Television in 2015 and 2016. In November 2016, Balfe won the Scottish BAFTA award for Best Actress on Television and in February 2018 she won the Irish IFTA for Best Actress in a Lead Role Drama. Balfe also received four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her role in Outlander.
Balfe with Outlander co-stars Tobias Menzies and Sam Heughan
Balfe co-starred in the film Money Monster (2016), directed by Jodie Foster and starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts. She played the head of PR of a company whose stock bottoms out, causing a man to lose all of his savings and subsequently take hostages on a live TV show. Eric Hills of The Movie Waffler wrote “But it’s relative newcomer Balfe who leaves the greatest impression; she’s magnetic, stealing scenes even when her character is only glimpsed reacting to the situation on a background monitor. Expect to see a lot more of this Irish actress in the coming years.”
In 2019, Balfe had a recurring voice role as Tavra in the Netflix fantasy series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. The series, which was a prequel to the 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal and produced by The Jim Henson Company, was released to critical acclaim. Also in 2019, she had a starring role opposite Matt Damon and Christian Bale in the sports drama film Ford v Ferrari. Balfe portrayed Mollie Miles, the wife of professional race car driver Ken Miles, a role which earned her an IFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film received universal acclaim upon release and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Personal life
As of 2014, Balfe was based in Glasgow, having previously lived in Los Angeles when she started acting professionally, and in New York City, Paris, London, Milan, Hamburg, and Tokyo while she worked as a model. In addition to English, she is a fluent speaker of the Irish language and is conversant in French.
She is a patron of the organisation World Child Cancer. In April 2018, she ran the London Marathon raising over $41,000 in support of the organization.
Caitriona married Scottish band manager Anthony McGill in August 2019.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | Clacker | Uncredited |
| 2009 | Picture Me | Herself | Documentary; also producer |
| A Herculean Effort | Emily | Short film | |
| 2011 | Super 8 | Elizabeth Lamb | |
| Lust Life | Aubrie | Short film | |
| 2012 | The Wolf | Sally | |
| Lost Angeles | Veronique | ||
| 2013 | Crush | Andie | |
| Now You See Me | Jasmine Tressler | ||
| Escape Plan | Jessica Miller | ||
| 2015 | The Price of Desire | Gabrielle Bloch | |
| 2016 | Money Monster | Diane Lester | |
| 2019 | Ford v. Ferrari | Mollie Miles | |
| 2021 | Belfast | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Model Scouts | Herself / Runway Mentor | Cycle 2, Episode 2 |
| 2012 | The Beauty Inside | Alex #34 | Main role; 5 episodes |
| 2012–2013 | H+: The Digital Series | Breanna Sheehan | Main role; 7 episodes |
| 2014–present | Outlander | Claire Beauchamp Fraser | Lead role; 67 episodes Also producer; 12 episodes |
| 2019 | The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance | Tavra (voice) | 9 episodes |
| 2019 | The Christmas Letter | Ellie (voice) | Television film |
| 2020 | Angela’s Christmas Wish | Dorothy’s Mom (voice) | Television film |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Outlander | BBC America Anglophenia Fan Favorite Awards | Woman Of The Year | Won | |
| The Anglophile Channel Awards | Best Actress in a Television Series | Won | |||
| Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Won | |||
| Irish Film & Television Awards | Best Actress in a Lead Role Drama | Nominated | |||
| Rising Star Award | Nominated | ||||
| EWwy Awards | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Won | |||
| 2016 | People’s Choice Awards | Favorite Cable Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress | Won | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | |||
| Satellite Awards | Best Television Ensemble | Won | |||
| Women’s Image Network Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Won | |||
| Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Won | |||
| Irish Film & Television Awards | Best Actress in a Lead Role Drama | Nominated | |||
| The Anglophile Channel Awards | Best Actress in a Television Series | Won | |||
| EWwy Awards | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Won | |||
| BAFTA Scotland Awards | Best Actress on Television | Won | |||
| Critics’ Choice Television Awards | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
| 2017 | People’s Choice Awards | Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress | Won | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | |||
| Oscar Wilde Awards | N/A | Won | |||
| Women’s Image Network Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
| Irish Film & Television Awards | Best Actress in a Lead Role TV Drama | Nominated | |||
| Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | |||
| 2018 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
| Women’s Image Network Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
| Satellite Awards | Best Actress in a TV Drama Series//Genre Series | Nominated | |||
| Critics’ Choice Television Awards | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
| Irish Film & Television Awards | Best Actress in a Lead Role TV Drama | Won | |||
| Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | |||
| 2019 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
| Saturn Awards | Best Actress on a Television Series | Nominated | |||
| 2020 | Irish Film & Television Awards | Best Actress in a Lead Role TV Drama | Nominated | ||
| Ford v Ferrari | Best Actress in a Supporting Role Film | Nominated | |||
| Outlander | Women’s Image Network Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
| Film/Show Produced by a Woman | Nominated | ||||
| Gold Derby Awards | Best Drama Actress | Nominated | |||
| 2021 | Critics’ Choice Super Awards | Best Actress In A Science Fiction/Fantasy Series | Nominated | ||
| Satellite Awards | Actress in a Series, Drama/Genre | Nominated | |||
| Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Pending |