Caitriona Balfe (born 4 October 1979) is an Irish actress and model, best known for her role as Claire Beauchamp in the Starz series Outlander.

Balfe studied at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. In 1999 she was offered to work internationally as a fashion model, and she subsequently took a multiple-year break from acting. Prior to Outlander, Balfe appeared in films such as The Devil Wears Prada, Super 8, Now You See Me, and Escape Plan, and had starring roles in The Beauty Inside, Crush, and H+: The Digital Series.



Biography
Early life and modelling

Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland and grew up in the village of Tydavnet, near Monaghan, in a family of seven. She started modelling after she was scouted by an agent while she was collecting money for charity at a local mall. After working as a model in Dublin for a few months, she caught the attention of a Ford Models scout, who at nineteen offered her the chance to work for them in Paris. Some of her modelling career highlights include opening the Chanel Autumn/Winter 2002 Haute Couture show, closing the Givenchy Autumn/Winter 2002 Haute Couture show, walking in several fashion shows for notable brands: twelve shows for Dolce & Gabbana, eight for Chanel, seven for Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez, and Moschino, six for Etro, five for Armani, Roberto Cavalli, Max Mara, Ann Demeulemeester, and Louis Vuitton, four for Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta, Missoni, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Alberta Ferretti, Alexander McQueen, and Emanuel Ungaro, and three for Rochas, Christian Lacroix, Laura Biagiotti, Cacharel, BCBG Max Azria, Sonia Rykiel, and Kenzo; doing advertising campaigns for: Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Max Mara, Oscar de la Renta, Bally, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino, Costume National, Bottega Veneta, Hush Puppies, BCBG Max Azria, Blumarine, Dries Van Noten, Wella, Roberto Cavalli, Victoria’s Secret, and H&M; and appearing on the cover of international editions of magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE. She walked in seventy-three fashion shows in the 2002 season, ninety-six in the 2003 season, and eighty-three in the 2004 season. Balfe is generally regarded as Ireland's most successful fashion model.

Other brands she has walked the runway for include: Anna Molinari, Anna Sui, Balenciaga, Céline, Chado Ralph Rucci, Chloé, Christian Dior, Diesel, DKNY, Dries Van Noten, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Gianfranco Ferré, Hugo Boss, Hussein Chalayan, Iceberg, Issey Miyake, Jil Sander, Julien Macdonald, La Perla, Lacoste, Lanvin, Loewe, Michael Kors, Miu Miu, Nicole Miller, Paco Rabanne, Perry Ellis, Roland Mouret, Salvatore Ferragamo, Stella McCartney, Valentino, Victoria's Secret, Viktor & Rolf, and Yohji Yamamoto.

For her work in Milan in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, Balfe earned close to 300,000 dollars, but after her Italian agency, Paolo Tomei, filed for bankruptcy, she and the other models that were represented by it lost all the earnings they had made during that time, as the agency kept them. Due to models being considered freelancers under Italian law, her lawyer discouraged her from filing a lawsuit against Paolo Tomei. Years later, in 2009, working for the company BCBG, Balfe faced a similar situation, with the company first delaying its payments and then refusing to pay the models alleging financial problems, but still booking them, as it privately ensured their agencies that they would be paid. Against her agency’s advice, Balfe decided to stop working for BCBG until she was returned all the money she was owed; the company eventually complied.

Reflecting on her career, Balfe commented: "Modelling wasn't a passion of mine so that made it get old kind of quickly. I was getting very frustrated." She has stated that she will not return to modelling full time; although she continues to do occasional modelling jobs with people she has previously worked with, such as photographer James Houston, who in 2013 featured Balfe, alongside models like Karlie Kloss, Coco Rocha, Angela Lindvall, and Anja Rubik, in his Natural Beauty series, photographing her in the Antelope Canyon.

Acting

Before she started modelling, Balfe was studying Drama at the Dublin Institute of Technology, hoping to become an actress. While living in New York, she played the part of an employee of the magazine Runway in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. In 2009, after an eight-and-a-half year modelling career, Balfe decided to return to her initial career choice, and moved from New York to Los Angeles. 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 which narrates 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, which was 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, she 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." Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly stated "Balfe delivers a star-making turn." James Poniewozik of Time labelled Balfe's portrayal as "wry, [and] infectiously engaging." David Wiegand of The San Francisco Chronicle also praised her acting, suggesting that viewers were "able to invest in Claire's growing emotional conflict between her future husband, Frank, and the strapping young Jamie because of the depth of Balfe's performance."

In December 2014 Entertainment Weekly named Balfe one of its 12 Breakout Stars of 2014.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2006 The Devil Wears Prada Clacker Uncredited
2009 Picture Me Herself Documentary
2009 A Herculean Effort Emily Short film
2011 Super 8 Elizabeth Lamb
2011 Lust Life Aubrie Short film
2012 The Wolf Sally Short film
2012 Lost Angeles Veronique
2013 Crush Andie Direct-to-video
2013 Now You See Me Jasmine Tressler
2013 Escape Plan Jessica Miller
2015 The Price of Desire Gabrielle Bloch

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 The Model Scouts Herself Runway mentor and judge; cycle 2 episode 2
2012 The Beauty Inside Alex #34 5 episodes
2014–present Outlander Claire Beauchamp 8 episodes; main role

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2012–2013 H+: The Digital Series Breanna Sheehan 7 episodes

Caitriona Balfe - Starz 'Outlander' Press Panel at 2014 Comic-Con in San Diego 25.07.14 (x3)