Caitríona Balfe (/kəˈtriːnə ˈbælf/; born 4 October 1979)[1] is an Irish actress and former

model. She is best known for her role as Claire Fraser in the Starz drama series
Outlander, for which she has won two People's Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards,
and an Irish Film and Television Award, and received four Golden Globe Award
nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Drama.

In 1999, while studying drama at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, Balfe was
offered work as a fashion model in Paris. She was featured both in advertising
campaigns and on runways for brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Max
Mara, Bottega Veneta and Oscar de la Renta over the course of 10 years before she
returned her focus toward acting. Balfe has appeared in numerous films, including
Super 8, Now You See Me, Escape Plan and Money Monster, and had leading roles in
The Beauty Inside, Crush and H+: The Digital Series.

Balfe started modelling after she was scouted by an agent while she was collecting money for
charity at a local shopping centre.[2][3] At 19, 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.[2] Her career highlights include opening and closing shows for
Chanel, Moschino, Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana, Alberta Ferretti, and Louis Vuitton.[4][5][6][7][8]
Balfe also walked in multiple fashion shows for notable brands, including[9] 14 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, Alessandro Dell'Acqua and Kenzo. Advertising
campaigns featuring Balfe include those for[9] Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Max Mara, Oscar de la Renta,
Bally, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino, Costume National, Escada, Bottega Veneta, Hush Puppies,
Mango, Neiman Marcus, BCBG Max Azria, Blumarine, Dries Van Noten, Wella, Roberto Cavalli,
Victoria’s Secret, and H&M. She appeared in the 2002 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and on
the cover of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE magazines.[3][9][10] In a three-year period Balfe
walked in more than 250 runway shows.[9] Often credited professionally as simply Caitriona, at
the height of her career she was considered to be in the Top 20 of the most in-demand models
in the world.[11][12]

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.[11] In 2009, after a decade-long
modelling career, Balfe returned to her initial career choice, and moved from New York
to Los Angeles,[2] 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.[15][16] 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.[2][17]

In 2012 she portrayed Alex #34 in The Beauty Inside, a social film divided into six
episodes that narrates the story of a man named Alex (Topher Grace) who wakes up in a
different body every day.[18] In 2013 she starred in the music videos for "First Fires" by
British musician Bonobo,[19] and for "Chloroform" by French band Phoenix, the latter
directed by Sofia Coppola.[20]
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.[21]