Caitriona Balfe

Caitriona Balfe

Balfe at the Outlander premiere in New York
Born 4 October 1979
Dublin, Ireland
Occupation Actress, model
Years active 2006–present

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 leading roles in The Beauty Inside, Crush, and H+: The Digital Series.

Biography

Early life and modelling

Balfe in 2003

Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland[1] and grew up in the village of Tydavnet, near Monaghan, in a family of seven.[2] She started modelling after she was scouted by an agent while she was collecting money for charity at a local mall.[2][3] At nineteen, after working as a model in Dublin for a few months, she caught the attention of a Ford Models scout, who offered her the chance to work for them in Paris.[2] Some of her modelling career highlights include opening the Chanel Autumn/Winter 2002 Haute Couture show,[4] closing the Givenchy Autumn/Winter 2002 Haute Couture show,[5] walking in several fashion shows for notable brands:[6] 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:[6] 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; walking in the 2002 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (the first and to date the only Irish model to do so); and appearing on the cover of international editions of magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE.[3][6][7] She walked in seventy-three fashion shows in the 2002 season, ninety-six in the 2003 season, and eighty-three in the 2004 season.[6]

At the height of her career she was considered to be in the Top 20 of most in-demand models in the world, she is also generally regarded as Ireland's most successful fashion model.[8][9]

Other brands she has walked the runway for include:[6] 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, 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.[10][11]

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."[2] She has stated that she will not return to modelling full time;[12] although she continues to do occasional modelling jobs with people she has previously worked with,[2] 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.[13]


Acting

Balfe with Outlander co-stars Tobias Menzies and Sam Heughan

Before she started modelling, Balfe was studying Drama at the Dublin Institute of Technology, hoping to become an actress.[2][3] While living in New York, she played the part of an employee of the magazine Runway in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada.[8] In 2009, after a ten-year modelling career, Balfe decided to return 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.[14][15] 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][16]

Promotional poster for H+: The Digital Series

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.[17] In 2013 she starred in the music videos for "First Fires" by British musician Bonobo,[18] and for "Chloroform" by French band Phoenix, the latter directed by Sofia Coppola.[19]

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.[20]

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.[21] Both the series and her performance have received critical acclaim,[22] 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."[23] 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."[24] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly stated "Balfe delivers a star-making turn."[25] James Poniewozik of Time labelled Balfe's portrayal as "wry, [and] infectiously engaging."[26] 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."[27]

During October 2014 she was ranked ninth on the list of most searched actresses on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).[28] In December 2014 Entertainment Weekly named Balfe one of its 12 Breakout Stars of 2014.[29]

On January 29, 2015 it was announced that Balfe had been added to the cast of the film Money Monster, directed by Jodie Foster and starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts. She will play 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.[30][31]

In March 2015 Balfe received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress on Television for her work in Outlander.[32] The following month she received a nomination for "Best Actress in a Lead Role Drama" from the Irish Film & Television Awards;[33] also in April she was named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World".[34]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2006 The Devil Wears Prada Clacker Uncredited[8]
2009 Picture Me Herself Documentary; also producer
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 Post-production
2015 Money Monster Diane Lester Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 The Model Scouts Herself Runway mentor;[8] cycle 2 episode 2
2012 The Beauty Inside Alex #34 5 episodes
2014–present Outlander Claire Beauchamp 16 episodes; main role

Web

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

Awards and nominations

Year Nominated work Award Category Result
2014 BBC America Anglophenia Fan Favorite Award Woman Of The Year Won[35]
2014 Outlander Saturn Awards Best Actress on Television Pending[32]
2014 Outlander Irish Film & Television Awards Best Actress in a Lead Role Drama Pending[33]

References

  1. ↑ "Dublin-born Caitriona Balfe could be the new face of Moschino". Vogue UK. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Monaghan native Caitriona Balfe tells why she made the right move". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "A model life". Politico. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Chanel AW 2002 Haute Couture". Vogue. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "Givenchy AW 2002 Haute Couture". Vogue. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Profile of Caitriona Balfe". Fashion Model Directory. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Photo of Catriona Balfe - Fashion Model - ID291324 - Profile on FMD". Fashion Model Directory. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "The Model Scouts Ep 2". RTE Television. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "How To Be A Supermodel". Irish Independent. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "€240,000 Of Lost Wages In Italy And A Year To Pay In LA". The Model Alliance. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Fashion industry initiative cracks down on labels that don't pay models". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "Caitriona Balfe vows not to return to modelling". Goss.ie. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "PHOTO STORY: Caitriona Balfe, Arizona Slot Canyon". Milk Made. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "The Gorgeous Determination of Caitriona Balfe". 2 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "'Outlander' star had to unlearn her modeling skills". 2 April 2015.
  16. ↑ Caitriona Balfe at Rotten Tomatoes
  17. ↑ "The Beauty Inside Trailer". Creativity Online.
  18. ↑ "Bonobo - First Fires". Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Phoenix - Chloroform". Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Hplus Nano Teoranta – About the Company". Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Caitriona Balfe Gets The Lead In Starz’s ‘Outlander’". Deadline.com. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  22. ↑ "OUTLANDER: SEASON 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  23. ↑ "Outlander Refuses to Define Itself, and That’s a Good Thing". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  24. ↑ "'Outlander': TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  25. ↑ "Outlander (2014)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  26. ↑ "REVIEW: Outlander Is Many Kinds of Show, All in One Kilt". Time Magazine. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  27. ↑ "'Outlander' review: Double lives, just 200 years apart". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  28. ↑ "Caitriona Balfe joins Hollywood elite Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett Johansson as she joins the top 10 most-searched actresses on IMDB". evoke.ie. 6 October 2014.
  29. ↑ "12 Breakout Stars of 2014". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  30. ↑ "'Outlander' Star Joining George Clooney, Julia Roberts in 'Money Monster'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  31. ↑ "Lucky girl! Caitriona Balfe lands movie with Hollywood hunk George Clooney". evoke.ie. 30 January 2015.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 "Saturn Awards Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 "IFTA 2015 NOMINEES". The Irish Film & Television Academy. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  34. ↑ "'Lanky' Monaghan model and Victoria Secret angel Caitriona Balfe listed as one of the world's Most Beautiful". evoke.ie. 25 April 2015.
  35. ↑ "‘Outlander’ Star Caitriona Balfe Named Anglo Fan Favorites, Woman of 2014". BBC America. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

External links

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