She already has a loyal fan base thanks to TV’s time-travelling romance Outlander, but now Caitriona Balfe’s role in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast is set to propel her to Hollywood stardom and Oscar glory.
Balfe, 42, was born in Dublin before moving with her six siblings close to the Irish border in Tydavnet, County Monaghan, where her father was a police sergeant in the Garda Síochána.
Balfe was an avid reader and theatre lover as a teenager. She studied drama at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Rathmines. However, before she could begin her professional career in acting, a model-scout noticed her in a supermarket.
During a decade in the industry, Balfe stepped out for Chanel, Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton, and in a 2009 article for the Irish Independent, Derek Daniels, founder of Assets Model Agency, described her as ‘arguably the biggest model to come out of this country’.
Balfe was however unable to perform the tasks she had been assigned and wanted another chance. Balfe obtained small movie credits for The Devil Wears Prada as an extra, but viewers could only see her feet moving across the screen during the opening.
Actress Claire Fraser, who played the role of Claire Fraser in Outlander’s six-season run was critically acclaimed. Soon she will be preparing to film a seventh.
Yet it’s her latest role in Belfast, released on January 21 and inspired by Branagh’s childhood in 1960s Northern Ireland during the Troubles, which has her tipped for Oscar glory.
Tony McGill is Tony’s wife. However, she keeps their marriage out of the limelight. McGill and McGill are married. McGill posted on Instagram that McGill had given birth to a boy last year.
Caitriona balfe in the 8th Annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show held at The New York State Armory, New York City
Already a beloved actress, thanks to TV’s Time-travelling Romance Outlander (pictured), Caitriona Balfe is now set to take her to Hollywood superstardom and Oscar glory with Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast.
Balfe was married to Tony McGill, pictured in the same year as they were married. This is after Balfe announced her engagement at the Golden Globes on January 2018.
Last week, it was announced Balfe, who plays Ma, the matriarch of a pacifist Protestant family in the film, had been nominated for an Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Hollywood’s Screen Actors Guild awards.
SAG Awards will be given out in Los Angeles, February 27th, voted by SAGAFTRA’s acting union members.
These results will be closely monitored as actors make up the biggest voting bloc in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the organisation which will present the Oscars) in March.
She performed in Belfast to prove her growing popularity. [also]You want [Balfe] on the cover’, according to The Irish Times, with the actress already appearing on the front cover of Vanity Fair’s Awards Insider issue.
Balfe came to acting late – she was in her late 20s when she gave up a career as a runway model to act, shooting to fame on the first series of Outlander in 2014, which was adapted from a successful book series.
She was acclaimed for her role opposite Christian Bale, in Ford v Ferrari. It won the Oscar and was a crowd pleaser. Belfast, however, is her most significant feature film role.
Balfe, who was “slightly unhappy” in her modeling career prior to quitting to be an actor, has written previously about her struggles in the fashion industry.
She reflected on her time as a model in a candid chat on the Thanks A Million podcast with Angela Scanlon in January 2021.
This is her latest role as Belfast (pictured). It was released January 21st and was inspired by Branagh’s childhood in Northern Ireland in the 1960s during the Troubles. She has been rumored to be up for Oscar glory.
Balfe is seen in Belfast. Balfe was 42 years old when she was born in Dublin. She moved to Belfast with her six siblings near the Irish border, Tydavnet County Monaghan. Her father, a police sergeant, was also there.
Looking back, Balfe hit out at the ‘s**t agencies’ she worked with in the past as she criticised the ‘weird balance of power’ in the industry as a whole.
The actress worked in advertising campaigns with brands like Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana and Balenciaga for a period of ten years before going into acting.
Balfe did not name any specific companies. She said, “You are supposed to automatically be that fun, interesting and edgy person the fashion people want. However, you must be thin and so androgynous.
“There were always people better than me and people being more successful. It’s difficult enough for young women in their twenties and teens.
You know that castings, fittings, and interviews for job opportunities are never easy. Someone in the room will just be taking away your personality, or make you appear sloppy.
You have it all before you. It can be really difficult. Girls who are able to overcome this kind of hardship have my admiration.
She continued: “I think everyone experiences a wobbly period after trying to figure out where their footing is or what the next step should be. Because it opens so many doors. It does open your eyes to many possibilities and gives you an unbelievable education.
Balfe was an avid reader and theatre lover, so as to continue her studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology (pictured in 2021), Balfe was sent off by his mother to study drama.
“But in another it infantilises and stunts you in so numerous other ways. The process of rebalancing all that takes quite a bit of time. It’s almost as if everyone is so cool in this field.
That’s what you were taught from an early age.
“Why would you not take off a top? It’s just t**s. Come on, like just be cool.” This has happened many times. It was great luck.
‘I had some amazing bookers and had some amazing agencies, but I also had some absolute s**t agencies, and they’ve positioned themselves, I think, as they protect the girls.
“But, because they have their own management companies, they take no responsibility. The girls, who are all self-employed, actually employ agents.
It’s a bizarre balance of power. The people you supposedly hire are those who have all the job openings.
They not only dictate how much you earn, but also what your life looks like. If you ask any model what the worst thing was, it used to be that you had to walk into an agency, and everyone would scan you from head to toe.
Before she could start performing, however, Balfe was spotted in a supermarket by a model scout who took her to the catwalk. Pictured, Balfe as Claire Randall, right, and Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser, in a scene from Outlander
What are you wearing? Do you look cool? Is your body thin enough? Are you going to the right place or dating the right person?
Balfe stated that the industry had a lot of ‘good parts’.
Following her modelling career, Balfe swapped the catwalk for the TV screen to star in Outlander, yet the actress wasn’t even attached to the series with only days to go before production started on the first season.
Ronald D. Moore was the showrunner of this series and revealed it to Collider May 2020. He said that Balfe must immediately board a plane to Scotland as soon as he wins the role.
Moore shared his initial expectations that Balfe would play Claire’s part in a video chat interview with Collider Editor Steve Weintraub.
He knew Sam Heughan was her true love, but struggled to get Claire on his side.
Moore said, “We read lots of actresses and we watched a lot tape,”
He wanted Claire to be “really intelligent” and someone “you could see thinking”, while also having great chemistry. This limited his options.
Balfe’s audition tape was received ‘late in game’. Balfe quickly rose to the top, but a Heughan Chemistry audition secured the deal.
“Once she had been cast, she flew to Scotland in a matter of days and was shooting two days after that. Moore explained that they were close to starting production in Scotland. It was beginning to worry everyone.
During a decade in the industry, Balfe (pictured in 2020) stepped out for Chanel, Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton, and in a 2009 article for the Irish Independent, Derek Daniels, founder of Assets Model Agency, described her as ‘arguably the biggest model to come out of this country’
Moore explained that Moore had said at the start, “We are going to cast Claire” because it’s easier to find her because she is a smart British woman of the 20th century, and there’s lots of them.”
Moore expected Jaime to play the difficult role Heughan played, but Moore was surprised when he became the first cast member for the series.
Outlander is the story of Claire, an English combat nurse, in 1945. She becomes transported back to 1743 where she finds her true love Jamie.
Diana Gabaldon currently has nine Outlander novels, the latest being Go Tell The Bees that I’m Gone.
Balfe stated that Outlander is largely faithful to its original adaptations, unlike other TV series.
“We make changes here and there, but for the most part you know the story and Diana is so integral to the show that she has written episodes and been on it.
The popularity of the book led to a huge fanbase when the series debuted on TV.
Balfe claimed that Sam Heughan and she were welcomed by over 2,500 readers at an event they attended shortly after filming began.
“These book-lovers were. This series was very popular and has existed for over 20 years. Sam and me were taken to LA for filming. We were then brought into an auditorium with more than two-and-a half thousand mental fans.
Balfe steadily grew her repertoire of roles since she signed on for Outlander, cementing her position as an actress.
Yet while the public becomes more and more aware of her, Balfe continues to keep her personal life largely private.
Balfe’s private life is kept secret despite being more well-known. Balfe, Tony and their 2017 photo
The 42-year-old even managed to keep her pregnancy under wraps for nine months, taking to Instagram in August 2021 to make the surprise announcement.
The photo shows her holding the baby in her hand. She also shared an impassioned caption.
She penned: ‘I’ve been off socials for a while as I was taking some time to enjoy cooking up this little human …. “We are so thankful for this little one.”
She wrote: “That he chose me as his parents. I’m in awe of him already and can’t help stare and wonder at all the possibilities of who he will become, where he will go and what he’ll do on the big adventure of his life…
“Right now he appears so fragile, and I continually think of how grateful I feel that I live somewhere and at a time when he can be brought into safety and peace.
‘Yet at the same time I see so many in the world right now that aren’t afforded that same privilege and opportunity who are born into famine or war and how unjust it is that the same safety isn’t there for all children…
‘Here in the west we have so much, we are so lucky and so if you’d like to join me in supporting any of the wonderful charities that need help trying to give those that are forgotten dignity and hope…
‘We can give the gift of peace and safety and opportunity to a few more children … @wchildcancer @chooselove @unicef @refugees’.
Balfe and Tony married in 2019. They announced their engagement at January’s Golden Globes 2018. Balfe kept her pregnancy news secret on the set of Outlander Season 6 as filming wrapped in June.
People was previously informed by the Dubin-born actress that Tony had proposed over the holiday period. I’m very happy.’
Balfe and her husband were together for 2 years, but they rarely share the spotlight.
Even though she was 42 years old, the woman managed to keep her pregnancy secret for nine months. She took to Instagram to announce her surprise in August 2021 (pictured).
A black-and-white shot of her holding her baby was shared by her along with a long, passionate caption (pictured).
After a friend posted an Instagram video in which the actress was seated on her partner’s lap, it was 2015 that they were first photographed together.
After attending the 2016 Hollywood Walk Of Fame ceremony, Jodie Foster was awarded her star at the Oscar Wilde Awards. They then were photographed together again.
Tony, a musician and manager of The Fratellis in Scotland is Tony. They met in London and then settled down in Glasgow. The family splits their time now between both cities.
The couple tied the knot in September 2019 at St. Mary’s Church in Bruton, Somerset.
The Irish Mirror reported that she managed to fit it in during production. However, the event was breathtaking and my friends and relatives were all there.
“Once you’re in a room with people you love, and who love your heart, it’s so wonderful and enjoyable. My goal is to feel happy, and try my best to remain sane.
Recently speaking to USA Today, Balfe revealed she enjoyed a tiny role in the opening credits of The Devil Wears Prada.
She explained that it was the first scene in which everyone is walking in front the building of Runway magazine. This is where I feel my feet might have been.
I saw Meryl. But we weren’t hanging from the (on-set) wall. I doubt we could have gotten too close.
She also spoke to the publication about her own personal connection to the Troubles, recalling shopping trips and dentist visits where they’d pass through British Army checkpoints and soldiers would point machine guns at the family’s vehicle.
Balfe stated, “That was very normal in my mind when I was a child, because that is just what we saw,”
However, she admitted she was traumatized by a bombing that struck her family’s home in the seventies.
NOMINATIONS FOR SAG AWARD
A Male Actor gives an outstanding performance in a TV Movie or Limited Series.
Murray Bartlett (“The White Lotus”)
Oscar Isaac (Scenes From a Marriage)
Michael Keaton (‘Dopesick’)
Ewan McGregor (‘Halston’)
Evan Peters (‘Mare of Easttown’)
A Female Actor gives an outstanding performance in a TV Movie or Limited Series
Jennifer Coolidge, ‘The White Lotus’
Cynthia Erivo (‘Genius: Aretha’)
Margaret Qualley (‘Maid’)
Jean Smart (‘Mare of Easttown’)
Kate Winslet, ‘Mare Of Easttown’
Kate Winslet, ‘Mare Of Easttown’
An Outstanding Male Performance in Comedy Series
Michael Douglas, ‘The Kominsky method’
Brett Goldstein (‘Ted Lasso’)
Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”)
Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”
Jason Sudeikis (‘Ted Lasso’)
Jason Sudeikis (‘Ted Lasso’)
Excellent Performance from a Female Actor on a Comedy Series
Elle Fanning (The Great)
Sandra Oh (“The Chair”)
Jean Smart (“Hacks”)
Juno Temple (‘Ted Lasso’)
Hannah Waddingham (‘Ted Lasso’)
Excellent Performance from an Ensemble in Comedy Series
‘The Great’ (Hulu)
‘Hacks’ (HBO Max)
“The Kominsky Method” (Netflix).
“Only Murders In The Building” (Hulu).
“Ted Lasso” (Apple TV Plus).
A Male Actor gives an outstanding performance in a drama series
Brian Cox (‘Succession’)
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
Kieran Culkin (‘Succession’)
Lee Jung-Jae (“Squid Game”)
Jeremy Strong (‘Succession’)
Brian Cox (‘Succession’)
A Drama Series Female Actor Performs an Outstanding Performance
Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show)
Jung Ho-yeon (‘Squid Game’)
Elizabeth Moss (‘The Handmaid’s Tale’).
Sarah Snook (‘Succession’)
Reese Witherspoon (“The Morning Show”)
An Ensemble that Performs Outstandingly in Drama Series
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (Hulu)
Apple TV Plus – ‘The Morning Show’
‘Squid Game’ (Netflix)
‘Succession’ (HBO)
‘Yellowstone’ (Paramount Network)
Yellowstone
A Female Actor with a Supporting Role in an Outstanding Performance
Caitríona Balfe (‘Belfast’)
Cate Blanchett (‘Nightmare Alley’)
Ariana DeBose, ‘West Side Story’
Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”)
Ruth Negga (‘Passing)
A Male Actor with a supporting role gives an outstanding performance
Ben Affleck (“The Tender Bar”)
Bradley Cooper (‘Licorice Pizza’)
Troy Kotsur (‘CODA’)
Jared Leto (“House of Gucci”)
Kodi McPhee (‘The Power of the Dog’)
Ben Affleck (“The Tender Bar”)
A Female Actor with a Leading Role in an Outstanding Performance
Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”)
Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”)
Lady Gaga (‘House of Gucci’)
Jennifer Hudson (Respect)
Nicole Kidman (‘Being the Ricardos’)
An Outstanding Male Actor in Leading Role
Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”
Benedict Cumberbatch, ‘The Power of the Dog’
Andrew Garfield (‘Tick, Tick … Boom!’)
Will Smith, ‘King Richard’
Denzel Washington, ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’
Denzel Washington, ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’
Excellent Performance from a Cast in Motion Picture
‘Belfast’ (Focus Features)
CODA (Apple Original Films)
Netflix: ‘Don’t Look Up’
‘House of Gucci’ (MGM/United Artists Releasing).
‘King Richard’ (Warner Bros)
A Stunt Ensemble gives an outstanding performance in motion picture
‘Black Widow’
‘Dune’
The Matrix Resurrections
There is no time to die
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
‘Cobra Kai’
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
‘Loki’
“Mare of Easttown”
‘Squid Game’