Aurora Starchild
Catríona Balfe is most known as leading lady Claire Randall Fraser in Outlander, but she’s done so much more. The Irish actress was a runway model for high-end fashion labels and Ford models before she hit it big. These days, she’s married (no, not to Sam Heughan, sorry!) and has a child. Meet Caitríona Balfe, the award-winning actress and activist.
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Caitríona Balfe Was Ireland’s First Supermodel
Caitríona Balfe was born on October 4, 1979, in Dublin, Ireland. She is one of five children and can speak English, French, and Irish. Balfe studied drama at the Dublin Institute of Technology and was scouted by Ford Models at the age of 18. Remarkably, Caitríona was focused on helping a charity at the time — certainly not begging for a modeling job. And while she was officially Ireland’s first supermodel, she thought herself a bit awkward.
“I remember standing backstage and I was going to follow Iman down the runway,” Balfe told the Irish Independent. “I’d flat shoes that were way too small and she’s standing there with David Bowie, and I remember being so awestruck. Come on, it was David Bowie and Iman… I had to waddle down the catwalk after her in my flats and she’s like a gazelle in these gorgeous heels. It was really just quite crazy.”
In just three years, Caitríona Balfe walked in over 250 runway shows. Considered a “high-demand” supermodel, she’s worked with brands like Chanel, Givenchy, Stella McCartney, Luis Vuitton, and Marc Jacobs. Her cross-over into acting came in 2006 with a small role in The Devil Wears Prada.
Balfe Got Tired of Modeling and Moved to Los Angeles to Pursue Acting
Despite her success and the money, Balfe decided that she wanted to solely focus on acting after a decade-long modeling career.
“Modelling wasn’t a passion of mine so that made it get old kind of quickly. I was getting very frustrated,” she told the Irish Independent.
Balfe then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream career. However, she had her doubts. She was in her late 20s, which for many is “too old” to try to make it big as an actress.
“The consensus is they only want young ingenues and it’s ridiculous to start at this age. That was the voice going around in my head, not that it was ever said outright to me, but that was the feeling there,” she said.
Catríona Found Hollywood Success Despite Starting Late
Despite her fears, Catríona proved she had what it took to be a star. She was steadily cast in TV and movies, beginning in 2011. She starred in The Beauty Inside and H+ and also did the voice for Tavra in The Dark Crystal Netflix series. Balfe was the voice of Ellie in the animated movie The Christmas Letter in 2019, Dorothy’s mother in Angela’s Christmas Wish, and played Ma in the 2021 film Belfast. But her biggest role to-date began in 2014 and continues to this day.
After Catríona was personally chosen to be Sam Heughan’s leading lady in Outlander, she’s stayed with the show for its entire 9 year and 8 season duration. She and Heughan were deemed so irreplaceable that they also became co-producers for the hit show by season 5. Ever since, fans of Outlander have formed somewhat of a cultish ideology around Sam and Catríona. Their onscreen chemistry is so realistic that many believe they’re actually married.
Catríona Balfe Married Longtime Boyfriend Tony McGill in 2019
In reality, Catríona Balfe is married, but not to her co-star. While she and Heughan are very close friends, her true love is UK-based music producer Tony McGill. Also from Ireland, McGill is 6 years older than Balfe. They began dating in 2016 and he proposed to Balfe in 2018. According to People, Balfe was videotaped sitting on McGill’s lap in 2015, but the video has since been taken down from Instagram.
Balfe and McGill have purposefully tried to stay under the radar. They married in secret in 2019 in a Roman Catholic ceremony with family and a few close friends attending. Sam Heughan was there, which was evident via an Instagram post of himself in a fine grey suit somewhere outdoors. “Remarkable weekend,” he wrote.
Balfe and McGill Have a Son Together
Catríona Balfe announced that she was a new mother to a son in August of 2021. She shared a black and white photo of his little hand.
“I’ve been off socials for a while as I was taking some time to enjoy cooking up this little human …. We are so grateful for this little soul ….that he chose us 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,” she wrote. Balfe then segued into asking the public to consider their privilege and donate their time and tithing to charities.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Balfe revealed that some diehard fans of Outlander have harassed her about her child. Many of them believing that there is a conspiracy, and her kid must actually be Heughan’s, she’s since chosen to keep her son out of the spotlight. “When you have a kid, you become really protective. Idon’t want those crazies — because that’s what they are — I just don’t want them talking about him,” she said.
She’s an Activist for Charitable Organizations and Equal Rights
On top of being a mother and award-winning actress, Balfe also has personally raised money and advocated for numerous charities. They include World Child Cancer, Unicef, ChooseLove, and One Tree Planted. And like her Outlander co-star Heughan, Balfe has a liquor company. Her botanical gin line Forget Me Not donates 25% of its proceeds to art programs.
Balfe is also a feminist and outspoken critic of misogyny. She’s advocated for pro-choice legislation and isn’t afraid to call out people in the news even when it offends her fanbase. “What some people may think are flippant remarks or try to pass off as comedy can actually have grave consequences,” she wrote of English broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson. Balfe then condemned The Sun for publishing “his violent racist misogynistic language.”
