USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Outlander’ star chats about new ‘ Monster’ role
‘ Outlander’ actress doubles down in Starz series, Clooney thriller
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As Outlander’s timeNEW YORK traveling heroine Claire Fraser, Caitriona Balfe is whisked between the emerald moors of 18th- century Scotland and lavish palaces of French royalty.
But the Irish actress’ dream destination is worlds away from the Starz drama’s picturesque locales. “Could I just time- travel to a beach somewhere, where nobody can get me on the phone so I’d never have to leave?” Balfe says with a grin. “I’d like to do that.”
She has certainly earned some R& R after being propelled into the spotlight in 2014 as the star of the pay- cable network’s hit Out
lander ( Saturdays, 9 p. m. ET/ PT), which returned last month with more than double the ratings of its first- season premiere ( nearly 1.5 million same- day viewers).
Combining high- stakes adventure and romance, the series has inspired a legion of devoted fans that goes beyond readers of Diana Gabaldon’s best- selling novels.
Balfe, 36, was drawn to Claire because there’s a “great range of what she goes through and what you get to play,” she says.
Outlander is the first major acting coup for Balfe, whose first name is pronounced “ka- TREE- nah.” A Dublin native, she studied theater as a teenager before she caught the attention of a modeling scout. For nearly a decade she graced runways and ad campaigns but eventually felt the itch to act again.
“I just knew that I wasn’t hap-
py doing that, and if I was ever to pursue my dream of acting, it was now or never,” Balfe says. So, she packed her bags and moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled in an acting class, booked a manager and landed minor roles in movies such as Escape Plan and Now You See Me.
Now, Balfe is headed back to the big screen in the Jodie Fosterdirected Money Monster, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts ( in theaters May 13). In the thriller, she plays Diane Lester, a spokeswoman for a company whose stock mysteriously plummets — leading an unhinged investor ( Jack O’Connell) to hold a TV financial guru ( Clooney) hostage on- air.
Working with Foster was “incredible. It was amazing how much of a shorthand we had so quickly.” On set with her co- stars, “I didn’t get to witness the infamous George Clooney pranking, which makes me think he was pranking me behind my back,” Balfe jokes. “No, he was actually really fun.”