Caitriona Balfe tells Michele Manelis reveals how Outlander has made her more of a romantic.
Your character, Claire Fraser, is a very capable woman in many areas of her life. Which of her characteristics would
you like to adopt?
I have a tendency to be shy, so her confidence, her forthrightness and her can-do attitude I would like to have rub off on me. There's also a softness and a sweetness to Claire and I've learned that from her, although my real-life partner might disagree with that. She's a very romantic woman and I can be very cynical and turn my nose up at things that are overly romantic. But after these few years on Outlander, I think I've learned to appreciate that side of life a bit better.
You've come from a modelling background – have you come up against some misconceptions about models?
Yes. The misconception that models are somehow crazy confident, whereas actually, I think it's the other extreme. I think that business can really do a number on your self-esteem. And so that was the biggest challenge for me - modelling is so much about presenting this perfect image and that's impossible.
But maybe modelling helped you in the way that you must have a certain comfort level about your body, which would have helped with all the nude scenes?
It's funny; I'd never done nudity before Outlander and so much of that first season we were off in this little bubble in Scotland and we had no idea if anyone was even going to watch the show. You forget about the fact that at the end of the shooting lots of people are going to watch it - including your neighbours back home and the parish priest! You have to leave your vanity at the door and you try to think about the fact that it's not you, it's actually Claire who does all of that stuff.
How did you become an actor?
I think you're born that way. If you asked any of my family, my entire childhood was about me annoying them and running around the house doing impressions or making up little plays. I was involved in youth theatre at home in Ireland and throughout school I always did plays. And when I was finishing school, much to my parents' dismay, I decided to study theatre at college in Dublin.