Pop-Culturalist.com

Caitriona Balfe is more than just a pretty face. She is a great actor who is kind to her fans, and she doesn’t shy away from vocalizing her support of organizations and ideas she believes in. Her beauty, brains, talent, and heart all come together harmoniously–which is why Caitriona is our Woman Crush Wednesday.

• Caitriona IS Claire Randall Fraser. Although Caitriona began her career modeling, she’s made a splash playing Claire on Starz’s smash hit, Outlander (based on the bestselling series of Outlander books written by Diana Gabaldon). Having read several of the books long before the TV show aired, I had a love-hate relationship with Claire. I found her to be a little too much of a know-it-all at times. However, from the moment Caitriona stepped into the scene as Claire, that all changed. Caitriona ensures that Claire exudes strength, intelligence, independence, and a troubled conscience. The way that she portrays Claire makes even Claire’s weaknesses (stubbornness, anyone!?) very sympathetic. Caitriona’s ability to show how torn between to worlds Claire is was one of my favorite things to watch in season 1 (aside from those steamy scenes between Claire and Jamie, of course). Side note: she was, in fact, nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on Outlander, and she has won several other awards for her acting (so others agree that she’s great!).

• She appreciates her rabid fan base—and let’s them know it. At events (which I have witnessed firsthand–at New York Comic Con and the NYC premiere of Outlander last year), she is gracious and kind to everyone. She takes the time to chat with fans as she signs things or takes photos. She also shows her love frequently on social media.

• She uses her media status for good. Caitriona does a lot of work with the World Child Cancer organization. To raise funds for them, she recently auctioned off a trip to the NYC premiere of Outlander’s season 2 along with a meet-and-greet. Last year, when she won the award for 2015’s Girl on Top, she thanked her fans for voting and announced she was donating to three different charities on behalf of her fans who voted (in case you were wondering, she chose World Child Cancer, Unicef, and Red Cross International). Being able to use her platform as a platform for such a good cause is admirable. There are plenty of people in the spotlight who never bother to put so much effort into charity work.
• Caitriona isn’t afraid to get political and take a stand. If you take a look through Caitriona’s twitter feed, you’ll see many retweets for many different causes. Aside from all her charity work, she RTs media about Bernie Sanders, the Syrian refugee crisis, empowering women (from the Malala Fund to the #ThisBody campaign) and Planned Parenthood. Her strength of character is something to emulate.
• And, of course, her amazing fashion sense. Two of my favorites: her recent premiere dress (beautiful) and the dress from last year’s premiere (divine!). Who wouldn’t get major dress envy after seeing Caitriona sport all these gorgeous dresses?

Photo Credit: Starz / Outlander Episode 201