I'm still waiting for the flood of male adoration!' 

\'I\'m still waiting for the flood of male adoration!\' - Caitriona Balfe\'s difficult road to acting stardom

Actress Caitriona Balfe attends the "Outlander" mid-season New York premiere at Ziegfeld Theater

Caitriona Balfe at the Screen Actors Guild Awards 2015

JOURNEY GIRL: Caitriona Balfe took up modelling before landing a role in ‘Outlander’

It was the most nerve-wracking moment of Caitriona Balfe\'s acting career. She had been summoned to New York to audition for Jodie Foster for a part in Money Monster, which Foster will direct, and which will also star George Clooney.

As the daughter of a Monaghan Garda sergeant stood in the room with the star of Taxi Driver and The Silence Of The Lambs, she tried to banish from her mind all thoughts of Foster\'s legendary career and delivered the performance of her life.

She told the Sunday Independent: "You have in your head everything she\'s done and all the incredible things she\'s achieved. I was brought up watching her, looking up to her. But once you\'re actually in the room with her, the pressure of knowing all that stuff leaves you a bit because she\'s incredibly giving. We weren\'t having heart-to-hearts but she gave me a lot of work advice and how to approach character."

Clooney, too, was easy to deal with: "You had this preconception that it\'s going to be this star. He was goofy, constantly making jokes, just a very chill person. He gets into the work and treats everyone in the same way."

Balfe, 35, is currently in Glasgow, filming scenes for the next series of Outlander, in which she has been steaming up screens all year - Rolling Stone recently named the willowy, chiselled Irishwoman as one of the 25 hottest sex symbols in the world. The role also helped win her a nomination in the category of Rising Star at the Iftas - which she describes as "a huge honour" - and marked the belated flowering of her prodigious acting talent after what she calls "a bit of a detour". That would be a modelling career which saw her grace the covers of Vogue and Elle, and walk down the catwalk for everyone from Giorgio Armani to Karl Lagerfeld. To date, she is also the only Irish model ever to model for Victoria\'s Secret.

Growing up, Balfe considered herself a "lanky, mousy" child and went to "a tough country school" in Monaghan where she suffered some bullying. But she blossomed in her teenage years. She was discovered while studying drama and music in Rathmines, where she did a little charity work in a local supermarket in aid of Multiple Sclerosis research.

"Myself and the other girls were inside the Swan Centre packing bags in our big white charity T-shirts. And Derek Daniels from Assets gave me his card in the middle of the supermarket and one of the cashier girls was like [adopts heavy Dublin accent] \'hey, yer wan just got given a card to be a model\'. And I almost died of mortification." Her career quickly soared.

At the age of 30, she moved to LA to try to make it at her first love, acting, and spent years there honing her craft in classes. "I got to a point in my life when I thought if I don\'t try it now I might not get the opportunity to do it again. There was a feeling amongst my friends and industry people whom I came into contact with that \'oh it\'s tough for women and it\'s tougher again for women of your age\' and all of these things. But I\'d never been interested in being a starlet; the people I\'ve admired had long careers and it shouldn\'t matter how old you are for those things."

After a period of being single, she has a boyfriend again now - he\'s a "civilian", she says, ie not involved in the movie industry. She\'s been heartened by the reaction to Outlander, she says, and the fan mail she gets comes mostly from women: "I\'m still waiting for the flood of male adoration!"

Her biggest fans of all are back home in Monaghan and they watch her every move, even the racy bits. "I\'m a grown woman at this point," she laughs.

"I\'ve probably given my parents enough sleepless nights in my teenage years for them to worry about anything like that now. I ask my mother and father not to watch, but of course my mum watches anyway. They\'re very proud."

Comments that are judged to be defamatory, abusive or in bad taste are not acceptable and contributors who consistently fall below certain criteria will be permanently blacklisted. Comments must be concise and to the point. The moderator will not enter into debate with individual contributors and the moderator’s decision is final. The comment facility is removed after 48 hours.

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Livefyre.

Sarah Caden \'It must be proved that a man or woman is drunk before they can be arrested," wrote one Irish woman to Gay Byrne\'s radio show in January, 1990, in the week after an appearance on the programme...

Niamh Horan Derek Davis doesn\'t hesitate when I ask why he underwent life-changing surgery.

US chat show host David Letterman\'s final guest will be his first ever - Bill Murray 

Caitlin McBride US chat show host David Letterman will end his series with Bill Murray - his first ever guest.

\'I had heard the chimes at midnight\' - Derek Davis  TV News

\'I\'m still waiting for the flood of male adoration!\' - Caitriona Balfe\'s difficult road to...  TV News

US chat show host David Letterman\'s final guest will be his first ever - Bill Murray  TV News

Coronation Street: Deirdre Barlow\'s family to be told she died of brain aneurysm at a...  TV News

Soap Awards will pay tribute to Anne Kirkbride, and drop sexiest male/female...  TV News

Support for Yes vote in Marriage Equality Referendum plummets with one week to...  Referendum 2015

€3 million urban beach development gets the go ahead  Irish News

Decency versus the shadow of a doubt  Gene Kerrigan

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Ireland for two day visit  Irish News

Support for Yes vote in Marraige Equality Referendum plummets with one week to go - poll

Windmill Lane Sessions: Exclusive performances and interview with Frances Black and Kieran Goss

Introducing The Eskies, purveyors of \'sea-soaked gypsy folk\'

Haim, Emeli Sande and Leona Lewis appear at the premiere of the biopic of Amy Winehouse,...

VIDEO: Brazen seagull snatches food from man\'s mouth

A tourist has a bit of a shock when a greedy seagull dive bombs him while he tries to eat a...

Jonathan Holt popped the question to his girlfriend at school with some help from some of her...

The King of the Blues, guitarist and singer BB King, has died aged 89. He was best known for his...

VIDEO: Nick Grimshaw brushes off X Factor rumours

DJ Nick Grimshaw has brushed away rumours about him joining The X Factor as...

VIDEO - Charlize Theron Mad Max: Fury Road

VIDEO - The Movie Show movie Review: Mad Max, A Royal Night Out, Pitch Perfect 2 and The Tribe

VIDEO: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May reunite to launch live...

The former Top Gear presenters are back with the highly...

VIDEO: Love/Hate\'s Laurence Kinlan appears in video supporting marriage...

Actor Laurence Kinlan stars in a new campaign video aimed at...

VIDEO: American Idol is cancelled after 15 seasons

American Idol will run its course after the upcoming 15th season, as Fox has made the decision...

VIDEO: Graham Norton hosts and wins at Bafta tv awards

Jason Watkins won leading actor after his performance in \'The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries\',...

VIDEO: One Direction\'s first four-piece interview with James Corden

He\'s taking America by storm, but that didn\'t stop Brit James...

Brits of the moments, James Corden, Graham Norton, Leigh Francis and their mates told us...

VIDEO: The Vamps show us their scary faces

At the Up All Night premiere The Vamps shared their holiday horrors, scary faces and what...

VIDEO - TV Baftas: Ant and Dec win, shock gongs for Jason Watkins and...

Sherlock might have won a gong but Benedict Cumberbatch...

VIDEO - Mad Max: Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy talk powerful females

With a cast of strong females, it was all about girl power as the...

Steven Tyler, Nicole Kidman, Janelle Monae, and judges Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr and...

Gallery: Big Brother 2015 - here are the new arrivals for the 16th series

The most idiotic Made in Chelsea quotes, like, ever!

Star Wars Celebration and new trailer premiere in pictures

Mad Men Season 7 Part Two Screening - Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones

Your Photos: Independent.ie readers\' Solar Eclipse snaps