What the Cast of Outlander Looks Like in Real Life

Dublin-born Balfe got her start as a model and worked with Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and countless others. That might explain her red-carpet excellence.

When Heughan was cast as Jamie, Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander books, said, “That man is a Scot to the bone and Jamie Fraser to the heart. Having seen Sam Heughan not just act, but be Jamie, I feel immensely grateful to the production team for their painstaking attention to the soul of the story and characters.”

Though she plays Claire and Jamie’s American-born-and-bred daughter, Skelton is from Cheshire, England.

Domboy is a French actor, who takes on the role of the Fraser’s adopted son, Fergus.

The English-born actress plays Fergus’s wife, and the daughter of Claire’s one-time nemesis Laoghaire, played by Nell Hudson, though Lyle and Hudson are just two years apart in age. “We’re almost the same age, and she’s my mom!” Lyle said of that casting.

One of the cast’s resident Scots, Rankin, who plays Brianna’s husband Roger, was born in Glasgow.

Bell, who portray’s Jamie’s nephew Young Ian, is a Scottish-born actor who has been performing since he was 10 years old.

Jamie’s Aunt Jacosta is played by Kennedy, a Dublin-born actress whom audience members of a certain age may remember from an early role in The Commitments. She’s had roles in Orphan Black, The Tudors, and played Bates’s villainous first wife Vera in Downton Abbey.

And yes, Menzies played Frank’s repulsive ancestor, Black Jack, as well.

Fans may be shocked to discover that the man behind Murtagh is a sassenach, hailing from Kent.

This isn’t the first role that required McTavish to grow a full beard; he also played the dwarf Dwalin in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy.

You may remember Lewis as the dad in Billy Elliot.

You clean up nice, O’Rourke.

Jenny is full of Scottish pride, so you’d never know Donnelly hails from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Verbeek is Dutch, but she’s played Scottish, Italian (in The Borgias), and Hungarian (in Agent Carter). We’ll miss your mysterious ways, Geillis.

Hudson plays awkward and manipulative beautifully. (Bonus points if you can pronounce “Laoghaire” correctly.)

How many hours in the makeup chair did this take?