Outlander cast: Before they were stars

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Outlander cast: Remember when...?

Outlander Season 2 2016 — Steffan Hill/Starz

We know devoted Sassenachs still need something to tide them over until Outlander returns for its seventh season. So, for those who wondered what their favorite Highlanders and fair English ladies did before they traversed time via some standing stones and embarked on the quest for Scottish freedom, read on for more...

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Caitríona Balfe

Caitriona-Balfe — J. Vespa/WireImage; Aimee Spinks/Starz

Long before she was saving lives with her healer ways and stealing the heart of a particularly handsome Highlander, Caitríona Balfe began her career as a model. She walked in shows for acclaimed designers such as Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, and Roberto Cavalli. Not surprisingly, one of her first movie roles was in the high fashion-focused The Devil Wears Prada in 2006 as an employee of the magazine Runway.

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Sam Heughan

For Heughan, living it up in fancy Parisian brothels and dining with Bonnie Prince Charlie during season 2 wasn't the Scottish actor's first brush with fancy clothing and royalty. Look at him here as the gallant young Prince Ashton of Castlebury (permission to roll your eyes at that title) in the Hallmark Channel's A Princess for Christmas back in 2011. Yes, we prefer the Scot rugged and kilted, too.

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Tobias Menzies

Menzies' prowess at seamlessly flipping between evil sadist and dutiful, adoring husband could be the result of many years of experience. The London native began his career with improv company the Spontaneity Shop before appearing on three British television series: Casualty (a staple for most upcoming British actors), Foyle's War, and Midsomer Murders. And if fans thought he looked familiar in military garb, there's good reason: He defended a different empire as Marcus Junius Brutus on HBO's Rome.

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Sophie Skelton

Skelton's role as Brianna Randall Fraser (Jamie and Claire's daughter) on the Starz series grew as we saw more of her mother's time in the years apart from her beloved Scot, and even more so when she joined her parents in the past. Though her American accent is convincing, the actress actually hails from England, where she made her start with small parts in British soap operas Doctors and Waterloo Road, and medical drama Casualty (just like stepdad!).

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Richard Rankin

Rankin started out with small parts on Scottish shows before taking the starring role in the BBC miniseries The Crimson Field as Captain Thomas Gillan (pictured here) alongside Robb Stark's onscreen wife, actress Oona Chaplin. Investigating strange occurrences (as Roger and Brianna do on Outlander) is nothing new for the Glaswegian actor: In 2015, he joined the cast of the BBC crime series Silent Witness, playing a detective.

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Duncan Lacroix

From one high stakes, war-torn drama to another: Here's Jamie's loyal clansman Murtagh as a Karstark soldier on Game of Thrones — guess he was already familiar with the cold northern climes! Before taking a turn south of the wall, Lacroix had roles on other fraught dramas such as Vikings, Reign, and Primeval.

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Grant O'Rourke

O'Rourke had a variety of roles on U.K. TV, including playing a character named Mr McSnuffy, before he landed the part of the straight-talking (but lovable) Rupert. Here he is on stage in 2011.

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Stephen Walters

Before landing the role as the Laurel to Rupert's Hardy as Angus on Outlander, the English (gasp!) actor kicked off his career in the early '90s with a ton of roles on British TV, and plenty of movies such as Mean Machine (pictured) and Batman Begins — as one of the Arkham Asylum patients, mind you.

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Graham McTavish

Outlander's not the only epic to be set in Scotland. Heard of that little-known play Macbeth? McTavish has! Here he is as Banquo in the 1997 movie adaptation of the Scottish play, one of many, many onscreen roles in a career that also boasts parts in The Hobbit franchise and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.

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Gary Lewis

Growing up in the Glasgow area, Lewis hadn't planned on acting, and it was only when his brother encouraged him that he decided to pursue it as a career. Over the years, he's enjoyed roles on stage and television before landing his breakout role playing the part of the dad in 2000's Billy Elliot.

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Lotte Verbeek

If you thought Verbeek's accent sounded a wee bit different from some of the other Scots on Outlander, you weren't wrong. The actress actually hails from the Netherlands where she attended the Amsterdam Academy of Jazz/Musical Theatre and Dance and won lead roles in Dutch movies. Between 2011 and 2013, Verbeek joined Jeremy Irons on the Showtime period drama, The Borgias (pictured).