Claire Rhiannon Holt was born on June 11, 1988 in Brisbane, Australia. She began her career as a professional actress at the age of seventeen after signing with Australian talent agency, Silver Hub Entertainment. Her first major role came shortly thereafter when she was cast in H2O: Just Add Water (2006-2009), a hit television series about three mermaids living in the modern world. Following the success of H2O, she landed several roles in both television and film including Mean Girls 2 (2011) and Blue Like Jazz (2012).
In 2013, Claire gained worldwide recognition when she was cast as Rebekah Mikaelson in The Originals, a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries which centers around Original Vampire family from Mystic Falls. She also appeared in TVD as the same character. In 2017, she departed from The Originals to focus on new projects and recently has starred in television series including Aquarius (2015-2016), Between (2016), Chasing Life (2014-2015), and Christmas Getaway (2017).
Aside from acting, Claire is also an avid scuba diver and spends much of her free time exploring various dive sites throughout the world. In 2016, she co-founded women’s fitness community called TONE, which stands for “Take Off Negativity Everyday”. Claire currently resides in Los Angeles but often travels back to Australia to visit friends and family.