The Gray Man: Where You’ve Seen Claire’s Actress Before

Six's mission in The Gray Man heavily involves saving Claire Fitzroy, whose young actress received critical acclaim for her last movie role.

WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Gray Man!

Claire Fitzroy plays an important role in Six’s dangerous mission, but The Gray Man‘s actress has previously starred in a similarly influential part. Netflix’s The Gray Man follows Sierra Six, A.K.A. Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), as he uncovers dark CIA secrets while on a mission. When CIA director Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page) orders a hit on Six with help from sociopathic rogue mercenary Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), the agency uses the only two people in the world that Court considers family as leverage.

While also trying to get the drive of secrets unencrypted, Sierra Six has to simultaneously focus on freeing his old mentor Donald Fitzroy and his niece Claire Fitzroy, who has a heart condition. The Gray Man then includes various flashbacks to when Donald tasked Six with watching over Claire, with the confident record-loving girl becoming one of the only people to revive Six’s decayed morality. Using the tracker on Claire’s pacemaker to locate them, Six fights Lloyd and retrieves Claire, but only after Donald sacrifices himself to let the two escape. After both are taken by the CIA, The Gray Man’s ending sees Six flee captivity and save Claire, where the two drive off together as the only semblance of family each other has left.

The actress who plays Claire Fitzroy in The Gray Man is Julia Butters, who received widespread critical acclaim for her role in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Butters portrayed the fiery Trudi Frazier, the costar of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton on the pilot for their new TV show. With Rick experiencing a period of insecurity and a noted slump in his career after his Western series ended, Butters’ character was the one to give him a resurgence in confidence. Just like Trudi in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with Rick, Claire in The Gray Man is responsible for giving Six back a sense of hope as he seemingly leaves his time as a Sierra agent behind. Before The Gray Man and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Butters was featured in the 2016 movies 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and A Family Man, the TV show Transparent, and the sitcom American Housewife.

What Julia Butters Is Doing After the Gray Man

Following the Russo brothers’ The Gray Man, Julia Butters’ next big project is the 2022 Steven Spielberg-directed movie The Fabelmans. Also starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, and Paul Dano, The Fabelmans is loosely based on Spielberg’s childhood, which will follow a family in post-World War II Arizona. Butters is set to portray Anne Fabelman, the younger sister of Gabriel LaBelle’s Spielberg-inspired filmmaking character Sammy. With an already stacked cast, Julia Butters is apt to shine in the coming-of-age drama that is set to premiere in November 2022.

While The Fabelmans is the only confirmed upcoming project for Julia Butters, the actress will more than likely return to The Gray Man’s franchise for sequels. Although The Gray Man 2 has yet to be confirmed, the Russo brothers developed the 2022 movie with the intention to turn it into a franchise for Netflix. Since Claire and Six are on the run together at the end of The Gray Man, it can be expected that if Netflix greenlights The Gray Man 2, Julia Butters will reprise her role.