The Rise and Sudden Stop of Meghan Markle's Hollywood Career

It's no secret that Meghan Markle was an up-and-coming actress before she joined the British royal family, but many fans may not be familiar with the particulars of her unique career . Markle has spoken about her history in interviews and written about it herself, so there are plenty of details to dig into for her story. That background can provide a lot of insight on how Markle wound up taking the path she is on now.

Markle was born on Aug. 4, 1981 in Los Angeles, California, but her connections with the entertainment industry were tenuous at best. She met Prince Harry sometime in mid-2016, leaving about 35 years for her to pursue her own ambitions before she entangled in the royal legacy. Markle not only pursued acting, but writing, social media, activism and other avenues as a public figure. Here's a look back at Markle's story leading up to a historic royal wedding and a revolution in modern monarchy.

Career Beginnings

Markle's parents both worked in Hollywood when she was born. Her mother, Doria Ragland was a makeup artist at the time while her father, Thomas Markle was a lighting director and director of photography for TV shows. They separated when Markle was 2 years old and divorced when she was 6. Markle's father introduced her to life in Hollywood simply by bringing her along to work - notably on the shows General Hospital and Married... with Children.

Markle acted in school plays throughout her education and earned a bachelors degree in theater from Northwestern University, with a double major in international studies. However, she had trouble securing roles early in her career, and she believes it was because of her "ethnically ambiguous appearance. In 2017, she told CNN : "I wasn't black enough for the black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones."
Markle got her first on-screen appearance on General Hospital as a nurse, followed by one-off appearances on Century City (2004), The War at Home (2006) and CSI: NY (2006). At the same time, she was freelancing, teaching and modeling to make end's meet. It was during this time that she had her infamous turn as a "briefcase girl" on Deal or No Deal.

'Deal or No Deal'

Markle worked as one of the women holding briefcases on Deal or No Deal , appearing on a total of 34 episodes between 2006 and 2007. She spoke about this gig at length on her Archetypes podcast in November of 2022, saying that she felt demeaned. She felt that no matter how kind and professional the people on set were, she could not escape the knowledge that she and the other women were being reduced to their looks while their other qualities were reduced as much as possible.

"I had also studied international relations in college, and there were times I was on set at Deal or No Deal and thinking back to my time working as an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Argentina in Buenos Aires and being in the motorcade with the security of treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain. Here, I was being valued for something quite the opposite," she explained.

Markle also said that she and the other "briefcase girls" were instructed to maintain a certain appearance, which emphasized their similarities, not their differences. She and the others were all given a voucher to get a free spray tan every week, and some were even asked to pad their bras so they would look similar. She said: "There was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty - and no necessarily about brains."

"When I look back at that time, I'll never forget this one detail - because moments before we'd get on stage, there was a woman who ran the show and she'd be there backstage, and I can still hear her," Markle went on. "She couldn't properly pronounce my last name at the time and I knew who she was talking to because she'd go, 'Markle, suck it in! Markle, suck it in!'"

"I was thankful for the job, but not for how it made me feel, which was not smart. And by the way, I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn't the focus of why we were there," she said. "I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage. I didn't like being forced to be all looks and little substance, and that's how it felt for me at the time - being reduced to this specific archetype."

SAG-AFTRA Status

One interesting episode in Markle's rise to fame was her entry into the actors' union, SAG-AFTRA. At a Q&A panel in 2015, the whole cast of Suits was asked how they got into the union and Markle revealed that she had actually deceived producers for her "SAG card."

"I think I was Taft-Hartley'd," she said, "which is, like, I pretended that I was union, and you have to... It was a pilot called Century City with H?ctor Elizondo... I got there, and they were like, 'So, you're union?' I'm like, 'Of course I'm union, yeah, absolutely I'm union!' And I wasn't, and casting - to this day, those casting directors will never hire me... I told them I was union and then they had to Taft-Hartley me, which really is just like, them sending one piece of paperwork to the union, but it makes you... I was such a fraud!"

Markle was referring to the Taft-Hartley Act - a federal law meant to restrict the power and activities of labor unions. The 1947 law made sweeping changes to the way labor unions work, and one of the effects today is that it provides an avenue for actors to join their professional union if they can be hired first.

Growing Success

After paying her game show dues so to speak, Markle did begin to see growing success in her career. In 2009, she had a two-episode stint on the Fox drama Fringe , playing Junior Agent Amy Jessup. In 2010, she made it into three movies - Get Him to the Greek, Remember Me and The Candidate . All three roles were small, and Markle's partner at the time, Trevor Engelson, was producing Remember Me. In 2011, she appeared in Horrible Bosses . It was that year that she landed the role fans know her for best.

'Suits'

Markle was cast in one of the lead roles in Suits in 2011. The USA Network drama is about a corporate law firm in New York City, centering around rising associate Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) as his photographic memory makes him adept in spite of being a college dropout. Markle played Rachel Zane, a paralegal and daughter of successful attorney Robert Zane. She and Mike have a will-they-won't-they dynamic for much of the show, and both left the series' main cast at the end of Season 7. Markle, of course, left it for a very particular reason.

Royal Wedding

Markle's contract with Suits continued through 2017, by which point she had met Prince Harry and made it into the British press. Many of those early reports focused on the competing pulls of Markle's relationship and her career, as it was presumed that she would not continue working if she married the prince. There were plenty of questions about how she would pivot from North American celebrity behavior to the more regal socialite comportment that would be expected of her.

On Nov. 27, 2017 the British family announced Prince Harry's engagement to Markle. The same day, Markle announced that she would retire from acting to pursue this new chapter in her life. She confirmed at the time that she would not return for Suits Season 8, while some pundits speculated that Markle would be too busy with royal duties to continue working. However, Prince Harry later revealed in his memoir, Spare , that Markle was not offered any work for the monarchy, and the king even proposed she continue working during that time.

Move Back to U.S.

While the particulars of Markle's career before her wedding are often overlooked, fans are likely familiar with every move she has made since then. In 2020, Markle and Prince Harry gave up many of their responsibilities in order to move back to the U.S. so they could both work in Hollywood. They secured an overall deal with Netflix and have produced three shows for the service so far, with more on the way.

At the time of this writing, Suits is still the most recent credit for Markle as an actress on IMDb . Her Netflix original series Harry & Meghan credits her as "self," and she has done work since then a producer as well. While Markle may be back in Hollywood, it's unclear if she will be taking on any character work anytime soon.

A source recently told The Daily Beast that Markle hopes to reinvent herself as a lifestyle guru with an emphasis on hosting and homemaking, in the style of Martha Stewart. She has a new Netflix series all about the subject , which is reportedly finished and ready to stream. It's unclear when more details on this title might be coming.