Before marrying into the Royal Family, growing up in Los Angeles, Meghan Markle dreamed of one day becoming a global superstar.
She had a privileged upbringing, attending a private school just around the corner from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
But according to a royal author, unlike Meghan’s brief stint as a working royal, she worked hard to make her dream of becoming an actress a reality – even when she faced rejection.
Royal biographer Sean Smith wrote in Meghan Misunderstood: ‘From Meghan’s point of view, the important consideration was that she did not give up.’
Smith wrote that Meghan ‘adapted and adopted’ her ex-husband Trevor Engelson’s favourite expression: ‘Don’t give it five minutes if you’re not going to give it five years.’
As a teenager, Meghan participated in high school theatrical productions and school reports mentioned her starring role in a three-day sell-out of the Athenian tragedy Oedipus Rex.
Her father, Thomas Markle, who has been estranged from his daughter after he didn’t attend her May 2018 wedding, told Tom Bower: ‘She wants to be the star of the stage and the star in life.’
Meghan loved glamour and celebrity lifestyles, using her father’s connections in Hollywood to launch her acting career.
Before marrying into the Royal Family, growing up in Los Angeles, Meghan Markle dreamed of one day becoming a global superstar. She is pictured as Rachel Zane in Suits
As a teenager, Meghan – pictured in 2016 – participated in high school theatrical productions
Royal biographer Sean Smith wrote in Meghan Misunderstood: ‘From Meghan’s point of view, the important consideration was that she did not give up’
Thomas even took Meghan to the Emmy awards ceremony when he was nominated for best lighting director.
After they walked down the red carpet, the 17-year-old said: ‘Daddy, I want to be famous just like you one day.’
Thomas nodded and went on to do anything to help make that dream come true, according to royal biographer Tom Bower.
Over the years, the actress began to slowly build on her experience, including playing the role of Cori in an episode of the Shannon Elizabeth series Cuts in 2005.
Meghan’s CV from before her marriage to Harry has been shared on Twitter, which included her eye colour, height and weight, as well as a black and white headshot.
It is unknown when the CV was first used, as it has no date on it, but it appears to be before her stint as a suitcase model on Deal Or No Deal, which she first appeared on in 2006.
The last role listed was her first professional film role, where she played the part of ‘Natalie Hot Chick’ in Ashton Kutcher’s 2005 romantic comedy A Lot Like Love.
At the time the document was printed, Meghan only had a few roles on TV, including a two-episode appearance on General Hospital in 2001, where she played a nurse named Jill, and a role in CBS’s sci-fi legal drama, Century City, in 2004, where she played a party guest named Natasha.
Meghan is pictured at the Annual Warner Bros. and InStyle Golden Globe After Party held at The Beverly Hilton hotel on January 15, 2012 in Beverly Hills
Meghan’s CV was posted alongside a black and white headshot from her early acting days
Meghan’s CV from before her marriage to Harry was shared on Twitter, which included her eye colour, height and weight
There was also a section on the CV that listed theatre roles, which included playing roles in Annie, Into The Woods and Stepping Out, the 1984 play that was written by British writer Richard Harris.
Meghan would have been around the age of 24 when she wrote this CV.
It also included the intensive training she had undergone, including a number of professionals in various disciplines from ‘TV/Film’ to ‘Musical Comedy’ and ‘Voice for Performance’.
Other skills include her proficiency in speaking fluently in French and Spanish, her dancing and kickboxing skills.
Back in 2006, the Duchess of Sussex, a 25-year-old graduate who’d studied acting at Northwestern University, said yes to the role of ‘briefcase girl’ on the American version of Deal Or No Deal.
Appearing alongside 50 other ‘briefcase girls’, all wearing glamorous – and usually revealing – dresses, Meghan and her new colleagues were charged with opening the case they were each holding to reveal its contents, cash or otherwise, after being picked by a contestant.
Meghan reflected, as per Smith’s biography: ‘Working on Deal Or No Deal was a learning experience and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing.’
Back in 2006, the Duchess of Sussex, a 25-year-old graduate who’d studied acting at Northwestern University, said yes to the role of ‘briefcase girl’ on the American version of Deal Or No Deal
Meghan reflected, as per Smith’s biography: ‘Working on Deal or No Deal was a learning experience and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing’
‘The line of approach continued to be scattergun,’ Smith wrote, ‘go for as much as possible in the hope that something might meet the target’.
Two years after her first appearance on Deal Or No Deal, Meghan apparently had ‘high expectations’ for The Apostles, a pilot for a TV police series.
She played the wife of the lead character, played by Keith Robinson, but unfortunately, the pilot was never picked up.
Smith wrote: ‘Keith enjoyed working with Meghan, observing that it was “all about the work” with his co-star and that she was “not in any way a diva”.
Following this, Meghan entered more traditional acting roles, including having a minor role on the 90210 reboot in 2008, where she played the role of Wendy.
According to the biographer, Meghan’s ‘game-changing moment’ came when she went to see casting agent April Webster, who was looking after a new series called Fringe.
‘Meghan had never met April before, although she was aware of her reputation as one of the leading players in the field, responsible for Lost, Star Trek and the original series of Knight Rider,’ wrote Smith.
While Meghan was auditioning for the part of an FBI agent, April apparently stopped her in mid-sentence and said: ‘You need to know that you’re enough.’
One of the Duchess’s co-stars said that Meghan – pictured in February 2012 -was ‘not in any way a diva’
Smith wrote: ‘April, with so many years of experience, had identified self-doubt as a major stumbling block for Meghan.
‘That was the wake-up call that Meghan needed, sleepwalking as she was from one unsuitable role to the next.
‘The “enough” sentiment would become a daily mantra for her, the core of many inspirational speeches she would give in the future when she became one of the most famous women in the world.’
In 2010, Meghan set up her anonymous Working Actress blog, which Smith said was due to her ‘new resolution to be more than a pretty face flitting from one show to the next’.
‘How times have changed for Meghan,’ the biographer wrote.
‘She described herself back then: “I am a working actress. And I don’t have an entourage. Not in the tabloids: the kind of girl who is recognisable-ish.”‘
Finally, in 2011, her big break came, and she was offered the chance to play the role of Rachel Zane on Suits. She appeared in 108 episodes of the series that ran until 2018.
While playing the popular role, she also starred in other films, including Random Encounters and Anti-Social, started her blog The Tig, and used her growing fame to add some brand partnerships with Birchbox, Reitmans and Bobbi Brown.
In 2011, Meghan’s big break came, and she was offered the chance to play the role of Rachel Zane on Suits
Meghan is pictured at an event for Suits in January 2013 in Beverly Hills, California
Following the announcement of her engagement to Harry, however, she revealed she would be stepping down from acting to start her new life as a working royal in the UK.
The Queen had told Meghan before joining the Royal Family that she could carry on acting if she wanted to, Princess Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton claimed.
He said that both Harry and Meghan were given the opportunity ‘to go wherever they pleased’.
In her joint BBC interview with Prince Harry following their engagement, she explained she was happy to end her acting career.
She said: ‘What’s been exciting, as we talk about this as the transition out of my career, is that the causes that have been very important to me, I can focus even more energy on.’
However, Meghan’s career as a working royal failed to launch and alongside Prince Harry, she stepped down from royal duties in January 2020 – just two years after the royal wedding.
It draws to mind the advice Prince Philip reportedly gave to Kate Middleton when she was new to the family.
She worried the popularity which comes with being a royal could go to her head, so he offered her some of his advice, as he had famously given Diana.
The Queen reportedly told Meghan before joining the Royal Family that she could carry on acting if she wanted to
In her joint BBC interview with Prince Harry following their engagement, Meghan explained she was happy to end her acting career
Many critics of the royal believe that Meghan would have had more success as a member of the family if she applied the same determination – and humility – she had as an actress to the role
Gyles Brandreth wrote in his biography Philip The Final Portrait: ‘One of the things that saddened – and worried – the Queen and Prince Philip about Diana, Princess of Wales, was not that she was popular, but that she allowed her popularity to go to her head.
‘Once upon a time, Philip and Elizabeth were seen as characters from a fairy tale.
‘The difference between them and Princess Diana, I think, is that they did not take it personally.’
He wrote that Philip said: ‘If you believe the attention is for you personally, you’re going to end up in trouble.
‘The attention is for your role, what you do, what you’re supporting.
‘It isn’t for you as an individual. You are not a celebrity. You are representing the Royal Family. That’s all.’
Brandreth added: ‘Philip would take no credit for the successful way in which Catherine has merged into the Royal Family – becoming a star, but somehow managing not to behave like a celebrity.’
Many critics of the royal believe that Meghan would have had more success as a member of the family if she applied the same determination – and humility – she had as an actress to the role.
However, others argue that Meghan’s desire to be in the limelight clashed with the Royal Family’s preference for a more private and traditional approach.
