Encomium
Meghan Markle is the fiancé of Britain’s most famous bachelor, Prince Harry, but she made her name as a well established TV actress long before she became connected to Prince Harry. The 36-year old star who is best known for her role as Rachel Zane is the hit US TV drama, Suits.
Here are all you need to know about the screen goddess, as compiled by Encomium.ng:
* Meghan Markle was born in Los Angeles on August 4, 1981.
* Meghan is actually her middle name, with her full name being Rachel Meghan Markle.
* She was raised by her mother Doria Ragland, a yoga instructor and clinical therapist, and father, the Emmy Award winner Thomas W. Markle.
* Her parents divorced when she was 6 years old. The former blogger has half-siblings, Thomas Markle, Jr, and an estranged sister, Samantha Grant, who is reportedly shopping around a tell-all memoir about growing up with Markle.
* Meghan Markle is a self-proclaimed foodie and beauty, fashion and travel enthusiast.
* She was introduced to television from a young age as her father used to take her on the set of American sitcom Married… With Children, where he was the lighting director.
* She studied at a girls’ Roman Catholic college before graduating from Northwestern University School of Communication in 2003 – where she double-majored in theatre and international relations – just as her acting career was beginning.
* During her time at university, she was active in social circles and was also a member of sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma.
* After college, she worked for the US Embassy in Buenos Aires. Her acting career launched after allegedly being discovered by a manager who was handed a recording of one of her college films while at a party.
* When starting out, she split her time between acting and working as a freelance calligrapher for weddings and events. She told Esquire that calligraphy was her “pseudo-waitressing job” when she was auditioning.
* Miss Markle first hit US screens when she featured in an episode of the medical drama General Hospital in 2002, before moving on to roles in CSI, Without A Trace and Castle.
* By 2011, she had starred in three major Hollywood films: Get Him To The Greek and Remember Me in 2010 and Horrible Bosses in 2011.
* The actress married producer Trevor Engelson in Jamaica in September 2011, having dated since 2004. The couple separated in 2013 and divorced in August that year.
* Markle and Engelson did not have children together.
* For one season only in 2006, the star worked as a “briefcase model” for the US version of Noel Edmond’s hit, Deal or No Deal.
* Miss Markle is best known for her role in legal drama Suits. In the programme she plays Rachel Zane, a paralegal who worked hard to get into Columbia Law School.
* The actress has also appeared in a number of other series including 90210 and Knight Rider, and had roles in several films.
* She now lives in Toronto, where Suits is filmed.
* She founded the lifestyle blog thetig.com, which has more than 106,000 followers on Instagram and 11,000 on Twitter.
* In April, however, she revealed she would be discontinuing the blog sparking frenzied speculation that Harry might be about to propose.
* Miss Markle is an active humanitarian campaigner – particularly on the topic of gender equality – and was last year named global ambassador for World Vision Canada.
* Her activism started at a young age. At 11, she forced a soap manufacturer to alter an advert after she wrote a letter to then first lady Hillary Clinton and other high-profile figures complaining that it implied women belonged in the kitchen.
* Her socio-political activism has become increasingly important to her in recent years, with her work in Africa, a passion she and Harry have in common.
* She has carried out charity work in the continent after her parents exposed her to extreme poverty in countries such as Jamaica as a child. She travelled to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign, while Harry has recently spent time in Malawi.
* Her commitment to gender equality has seen her work with United Nations Women, where she received a standing ovation for a speech made on International Women’s Day.
* Markle became one of the world’s most intriguing people when rumors swirled she was Prince Harry’s latest girlfriend on October 31st, 2016.
* The Los Angeles native’s life was turned upside down with the media frenzy, and the Royal Communications Secretary issued a statement on behalf of Prince Harry in November 2016 confirming the relationship and requesting the media respect Harry’s girlfriend’s privacy.
* Recently, gossip mags reported that Prince Harry visited Markle on the set of her longtime USA series, “Suits,” in Toronto. The couple made their first official public appearance together at the Invictus games in Toronto. Prince Harry told a cycling competitor that his lady is “loving” the games.
If Meghan and Harry ever get married, the actress will be the first American welcomed into the British royal family since Wallis Simpson – who, famously, was also a divorcee.
- Chika Okorie for Encomium.ng
