Meghan Markle Biography

Meghan Markle (born August 4, 1981) is an American model, humanitarian, and actress. She is best known for her role as Rachel Zane on the USA legal drama Suits. She also played Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Amy Jessup in Fox's sci-fi thriller Fringe.

Early years

Markle was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is African-American and a yoga instructor. Her father is retired and of Dutch and Irish descent. Her father's profession - a photography director - had resulted in Markle spending many years as a child on the set of Married...with Children. She was educated privately at Immaculate Heart Convent, the all-girls independant Roman Catholic college in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.

She has expressed an interest in returning to university to pursue a Master's in International Diplomacy. Markle's acting career began unexpectedly when she was discovered at a party after her friend gave a manager a copy of Meghan's film in college to view. To support herself between acting jobs Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher.

Humanitarian work

Markle is actively involved in the socio-political arena and in 2016 she became the Global Ambassador for World Vision Canada, traveling to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. She has also worked with the United Nations Women, where, as an Advocate, she presented at UN Headquarters for the HeforShe Gender Equality Campaign in September 2014. Meghan has traveled to Afghanistan with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on a USO tour in December 2014. She is a Counsellor for the international charity One Young World, attending the annual Summits in Dublin (2014) and Ottawa (2016) where she spoke on the issues of gender equalityand modern day slavery.

Acting career

In 2002, Markle got her start in an episode of the daytime soap opera, General Hospital. She's also appeared in television episodes of Century City, Cuts, Love, Inc., The War at Home, 90210, Knight Rider, Without a Trace, The Apostles, CSI: NY, The League, Castle and Suits. Markle has also made appearances in the films A Lot Like Love and Deceit.

Markle appeared on Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season. Since July 2011 she portrays Rachel Zane, an "attractive paralegal working with Mike Ross (with his encyclopedic knowledge of the law) (Patrick J. Adams) and becomes his valuable after-hours research ally" on the USA Network show Suits.

Markle appeared in two 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek and Remember Me and one 2011 film, Horrible Bosses. She appeared in the short film The Candidate (seen on the KQED public television show ImageMakers: the Company of Men) as a secretary in 2012.

Personal life

Markle attended Northwestern University, graduating in 2003 with a degree from the School of Communications. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Markle married Trevor Engelson on September 10, 2011, after having dated since 2004. The couple split in May 2013 and divorced in August 2013.

Markle is a self-proclaimed foodie, which was incorporated into her Suits character Rachel Zane.

Markle is also the founder of TheTIG.com, "a hub for the discerning palate--those with a hunger for food, travel, fashion & beauty". In 2016, Markle was honored by Cynopsis Media as one of its Top Women in Digital.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	General Hospital	Jill	1 episode
2004	Century City	Natasha	"A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose" (season 1: episode 4)
2005	Cuts	Cori	"My Boyfriend's Back" (season 1: episode 5)
2005	Love, Inc.	Teresa Santos	"One on One" (season 1: episode 9)
2006	1 vs. 100	Herself	Mob member number 7
2006	The War at Home	Susan	"The Seventeen-Year Itch" (season 1: episode 17)
2006	CSI: NY	Veronica Perez	"Murder Sings the Blues" (season 3: episode 7)
2006	Deceit	Gwen	TV film
2007	Deal or No Deal	Herself	Holder of Case #24; 4 episodes
2008	90210	Wendy	"We're Not in Kansas Anymore" (season 1: episode 1) "The Jet Set" (season 1: episode 2)
2008	'Til Death	Tara	"Joy Ride" (season 3: episode 2)
2009	Knight Rider	Annie Ortiz	"Fight Knight" (season 1: episode 14)
2009	Without a Trace	Holly Shepard	"Chameleon" (season 7: episode 15)
2009	Fringe	Junior FBI Agent Amy Jessup	"A New Day in the Old Town" (season 2: episode 1) "Night of Desirable Objects" (season 2: episode 2)
2009	The League	Random Girl	"The Bounce Test" (season 1: episode 2)
2010	CSI: Miami	Officer Leah Montoya	"Backfire" (season 8: episode 20)
2010	The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down	Dana	TV film
2011-present	Suits	Rachel Zane	Main Character; Series Regular
2012	Castle	Charlotte Boyd/Sleeping Beauty	"Once Upon a Crime" (season 4: episode 17)
2014	Extant	Girl at Table	"Extinct" (season 1: episode 2)
2014	When Sparks Fly	Amy Peterson	Hallmark Channel movie
2016	Dater's Handbook	Cassandra Barber	Hallmark Channel movie