PROFILE: Mixed-race actress with Irish heritage made her name standing up for equality
SHE caught Prince Harry’s eye more than a year ago when they first started dating but Meghan Markle now has the world’s attention after the announcement of her engagement to the royal.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Markle (36) found fame playing Rachel Zane on US legal drama ‘Suits’ in 2011.
Born to a father of Irish-Dutch descent and an African-American mother, Markle wrote in ‘Elle’ UK in 2015 of her difficulty finding work as a biracial actress.
“I wasn’t black enough for the black roles and I wasn’t white enough for the white ones, leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn’t book a job,” she said.
As a mixed-race woman, she had found some of the reaction to her ethnicity “disheartening”, when the couple’s romance became public. She said yesterday: “It’s a shame that that is the climate in this world to focus on a matter that’s discriminatory. But I think at the end of the day I’m really just proud of who I am and where I come from.”
Her great-great-great
grandmother Mary Bird was born in Ireland and later moved to England where she was said to have been part of the household staff at Windsor Castle in the 1800s.
The family later moved to Canada before settling in America.
Markle paid her first visit to Ireland in 2013 and returned the following year as a One Young World (OYW) counsellor where she met Bono’s wife Ali Hewson.
OYW is a UK-based not-for-profit organisation that regularly gathers young leaders from around the world to try to develop solutions to the world’s pressing issues.
Co-founder of OYW Kate Robertson sent her wellwishes to Markle after the engagement was announced by Clarence House.
Congratulations
“OYW extends our warmest congratulations to Meghan and His Royal Highness. We’re delighted to welcome Meghan to London and wish the couple every happiness,” she said.
In addition to her acting career, Markle has also been involved in politics and humanitarian issues.
She is involved with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment.
During her visit to Dublin for the OYW summit, she spoke about challenging gender stereotypes and bias in the media.
“This season (on ‘Suits’), every scene seemed to begin with, ‘Rachel enters wearing a towel’,” she said.
“I said, ‘no, not doing it any more’. At a certain point, you feel empowered enough to just say no.”