Meghan Markle Reveals Major Struggle: ‘Not a Lot of Mixed Race Parts’

Meghan Markle has spoken about getting repeatedly rejected for acting roles during her early career because there were “not a lot of mixed race parts.”

The Duchess of Sussex said struggled to land “girl next door” roles that would often go to blonde actresses, and also suggested she did not have enough “edge” for characters that “had any sort of ethnicity.”

She made the comments as a guest on podcast Aspire with Emma Grede where she talked about not allowing “negative self talk” to impact her business ventures.

The California-born star’s father, Thomas Markle Sr. is caucasian, and her mother, Doria Ragland is African American. Meghan revealed in 2022 that a genealogy test had shown she was “forty-three percent Nigerian.”

Why It Matters

Meghan has spoken out about racial discrimination many times, including in relation to her experiences with the press and social media, and famously accused an unnamed royal of expressing “concerns” about the color of her unborn child’s skin.

However, she has less frequently spoken about racial barriers to her success as an actress. She did discuss the subject, though, in the period before her wedding to Prince Harry, in May 2018.

What Meghan Told Emma Grede About Race and Acting

Meghan said: “When I was an auditioning actress and this is well before Suits, you have to think at that time there were certainly not a lot of mixed race parts.

“If I was going in for an audition it was either, you have to remember this was a very different time than it is now… it was ‘girl next door’ that was typically blonde haired, blue-eyed and a certain look.

“But because I’m half white I would also be submitted for those roles and if it was a character that had any sort of ethnicity there was always a bit of a edge to those characters but I’d be submitted for those roles.

“And I also… to a lot of people in casting, they thought I was Latina so I share that because, and I’ve shared this before, it was a numbers game.

“If I’m only up for 10 parts that could be 10 no’s but if I’m up for 30 parts because I can fit into so many different rooms that could be 30 no’s. That is a lot to chip away at your self-esteem. That is really hard.”

Meghan Markle on ‘Imposter Syndrome’

Meghan now has a Netflix cooking show, With Love, Meghan, recently wrapped the first season of her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founer, and has her online store, As Ever

The 43-year-old said she still values the thick skin for rejection she developed as a struggling actress before she landed the role of Rachel Zane in Suits, which first aired in 2011.

“I went through my chapter of self-doubt as an auditioning actor and beyond that,” she said, “and when you’re so consumed with what everyone around you thinks of you that can be a really hard way to live.

“So I think as I’ve gotten older, certainly in my 40s, and as a mom you want to set the example for what your children are going to think about themselves.

“And that you can’t have an imposter syndrome around. You have to be so authentically the role model and the example of competence, self-forgiveness, kindness, fun all of those things.

“You can’t fake that. You want to model that for them. So all of that really shifted in the past six years of becoming a mom.”

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.

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