Meghan Markle Says She Struggled To Find Mixed-Race Acting Roles Before ‘Suits,’ Leading To “Chapter Of Self-Doubt”

Meghan Markle has revealed that she struggled to find work before her Suits breakthrough because of a lack of mixed-race roles.

In an interview for Emma Grede’s Aspire podcast, Markle explained how she learned to overcome rejection during the formative years of her acting career. She described this as a “chapter of self-doubt.”

“I was an auditioning actress — and this was well before Suits — [and] you have to think: at that time, there were certainly not a lot of mixed-race parts,” Markle said.

“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 — 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 then if it was a character that had any sort of ethnicity, there was always a bit of an 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.”

Markle, who has not acted in many years and is now focused on her Netflix series and lifestyle company, said it was a “numbers game” that could result in tens of rejections from casting directors.

She continued: “That is a lot to chip away at your self-esteem. That is really hard. I went through my chapter of self-doubt as an auditioning actor and beyond that. When you’re so consumed by what everyone around you thinks of you, that can be a really hard way to live.”

Markle has spoken about this period in her career in the past. In an op-ed for Elle magazine in 2015, she wrote: “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.”

Markle was ultimately cast in Suits in 2010, and the series became a big hit for USA Network, before enjoying a second life on Netflix.