Meghan Markle’s Acting Career Started On ‘General Hospital’

People around the world seem fascinated with Meghan Markle since she began dating Prince Harry. While many people think of Markle as the “Suits” star who landed a prince and got the fairy tale ending, some people are unaware that the actress actually got her start on the long-running, daytime soap opera “General Hospital.”

According to ABC Soaps In Depth, Markle made her “GH” debut on Nov. 14, 2002. In the episode, Markle played a nurse named Jill who shared scenes with Mac Scorpio (John J. York) and Jasper Jax (Ingo Rademacher).

Even though she wasn’t a major character on the soap, Markle was good enough to land an “under five” role. The job meant the actress was given a few lines of dialogue and appeared in the background speaking to other cast members and performing her character’s duties as a nurse.

It may not seem like much of a role but casting director Mark Teschner revealed that the studio took a chance on the up and coming actress after watching her read lines. During a “20/20” special, Teschner stated Markle initially came in to audition for a smaller part, but they liked her enough to give her an “under five” role which is also difficult to land.

Markle’s next on screen acting gig didn’t come until two years later according to IMDb. The actress was featured in an episode of “Century City” and went on to appear in several other small television roles and snagged parts in movies including “Get Him to the Greek” and “Horrible Bosses.”

It wasn’t until 2011 when she landed her major television role as Rachel Zane on the USA series “Suits.”

Although Markle is expected to appear in Season 7 of the show when it returns in 2018, not long after her engagement to Prince Harry, she revealed that she would be retiring from acting.

“I think what’s been so exciting [transitioning] out of my career and into, as you said, the causes I can focus even more energy on, very early out of the gate, [is that you] have a voice that people listen to, a lot of responsibility,” she said during her first joint interview with her fiancé.

Even though she will be stepping away from her Hollywood career to focus on her royal duties, fans can still tune into the soap opera that gave Markle her first shot in Hollywood. “General Hospital” airs on weekdays at 3 p.m. EST on ABC.