LOS ANGELES
(AP) -- Meghan Markle has been an actress for more than a dozen
years, yet most people heard her name for the first time when Prince
Harry announced that she's his girlfriend.
Harry
confirmed he was dating the 35-year-old American when he released a
statement Tuesday decrying the media's treatment of Markle, saying
reporters have tried to break into her home and photographers have
prevented her mother from reaching her front door.
The confirmation thrust Markle into a fishbowl of international media scrutiny, but it could also boost her career.
"The
truth is she's not a household name," said E! News correspondent Marc
Malkin. "She's going to be one because of Prince Harry."
Markle
parlayed small parts on such TV series as "Fringe," ''Without a Trace"
and "CSI: Miami" into a starring role on the USA Network drama "Suits ." She has played paralegal and aspiring lawyer Rachel Zane on the show, now in its sixth season, since 2011.
The
actress appears to be as ambitious and hardworking as her character.
Besides "Suits," she starred in the show's five-part web series about
New York restaurants, "Power Lunch with Meghan Markle."
And a higher profile could bring more professional opportunities.
"Now
that she's dating Prince Harry, I'm not saying that all of a sudden
she's going to be working with every Oscar winner and legend in
Hollywood, but a lot of doors open," Malkin said. "The benefit here is
in
Hollywood, it's about name recognition. You want people to think of
you when they're casting something.
You want people to think of you when
they're throwing a big red carpet event. A lot of it is about exposure,
and you can't ask for more exposure than dating Prince Harry."
That
exposure could benefit Markle's various off-screen efforts as well,
including the clothing collection she helped create for Canadian
retailer Reitmans and her work with UN Women and the World Vision.
Markle continues to contribute to her lifestyle website, TheTig.com
, which she established in 2014 as a place to "integrate social
consciousness and subjects of higher value than, let's say ... selfies"
with beauty and fitness advice. Her most recent post detailed how she balances her humanitarian work with her Hollywood career. She has also written for Elle magazine about being biracial and finding her identity beyond her ethnicity.
Markle
credits her parents with showing her both the glitter of Hollywood and
the joy of giving back. Born in Los Angeles, she accompanied her
lighting-director dad to sitcom and soap-opera sets, while her therapist
mom brought her along on exotic trips to places where poverty was the
norm. Markle writes on her blog that her parents donated turkeys to
homeless shelters at Thanksgiving and delivered meals to hospice
patients.
"This is what I grew up seeing, so
that is what I grew up being: a young adult with a social consciousness
to do what I could, and to, at the very least, speak up when I knew
something was wrong," she writes.
While it's
unusual for a royal to issue an official comment on a personal
relationship, as Harry did Tuesday, European royalty romancing American
stars isn't new.
"Princess Grace is obviously
the classic story," Malkin said. "It's this whole idea of royals dating
Americans: how that's not supposed to happen and when it does happen,
it's scandalous."
Or at least attention-getting. So how will Markle navigate work, life and romance under a royal microscope?
"She's going to have to have thick skin," Malkin said.
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, said Harry's previous girlfriends struggled with media attention.
"With
Chelsy Davy, she handled the spotlight for a bit, but then she decided
it really wasn't for her, that life.
She couldn't actually marry into
that world," she said. "And Cressida Bonas, although she's an actress,
she hated the attention, she hated the criticism. And it's not just the
press, it's everyone, everyone having a go at you. Very difficult to
deal with."
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