Early in her career, Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher and taught bookbinding to support herself between acting jobs.
Her first on-screen appearance was a small role as a nurse in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital.
Markle had small guest roles on the television shows Century City (2004), The War at Home (2006), and CSI: NY (2006).
She also took on several contract acting and modeling jobs, including a stint as a "briefcase girl" on the US game show Deal or No Deal.
She appeared in Fox's series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season.

Markle had some difficulty getting roles early in her career.
In 2015, she wrote: "Being 'ethnically ambiguous', as I was pegged in the industry, meant I could audition for virtually any role ... Sadly, it didn't matter: 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 appeared in two 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek and Remember Me, and one 2011 film, Horrible Bosses.
She was paid $187,000 for her role in Remember Me and $171,429 for her role in the short film The Candidate.

In July 2011, Markle joined the cast of the USA Network show Suits.
Her character, Rachel Zane, began as a paralegal and eventually became an attorney.
She completed work on the seventh season in late 2017.
According to a critique in The Irish Times, Markle "actively re-positioned" her character from ingénue to "the show's moral conscience" and gave viewers the unique portrayal of a daughter whose African-American father is in a position to help her career and advance her "desire to crack both racial and gender glass ceilings".
While working on Suits, Markle lived for nine months each year in a rented house in the Seaton Village neighborhood of Toronto.
Fortune magazine estimated that Markle was paid $50,000 per episode, amounting to an annual salary of about $450,000.
Early in her career, Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher and taught bookbinding to support herself between acting jobs. Her first on-screen appearance was a small role as a nurse in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital. Markle had small guest roles on the television shows Century City (2004), The War at Home (2006), and CSI: NY (2006). She also took on several contract acting and modeling jobs, including a stint as a "briefcase girl" on the US game show Deal or No Deal. She appeared in Fox's series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season.
Markle had some difficulty getting roles early in her career. In 2015, she wrote: "Being 'ethnically ambiguous', as I was pegged in the industry, meant I could audition for virtually any role ... Sadly, it didn't matter: 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 appeared in two 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek and Remember Me, and one 2011 film, Horrible Bosses. She was paid $187,000 for her role in Remember Me and $171,429 for her role in the short film The Candidate.
In July 2011, Markle joined the cast of the USA Network show Suits. Her character, Rachel Zane, began as a paralegal and eventually became an attorney. She completed work on the seventh season in late 2017. According to a critique in The Irish Times, Markle "actively re-positioned" her character from ingénue to "the show's moral conscience" and gave viewers the unique portrayal of a daughter whose African-American father is in a position to help her career and advance her "desire to crack both racial and gender glass ceilings". While working on Suits, Markle lived for nine months each year in a rented house in the Seaton Village neighborhood of Toronto. Fortune magazine estimated that Markle was paid $50,000 per episode, amounting to an annual salary of about $450,000.
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