Meghan Markle’s forgotten 90s sitcom role has resurfaced 29 years later

Meghan Markle may be best known for starring in Suits during her acting career, however her first ever uncredited role has now resurfaced.

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, played Rachel Zane on seven seasons of the American TV legal drama Suits between 2011 and 2018, eventually leaving the show ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry.

Before that, Meghan’s first role had been in two episodes of General Hospital in 2001, before going on to appear in shows like 90210, Without a Trace and CSI: Miami before being cast in her break-out role.

However, it turns out Meghan’s first on-screen role was years earlier, in a 1995 episode of Married…With Children.

The TV sitcom ran for a decade from 1987 and followed the lives of Al Bundy and his wife Margaret ‘Peggy’ Bundy, played by Ed O’Neill and Katey Segal.

Meghan’s father Thomas Markle worked as a lighting director and director of photography for the show over 10 seasons.

Over the years Meghan has spoken about visiting the set as a child, but it turns out she also once appeared on the series.

In 1995 Meghan was cast on an episode, appearing in season 9’s The Undergraduate, with images of her on the show recently resurfacing.

The episode saw Kelly (Christina Applegate) getting a secret admirer who wanted to take her to his Junior High School prom.

In the episode Meghan played a student and mainly appeared in the background, but was seen in a scene with Christina and David Faustino, who played Bud Bundy.

Although Meghan wasn’t credited for the role, many have noticed her popping up when re-watching the show decades later.

‘Is this Meghan Markle on Married with Children?’ Joe posted on X alongside a photo of the scene.

In a 2018 interview with Esquire, Meghan spoke about her experiences growing up on the set of the long-running series.

‘Every day after school for 10 years, I was on the set of Married… with Children which is a really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up,’ she said.

‘There were a lot of times my dad would say, “Meg, why don’t you go and help with the craft services room over there? This is just a little off-colour for your eleven-year-old eyes”.’

Although she wasn’t allowed to watch the show at home, Meghan said she would always watch the end credits so she could ‘give the screen a kiss when I saw my dad’s name go by’.

Speaking about meeting Meghan as a child during a 2019 appearance on The Ellen Show, Ed O’Neill told the talk show host: ‘By the way, she [Meghan] grew up on the set of Married with Children. Did you know that? Her father was a camera operator.’

‘And she used to come on the set in her little Catholic school uniform. She was, like, nine,’ he added.