Rachel Meghan Markle, born August 4, 1981, is an American former actress. She’s to become a member of the British royal family upon her marriage to Prince Harry on May 19, 2018. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Take a look below for 30 more fun and interesting facts about Meghan Markle.

1. After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in theater and international studies in 2003, she played small roles in several American television series.

2. From 2011 to 2018, she portrayed Rachel Zane on the legal drama series Suits for seven seasons.

3. Markle’s film credits include Remember Me and Horrible Bosses.

4. In 2017, she became engaged to Prince Harry, and announced her retirement from acting.

5. In 2018, Markle was selected as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine.

6. Her mother, Doria Loyce Ragland, a social worker and yoga instructor, lived in View Park-Windsor Hills, California. Her father, Thomas Markle Sr., lives in Rosarito, Mexico.

7. Her father is a Daytime Emmy Award winning retired lighting director, who profession resulted in his young daughter often visiting the set of Married… With Children.

8. Describing her ancestry, Markle said: “My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I’m half black and half white. I have come to embrace [this and] say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident, mixed race woman.”

9. Her mother is descended from Africans enslaved in Georgia, and her father from Dutch, English and Irish settlers.

10. Among her father’s ancestors are Captain Christopher Hussey, King Robert I of Scotland, Sir Philip Wentworth and his wife, Mary Clifford, a descendant of King Edward III of England.

11. Markle grew up in Hollywood and she was educated in private schools, beginning at Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse.

12. At the age of 11, her successful campaign to get a company to change a national television commercial she viewed as sexist was profiled by Linda Ellerbee on Nick News.

13. She attended Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girl Catholic private school in Los Angeles, although she identifies as Protestant.

14. Markle attended Northwestern University, where she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She graduated from Northwestern in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree and a double major in theater and international studies.

15. For a scene in A Lot Like Love, the second A.D. had to teach her how to drive stick shift just an hour before filming.

16. In May 2013, she separated from her husband of 20 months, Trevor Engelson.

17. She’s 16 years younger than her paternal half-sister, Samantha Grant Markle, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008.

18. With her engagement to Prince Harry, she became the first American to be officially engaged to a British royal, and upon their marriage, will become the first American to be given the title Her Royal Highness.

19. The engagement ring, created by Queen Elizabeth II’s preferred jeweler Cleave and Company, features the main stone set on a yellow gold band surrounded by two diamonds from the late Princess Diana’s personal jewelry collection.

20. In May 2016, Meghan was introduced to Prince Harry by mutual friend Markus Anderson, Toronto-based consultant for private members only clubs Soho House, where Harry had been a VIP member. Meghan had long known Anderson, a man who had often been referred to as “King of Soho House.”

21. In 2010, Markle was paid $187,000 for her role in Remember Me and $171,429 for her role in the short movie The Candidate.

22. For her role on Suits, Fortune magazine estimated that Markle was paid $50,000 per episode, thus amounting to an annual income of about $450,000.

23. It’s estimated that, as a lifestyle blogger, Markle earned about $80,000 annually from endorsements and sponsorships on her blog and her social media accounts.

24. It has been speculated that Markle’s personal fortune is worth about $5 million.

25. Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher to support herself between early acting jobs.

26. Her first appearance on screen was a small role as a nurse in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital.

27. Early in her career, Markle had small guest roles on the television shows Century City, The War at Home, and CSI: NY.

28. Markle took on several contract acting and modeling jobs that included a stint as a “briefcase girl” on the U.S. game show Deal or No Deal.

29. Markle had some difficulty getting roles early in her career. 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.”

30. In November 2016, Markle and Canadian clothing company Reitmans released a line of women’s fashion workwear.