Meghan Markle set for return to acting eight years after quitting

Meghan Markle is set for a return to acting eight years after she quit Hollywood to become a working royal.

Now she is set to star in a new film alongside Lily Collins, Brie Larson and Jack Quaid.

Meghan will reportedly play herself in the film Close Personal Friends, which follows two couples where one is famous and the other is not.

She was seen on set today in Pasadena, LA, in the Amazon MGM Studios production. 

A source told The Sun: ‘This is a massive moment for Meghan and signifies a return to doing what she truly loves.

‘She has been swamped with offers but this one felt right.

‘Prince Harry is, of course, really supportive and quite simply wants Meghan to do whatever brings her joy.’

Meghan is best known for her role as Rachel Zane in the hit US TV-drama Suits, but also had Hollywood roles in Horrible Bosses, Get Him To The Greek and Remember Me.

Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in 2020 and moved to the US. 

The Duchess of Sussex previously claimed she struggled to get acting roles in her early career. 

She told how she would get plenty of auditions but was regularly rejected by directors – which was a ‘lot to chip away at your self-esteem’.

Meghan was once a ‘briefcase girl’ – one of the models who hold the suitcases full of cash – on the US version of Deal Or No Deal.

Experts said the former royal may be having some trouble when it comes to finding ‘where she really fits’ as she attempts to juggle her As Ever lifestyle venture, public speaking engagements and her aspirations in the fashion world.

The Duchess also admitted in a recent podcast that she had ‘sometimes’ missed acting. 

In 2015 she wrote in a blog post about how her role in Suits had changed her life forever, gushing: ‘I remember that day like it was yesterday. My cheeks still hurt from how hard I smiled.’

But as her relationship with Harry took off and went public towards the end of 2016, her role in Suits became precarious.

Acclaimed biographer Tom Bower wrote in his 2022 book Revenge: Meghan, Harry And The War Between The Windsors that the writer Aaron Korsh planned to write her out at the end of the 2017 season.

Considering her emerging new life as a member of the Royal Family and the need to refresh the series, he planned on having Meghan’s character Rachel leave New York.

Bower, who claimed he had conversations with 80 individuals who were personally acquainted with Harry and Meghan, wrote that after her agent Nick Collins heard the news he was ‘not encouraging’.

He wrote: ‘No film producer was offering her any major roles and no serious Hollywood director spoke about featuring Meghan in his movie or TV series. Just as she feared, her acting career was stymied. Her income after 2017 would plummet.’ 

It comes as her husband Prince Harry has penned a Remembrance Day essay on the ‘banter’ and ‘bravery’ that makes him proud to be British.

The Duke of Sussex expressed his pride at the ‘stoic spirit’ of self-deprecation and humour of ‘us Brits’ and said how the UK will ‘always be the country I proudly served’, despite leaving for the US in 2020.

He said the ‘banter of the mess, the clubhouse, the pub, the stands’ are the ‘things that make us British’ and ‘I love it’.

Prince Harry reflected on the privilege of serving alongside soldiers from all four corners of the UK but warned how easy it is for veterans to be forgotten ‘once the uniform comes off’.

He called on people to remember ‘not only the fallen, but the living’ who carry the ‘weight of war’ and urged them to knock on veterans’ doors and ‘join them for a cuppa…or a pint’ to hear their stories and ‘remind them their service still matters’.

In a personal 647-word piece titled The Bond, The Banter, The Bravery: What It Means To Be British – By Prince Harry, the Duke acknowledged although he ‘currently’ lives in the US, ‘Britain is, and always will be, the country I proudly served and fought for’.

The Duke’s message came as he prepared to begin a two-day visit to Toronto today, during which he will meet Canadian veterans, members of the armed forces community and military charities to mark Remembrance tide, the two-week period leading up to Remembrance Sunday.

His thoughts were released while the Prince of Wales is in the midst of a major tour to Brazil and on the day of his Earthshot Prize awards ceremony.