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Meghan Markle was a jobbing actor struggling with the materialistic world of TV
She was told she was 'not pretty enough' for roles then 'too pretty' for others
But her outlook changed after an audition with casting director April Webster
She told Meghan, then in her early 20s, 'You need to know you're enough'
Hearing this from such a famed executive gave her the confidence to be herself

Published: 21:05 EDT, 5 December 2017 | Updated: 02:56 EDT, 6 December 2017

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Meghan Markle's name has become known around the world since her Royal engagement was announced last week.

But the acting success that gave her the platform to mingle with stars and meet her future fiance Prince Harry may never have come around had it not been for some profound advice from legendary casting director April Webster.

Miss Markle was born in Los Angeles and had been trying to crack her way into professional acting from her mid-teens, but did not start getting regular TV work for nearly a decade.

She reveals how she was often told she was either 'too pretty or not pretty enough, or too slim or not slim enough' when auditioning for roles.

In an old article penned two years ago, which has just resurfaced, Prince Harry's wife-to-be recounts an encounter with Webster, who has hired actors for Star Wars, Mission: Impossible, Lost and countless other box office hits.

Meghan Markle (left) has cited some words of advice from legendary casting director April Webster (right) as a turning point in her career

The Hollywood veteran helped her banish the insecurities that had blighted her during her early career.

Writing for Darling Magazine, Megan said she was, 'Trying to find my value in an industry that judges you on everything that you’re not versus everything that you are.

Other executives deemed her, 'Not thin enough, not pretty enough, not ethnic enough, while also being too thin, too ethnic, too pretty the very next day', Meghan wrote.

Prince Harry's wife-to-be was born in Los Angeles and had been trying to crack her way into professional acting from her mid-teens

Still in her early 20s, she was struggling to come to terms how she was being viewed and the fickleness of Hollywood, and its obsession with image.

But she said her approach to finding worked changed in an instant after an encounter with Webster that allowed her to stop hiding behind materialism and be herself.

Meghan wrote: 'I had never met her before, and at my very first audition for her, she stopped me mid-scene and said so simply, “You need to know that you’re enough.”

'I was breathless. No one had ever seen it, or perhaps no one had ever called me out, but there in that small box of a room in Burbank, this woman I had never met saw me.

'My gut reaction was to smile. To smile hard. Maybe that would keep the tears tucked behind my draping eyes.

'It wouldn’t have mattered if I cried, because she saw me. She saw all that self-doubt beaming through the self-tanner and excessive blush.

'“You need to know that you’re enough,” she said.

'“Less makeup, more Meghan".

Future royal: Prince Harry and Meghan announced engagement their engagement on Monday (left) and will marry in May at Windsor Castle; they made their first official appearance since revealing the news on Friday in Nottingham (right)

Command attention like Meghan in a military coat by Mackage

Mackage double breasted military maxi coat

Sold out - buy current collection here at ShopBop

Visit site

With the excitement of Monday's announcement that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are planning to marry still fresh in our minds, there's been a lot of anticipation surrounding their first joint engagement.

The happy couple are in Nottingham, England, today, and we can't help but think that Meghan is going to fit in just fine with the Royal Family, at least when it comes to style.

Following on from her Line the Label wrap coat, The Suits actress wore a second smart cover-up, which is by another Canadian label. This double-breasted navy coat is Mackage (whose fans include Princess Eugenie) and we love the leather trim pockets and military-inspired details. The maxi length makes it both very elegant and practical for the freezing temperatures!

Like the Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan likes to recycle key pieces and has worn this before. Unfortunately that means it has now sold out, but click (right) to browse the current Mackage collection at Shopbop.

Or layer up this winter in one of the lookalike options we've got lined up for you in the edit below.

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary

'She went on to say that I was like a “shrinking violet,” wilted joy and energy and exuberance behind this shroud of insecurity. You couldn’t pay for a therapy session this good.

'And that moment, for me, was a wake-up call.'

Her determination to make it was evident in home video footage that emerged this week of an 18-year-old Meghan before and after an audition for a Shakira music video.

Shot in the summer of 1999 when she was 18, she is brimming with excitement at the $600 - or around £445 back then - she stands to earn from the shoot.

The humble Volvo hatchback she drives in the clip, obtained by the Sun, is a far cry from her present-day surroundings - having grown into successful TV star and become engaged to Prince Harry during the intervening two decades.