The Most-Googled Actress of 2016 Will Surprise You

by JULIE MILLER
DECEMBER 14, 2016

In the year 2016, there is no greater measure of popularity than how many times one is Google searched. Just ask advertisers and, well, Google—the premiere search engine that released the year’s top search data on Wednesday to show about whom the world’s Internet users were most curious this past year. Some category winners are not that surprising—Beyoncé reigned as top Google-searched musician, while Brad Pitt swept two other categories, the most Google-searched actors and celebrity splits. But the titleholder for Most Google-Searched Actress of 2016 was a shock out of left field—a woman best known for a USA cable series that was the subject of more Google searches than either Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Lawrence.

That number-one most searched-for actress on Google in the year 2016 is none other than Meghan Markle, the Suits star who emerged out of obscurity (at least, to non-Suits fans) at the end of October when it was first reported that the American actress was dating Prince Harry. The world apparently responded to that report by Google-searching in unison, “Meghan Markle?” The findings: that she is a 35-year-old, bi-racial, Northwestern graduate, humanitarian, lifestyle blogger, and actress. She was also married in 2011, divorced in 2013, and confirmed by the Palace to be dating Prince Harry in 2016. Other Meghan Markle trivia notes, according to whomever is updating her Wikipedia and IMDb pages: her affinity for cooking was incorporated into her Suits character’s backstory and her first on-screen role was on General Hospital.

Markle and Harry reportedly met in Toronto in May, when the prince was in town to launch the countdown to the 2017 Invictus Games. She is also a fixation of Vanity Fair’s new pop-culture podcast “In the Limelight.” and former Palace employees, like Grant Harrold, who breathlessly told papers last month, “Harry loves her and she loves him,” Harrold said. “And that will be what matters in the eyes of the Queen and Prince Charles. I don’t see any reason why Meghan couldn’t be The One.”

And if Harrold’s prediction is correct, prepare to see Meghan Markle infiltrate the Internet even more in the coming year . . . even if her popularity isn’t exactly acting-related.

not mine.credit and source: VANITY FAIR