Meghan Markle Is Narrating a New Disney Documentary

Photo credit: Charles McQuillan - Getty Images
Photo credit: Charles McQuillan - Getty Images

From Oprah Magazine


Meghan Markle is officially returning to her roots as an actress. Markle is narrating Elephant, a new DisneyNature documentary that will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning on Friday, April 3.

According to the trailer, Elephant "follows one family's extraordinary journey across Africa on an adventure that will change their lives." The trailer's gorgeous footage shows a glimpse of the elephants' trek across the Kalahari Desert.

Elephant premieres alongside Dolphin Reef, which follows a similar nature-based migration tale, but focuses on dolphins. "Two powerful stories that show just how far family can take you," read a press release from Disney+. And while Dolphin Reef does not feature the Markle's dulcet tones, it still has major star power: The documentary is narrated by Natalie Portman.


In January 2020, Markle signed a voiceover deal with Disney. Instead of accepting payment, Markle asked for a donation to the charity Elephants Without Borders, which works to protect elephants from poaching and other threats. Markle and Prince Harry previously worked with Elephants Without Borders during their 2017 trip to Botswana.

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🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘 Today is #WorldElephantDay and we are pleased to announce that since we followed our friends at @ElephantswithoutBorders (EWB) on Instagram in July, when we were celebrating the environment, you and our friend @TheEllenFund (@TheEllenShow) have spread the word and EWB have been able to help protect 25 elephants by fitting them with satellite navigation collars! These collars allow the team at EWB to track the elephants, as well as to learn their essential migratory patterns to keep their corridors safe and open so future generations of elephants can roam freely. In honour of this amazing support, EWB have named their most recently collared Elephant...ELLEN! We can’t wait to see where she will go! 🐘 Two years ago on World Elephant Day, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Dr Chase to help in this conservation effort. Below, a few words from Mike and his partner Kelly at EWB: • ‘Today is a day to honor and celebrate the majestic elephant and to make a strong stand for conserving and protecting one of the world’s most beloved animals. elephants are intelligent, sentient beings capable of emotions from joy to grief. They are ‘environmental engineers,’ a key-stone umbrella species, and the fight to save them is in effect, a fight to save entire ecosystems and all wildlife. Today elephants are facing many challenges; habitat loss and competition for resources creates conflict with humans, climate change and fires destroy much needed resources and poaching for the demand of ivory makes elephants bigger targets than ever. African elephants are especially prone to human-wildlife conflict because of their large home ranges. Finding, preserving and creating elephant corridors is therefore of great importance in helping to maintain habitats suitable for movement and minimising human-elephant conflict. Corridors are a mitigation technique to better the livelihoods of local communities and the elephants themselves, by providing environment and ample space for wildlife to navigate from one habitat patch to another, without affecting the livelihoods of communities.’ • EWB - Dr Mike Chase, Ms Kelly Landen . 📸 by DOS © SussexRoyal Additional photos: EWB

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Aug 12, 2019 at 6:00am PDT

"Today elephants are facing many challenges; habitat loss and competition for resources creates conflict with humans, climate change and fires destroy much needed resources and poaching for the demand of ivory makes elephants bigger targets than ever," read the caption on Sussex Royal, commemorating their trip to Botswana.

Elephant is Markle's first job in show business since she and Prince Harry "stepped back" from their royal duties in January 2020. Now, the former star of the TV series Suits appears to be combining her passion for philanthropy with her background as a actress. If you don't have one already, it's worth getting a subscription to Disney+ just to see the start of Markle's new life.


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