Sarah Gray Rafferty: Who the Suits Star Really Is

Sarah Gray Rafferty is the full name of the actress usually credited as Sarah Rafferty, best known as Donna Paulsen on the legal drama Suits. She was born in New York City and is roughly in her early fifties as of 2026, based on her reported birth year of 1972.

If you have watched even a few episodes of Suits, you know the character: the unflappable executive assistant who always seemed to know what everyone needed before they did.

Quick facts

The name question

Searchers often type “sarah gray rafferty” because that is how she appears in some credits and databases. It is simply her full name. On screen and in interviews she goes by Sarah Rafferty.

Becoming Donna

Rafferty joined Suits in 2011 when the show launched on USA Network, playing Donna Paulsen, the formidable right hand of Harvey Specter, played by Gabriel Macht. Over nine seasons the role grew from a witty background figure to one of the emotional centers of the show. Donna’s slow-burn dynamic with Harvey became a core storyline, and fans have spoken of it for years.

The series found fresh popularity in the 2020s through streaming, when new viewers discovered it and pushed it to the top of viewing charts. That gave Rafferty and her castmates renewed attention long after the finale.

Work before and after

Before Suits she built a résumé of guest roles on television and appearances in films and stage productions. She trained as a performer in the American theater tradition and has continued to take on projects outside the legal drama. She has also been involved in charitable work and has spoken about causes she cares about.

Personal life

She is married to Santtu Seppälä, a Finnish-born writer and producer. The couple tends to keep their private life low-key, and she mostly shares glimpses of her family life through occasional social media posts.

Appeal

Rafferty’s popularity is bound up in how she played Donna: confident, funny and loyal without being a pushover. Many viewers describe the character as a model for the kind of colleague everyone wishes they had.

The Suits ensemble

Part of what made Suits work was its ensemble. Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter was the polished closer, Patrick J. Adams’ Mike Ross the talented outsider with a secret, and Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman and Meghan Markle rounded out a cast that fans still debate about. Rafferty’s Donna was the glue. She had the best lines in many scenes, and over time the writers expanded her role from assistant to a leader in her own right at the firm. By the later seasons Donna was running the place, a promotion that fans had been asking for since the early years.

Why streaming brought her a second wave

When Suits arrived on Netflix in the United States in 2023, it climbed streaming charts and drew a new generation of viewers. For actors on a nine-season network show, that kind of late surge is unusual, and Rafferty has acknowledged the moment in interviews and on social media. New fans who binge-watched in a few weeks often search her name, her age and her background, which explains the steady search interest.

What fans ask

The most common question is whether Donna and Harvey end up together. They do, and the finale was widely seen as a satisfying payoff. Viewers also ask whether Rafferty is like her character. By most accounts she is warm and funny, though she has joked that no real office assistant is quite as omniscient as Donna. And, of course, people ask about the name “Sarah Gray Rafferty,” which is just her full name.

Frequently asked questions