filipina canadian star shane mitchell
isn't just a talented actress
model and influencer while she's best
known for her role on pretty little
liars
mitchell has worked her top-notch acting
chops and many other projects from
learning to love her heritage to her
challenges with becoming a mom
this is the gorgeous transformation of
shea mitchell
one of mitchell's most defining
characteristics is her striking looks
according to cosmo mitchell's mother is
filipina and her dad is scotch irish
which would explain her gorgeous
features but the actor wasn't exactly
happy to embrace her heritage when she
was a kid
she described how she struggled at
school because of her cultural
background
telling the outlet i was so
uncomfortable being filipino i'd get oh
is your mom a nanny it's like no
but even if she was do you know how hard
that is could you do it
no mitchell explained that she felt so
belittled at school that she didn't even
eat lunch in the cafeteria with the
other kids
she added out of sight out of mind you
wouldn't think about me if you didn't
see me so i didn't go into the cafeteria
just like many actors have to work side
jobs and hustle hard while trying to
make it big in hollywood
so did mitchell back in the day since it
can be a long journey before an aspiring
star secures a lucrative
role mitchell revealed that right before
she landed emily fields on pretty little
liars she was a cocktail waitress at a
bar in toronto
but she told self that even though she
wasn't quite where she wanted to be
she kept her eyes on the prize adding i
would walk around as though i were in a
movie
i was already a successful actress in my
mind
but i truly feel like you just want to
be as authentic as you can to who you
are and what makes you happy
obviously mitchell's positive mindset
worked out for her in the end
she soon landed in the big leagues and
her life was changed forever
though pretty little liars was arguably
the show that made mitchell famous
she took several roles before getting
her big break as mitchell told self back
in 2009
she was just another hopeful actor going
out on as many auditions as she could
get
and on some of those she got the job
mitchell appeared in an episode of
degrassi next generation a sean paul
music video and
the tv shows like rookie blue and aaron
stone but while she clearly had a knack
for acting
surprisingly mitchell almost didn't snag
her role on pretty little liars
as showrunner marlene king revealed to
17.
we saw two actors on videotape and i was
inclined to go with the other person but
in the room
shae just owned the character of emily
she changed our minds in the room and
got the role
this is one happy girl
so cute as pretty little liars got more
and more popular mitchell took full
advantage
of her newfound star power in 2016 she
made her big screen debut in the film
mother's day where she plays tina the
young second wife of jennifer aniston's
character's ex
mitchell was extremely excited to get to
work with anaston telling cosmo after
she saw the trailer
i'm playing a stepmom to jennifer
aniston's kids i called my mom and was
like julie roberts and jen are talking
about my character
so julia has to know who i am i thought
you'd move back to la
yeah just for a minute and people said i
should model yeah
it's clear that mitchell is totally
enjoying her professional status upgrade
getting to work alongside such iconic
stars
hi guys i'm shay mitchell and welcome to
my youtube channel
even as mitchell was deep into filming
pretty little liars she still managed to
take the time to cultivate a youtube
presence
when the series came to an end in 2017
mitchell was still pumping out the
content
and her voice on the platform was
quickly becoming hugely popular
as of early 2021 she was clocking in
over 4.3 million subscribers on her
channel
in an interview with pop sugar mitchell
explained that she enjoys the youtube
experience not only because she wanted
to share her life with her fans but
because she also wanted to inspire them
to live their own best
lives she told the outlet i want to
inspire people
it's important for me to get out there
and show other people they can do it too
there are a lot of things that i'm
excited about that are around travel
production and different things that
i've had a taste of with youtube in
addition to her massive youtube
following
mitchell also has an impressive social
media presence specifically on instagram
twitter and snapchat on instagram alone
mitchell has an astounding 26.5 million
followers but as well curated as she
looks online she still keeps it real for
fans
in an interview with cosmo mitchell
noted that even though her life might
look perfect on social media that's only
part of the story
she said people are like your life is so
great yes but remember i'm not
putting up a photo of my days you're
looking at my highlight reel you're not
seeing me crying because i got my period
and dropped a jelly bean on the floor
mitchell also explained that actually
running her multiple social media
accounts has become
almost like a second job but she says
it's all worth it
telling the outlet it was important for
me to have a brand that was shay
mitchell
so you got to know me as fans of pretty
little liars know mitchell's character
emily is gay and because of that
mitchell has been asked about her own
personal preferences quite a lot
throughout her career but the actor
isn't about labeling herself now or ever
in the future she told cosmo
right now i'm dating a guy i don't know
what it's going to be in three years you
love who you love
black white polka dot that's what my dad
always said i'm never going to label
myself
when people are like so what does it
feel like kissing a girl i'm like it's
pretty awesome i actually almost prefer
it sometimes
because they always smell pretty
mitchell explained that she would be
open to someday dating a woman so she
wasn't going to call herself straight
she added i could be 50 in dating a
woman and then what i said i was
straight and now i'm not
in 2018 mitchell leveraged her pretty
little liars success to land a role on
the hit drama u
based on the caroline kepnes
best-selling novel the series in which
mitchell starred alongside penn badgley
originally premiered on the lifetime
channel but the show soon moved to
netflix for season two
once at home on the streaming giant the
series experienced a renaissance of
sorts and
quickly became popular with viewers i'm
on to you
when asked about her transition from
teen drama to dark thriller
mitchell explained that both shows were
pretty dark but that you was perhaps
more grounded in reality
she told entertainment weekly some of
the things that happened in pretty
little liars were way out there and i
love that
but i also like the realism that takes
place in you and i think the viewers
will appreciate that
mitchell took to the big screen in 2018
starring in the possession of hannah
grace as megan reed
the actor explained that she started to
heavily relate to her character when it
came to their shared anxiety
explaining to collider there was a lot
of pressure what was i gonna do next can
i carry a film of a completely different
genre i started to lose it a little bit
and i really started to second guess
every single thing that i did
i had so many panic attacks in those
first three weeks of shooting
and it was only a four week shoot and i
was very creeped out
like i was uncomfortable to be in the
elevator with her so that's how good she
looked in real life
mitchell even revealed that she almost
didn't even recognize herself
on screen she recalled with the outlet i
feel like i was truly feeling what i
think that character must have been
going through
mitchell loves to travel and many of her
social media posts
are filled with gorgeous shots of her
many trips stamped with the hashtag
shaycation so it would only make sense
that she would launch her own travel
brand
base in 2018. according to the company's
site
base is all about bags and accessories
that won't quote
break the bank mitchell wrote after
countless trips and shaycations i
realized that i wanted to create amazing
affordable pieces for travelers like
myself
and in turn everyone who is inspired to
seek new places meet new people
and share the world why didn't anyone
tell me the new base bags were out
it should come as no surprise that
mitchell is now her very own ceo
as head of her company she told cosmo in
2016.
i'd rather have a company i don't want
to be dependent on a call from my agent
taking projects i'm not okay with
because i need to to be honest winning
an oscar is not one of my goals
while her life may look near perfect on
tv and social media that doesn't mean
mitchell hasn't experienced
struggles in her personal life on new
year's day in 2019
the actor took to instagram stories to
inform her fans that she had recently
endured a miscarriage
she revealed we all have to deal with
various struggles and challenges in life
the support and affection that so many
of you show me lifts me up during even
my darkest days
one of which happened last year after i
miscarried and lost the child of my
hopes and dreams
when it happened i was just completely
blindsided by it
i still have those photos on my phone
and i still have all the doctor visits
but it wouldn't be the end of her
journey toward ultimately becoming a mom
in june 2019 mitchell announced that she
and her longtime partner
matt babel were expecting a child
together alongside a gorgeous maternity
shot she posted on instagram
does this mean i'm allowed to drive in
the carpool lane at all times now
the actor also shared a heartfelt video
to her youtube channel where she got
more in depth about her story and also
launched a new series all about her
pregnancy
called almost ready of course i'm like
super happy
but i still feel for that one that i
lost
in october 2019 mitchell gave birth to
her daughter
atlas revealing what her life was like
as a new mom mitchell explained that her
priorities have definitely shifted
she told vogue when she's awake we just
kind of have a chill moment together
i've had to reprioritize my work time
with her schedule and that's been
interesting for me before it was all
about my schedule
now i work once she falls asleep there's
no perfect parents
just try your best and do what feels
right for you
in addition to all of her other mini
projects mitchell briefly reunited with
pretty little liars showrunner marlene
king
to work on a new series the heiresses
the series was ordered in 2017 with
mitchell set to play the main character
according to deadline besides king
mitchell was also expected to be working
with sarah shepard who authored the
pretty little liars and
aerys books according to the outlet the
plot of the show follows the saybrook
family as they try to understand the
tragedies that plague their lives with
deadline reporting
the event surrounding a deadly accident
a year ago drove a wedge between the
once inseparable diamond empire
heiresses but when an unspeakable
tragedy brings the cousins back together
they create a truly unbreakable bond
they set out to solve the mystery of who
wants the saybrook family dead before
one of them
is the next target but unfortunately
just like many
other new shows in hollywood the project
never found its footing by november 2018
mitchell told to fab that the show would
not be happening
even with everything else mitchell has
going on in her life she
still managed to film a role in yet
another tv show in 2019 she appeared in
the hulu original series doll face
alongside some familiar faces like
brenda song and
two bro girl star kat dennings the
series premiered in november of that
year
mitchell shared her experiences in
working on the new show and how it was
such a turn from her typically darker
roles
explaining that the female-driven
narrative just felt familiar to her
she told entertainment weekly truly
that's why i related so much to this
show because of the relationships that
the girls have with one another
that's very similar to my main friend
circle outside of the show
if anything ever goes down i'm calling
my friends first
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