Shannon Ashley Mitchell is a Canadian actress and model of Filipino and Irish descent. She is best known for the role of Emily Fields in the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars.
Background
Ethnicity:
she was born to a Filipino mother and a father of Irish and Scottish heritage.
Born to a Filipino mother Precious Garcia, and Irish/Scottish father Mark Mitchell, Shay is a native of Mississauga, Ontario. She has one younger sibling, a brother, Sean Mitchell. Even as a young child, Mitchell was interested in the performing arts, declaring to her parents that she would pursue such a career. Mitchell began dance lessons at the age of five, and she and several of her classmates toured the city to compete with a variety of other dance schools. She is a first cousin once removed of Lea Salonga, singer & Tony-award winning theater actress well known for originating the lead role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon. At the age of 10, Mitchell's family moved west to Vancouver, British Columbia. Within a year of their arrival, an international modeling agency held an open casting call for teen and pre-teen girls who were vying for representation. Mitchell was one of the girls selected.
Education
At first she studued at Rockridge Secondary School and later at West Vancouver Secondary School at West Vancouver, B.C, Canada
Career
In her career, by her late teens, Shay Mitchell had successfully modeled for a variety of companies in cities as varied as Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Barcelona, but Shay Mitchell later returned to Toronto to study acting. After signing with her first theatrical agency, Shay Mitchell appeared in the Canadian teen drama series “Degrassi: The Next Generation” and booked several national commercials.
Shay Mitchell also landed a recurring role in the Disney XD series “Aaron Stone”. Shay Mitchell has featured in the music video for recording artist Sean Paul’s song “Hold My Hand”, appeared in the Global series “Rookie Blue”, and modeled for the American clothing company, Aéropostale. Shay Mitchell’s most prominent role is playing Emily Fields in “Pretty Little Liars” on ABC Family where Shay Mitchell had originally auditioned for the role of Spencer Hastings. Shay Mitchell on January 2011 signed a contract with Procter & Gamble to be the spokesperson for the Pantene Nature Fushion shampoo line.
Shay Mitchell’s filmography: “Degrassi: The Next Generation” (2009) role as Model in an episode: “Up Where We Belong”, “Rookie Blue” (2010) role as Cute Girl in an episode: “Mercury Retrograde”, “Aaron Stone” (2010) role as Irina Webber in two episodes, and “Pretty Little Liars” (2010 until present) role as Emily Fields in Main character.
Views
Quotations:
"I hate dieting. Let's just say that"