Shay Mitchell is the Canadian-born actress who rose to fame for playing the role of Emily Fields in Pretty Little Liars from 2010 to 2017. She also played a starring role in the thriller film series, You, and the horror film, The Possession of Hannah Grace. After her stint on Pretty Little Liars ended, she started a YouTube channel which currently has 4.26 million followers.
Mitchell documents her life on YouTube and Instagram, and on 22nd October 2019, she posted a video of the delivery of her daughter Atlas Noa. Shay was born on 10th April 1987 to Precious Garcia and Mark Mitchell.
This piece will look at Garcia’s ethnicity and Shay’s bond with her dad.
Shay was ashamed of her mom’s ethnicity during her time in high school
Precious Garcia was born in the Philippines, and she left at the age of 19. She raised Mitchell to be appreciative of her Filipino roots. Mitchell attended picnics and family weddings that helped her appreciate her mom’s culture. However, Shay’s perspective changed when she got to high school.
At the age of 10, her parents relocated to an affluent neighborhood in Vancouver. Most of the children at her new school had Filipino nannies, and so they taunted Shay by telling her that her mom was a nanny. Their claims were false, but they affected Shay’s confidence and pride in her Filipino heritage. She told Elle Canada:
“When I was in high school, I was so uncomfortable with myself. All my friends were blond and blueeyed. My mom is Filipino – but my friends’ nannies were Filipino.”
Shay started to dye her hair blond and wear contacts to conceal her Filipino roots. Mitchell’s confidence in her background came back when she began auditioning for roles. She realized that she got picked regularly because of her exotic looks.
Shay has fully regained confidence in her looks and ethnicity. One peek at her Instagram page will reveal how happy she is to be Filipino.
She maintains a close bond with her Scottish-Irish dad
Shay and her dad share a very close blond. She regularly celebrates her half Scottish and half Irish dad on social media. On 30th October 2019, Shay posted a video on her channel in which she pranked her dad into thinking that she’d gone into labor.
She stated that the prank was payback for all the times that Mark had successfully pranked her. Mark looked calm throughout the video, but he revealed at the end that he’d fallen for Shay’s act. He said, “You are such an ass! I was totally punked.”
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