'I tried my best,' the actress said.
Shay Mitchell is reflecting on her breakout role. The 36-year-old actress covers Byrdie's latest digital issue, and in the accompanying interview, thinks back on playing Emily Fields on Pretty Little Liars, a role that shot her into stardom alongside her co-stars, Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale and Sasha Pieterse.
"When I booked the show, I knew I didn't have as much acting experience as the other girls. A part of me was scared, but I knew I would eventually figure it out," Mitchell says. "Do I think my performance was Academy Award–winning? Absolutely not. But f**k it. I did it, and I tried my best. I learned more [on that set] than I could in any acting class."
Amid her PLL fame, Mitchell says she felt like the show and her character were defining her "a little bit, especially in the early years... where everyone just talked about Emily."
"It got to a point where I was like, 'OK, but I'm here too, and I can do other things,'" she says. "I didn't want to be pigeonholed in the acting world of only being able to play one note. So I think social media helped me showcase my personality outside the character I played."
Her travel content on social media eventually led her to start a travel accessory company. She followed up that business endeavor by starting a tequila seltzer brand. Her entrepreneurial spirit isn't dying down anytime soon.
"I have a few other things I'm working on, and they're no-brainers for me as well," she says. "I'm excited because I love creating. It's like giving birth, but to a brand."
She's also literally given birth two times over, to daughters Atlas, 4, and Rome, 1. Mitchell, who's Filipino and Irish, shares the tots with her partner, Matte Babel, who's Trinidadian and Caucasian.
"My duty as a parent is to celebrate that Atlas and Rome are mixed," she says. "Matte and I encourage them to be curious about their background and treat everyone equally."
Mitchell previously touched on that topic in a June 2020 interview with ET.
"I think it's so important to educate them at a young age so they know that truly no matter what you look like, you deserve to love and be loved without judgment, be all and end all and that's it," Mitchell said at the time. "Especially coming from a mixed family herself."
As for what she hopes to teach her daughters, Mitchell tells Byrdie, "I want them to see me and know you can be extremely independent yet still rely on others for support."
"I want to instill a strong work ethic in them," she adds. "My parents always said if you get something on your own, nobody can take that away from you. So I want them to know if you believe in something, you can attain it."
Mitchell plans to keep being an example of hard work for her kids, though that's about all she's sure about when it comes to the future.
"I'm not excited about the destination. The exciting part has always been the journey. That's what I want to continue to be on. I never want to hit a mark. I don't have a goal," she says. "I want to continue to be happy and for my kids to be healthy, and that's it."
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