With Shay Mitchell

SHE HAS 24 MILLION INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS, ALMOST 4 MILLION YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS, AND ANOTHER 3 MILLION OR SO TWITTER FANS. BUT SOMETIMES SHAY MITCHELL JUST WANTS A BREAK. WITH AN UPCOMING ROLE IN HULU’S DOLLFACE, THE FORMER PRETTY LITTLE LIARS STAR (AND MEGA BEAUTY INFLUENCER) SHARES HOW SHE STAYS BALANCED AND PURSUES HER DREAMS.

- Cotton Codinha

I didn’t always want to be an actress. I never took drama or any of that in high school or elementary—nothing. When I was younger, I wanted to be a marine biologist. I realized that wasn’t the career path I was meant for when I went scuba diving for the first time at 12 and I was terrified of the ocean. At 19, I decided acting is what I wanted to do, after coming back to Canada from living in Bangkok. I’d tried modeling, but it wasn’t for me—I enjoy food too much. I did enjoy the traveling aspect of modeling, and I loved the community that it built and being able to work with a lot of people to get the shot. I realized I could do that with acting and not have to fit into a size 0, so I started going down that road, and I booked Pretty Little Liars. I was on that show for seven years.