Emily Fields | Shay Mitchell
THE 17TH APPRECIATION THREAD

A star athlete, Emily Fields is Rosewood's best swimmer; she has a deep love for swimming and is very competitive. She grew up in Rosewood living the perfect life that her mother wanted for her — even if it wasn’t always the life Emily wanted for herself. After falling for her next door neighbor, Maya, Emily struggles with her sexuality for a long time until she finally admits that she’s gay. Emily’s friends are more than supportive of her, but it takes a while for her parents to accept her.

Emily is the most sensitive girl of the group. Having been in love with her best friend, Alison, Emily took her death the hardest. Out of all the girls, Emily is the one who wants most desperately for the murder of Alison to be solved — and for A to be gone. After A targets Emily as being the “weakest link” of the group, Emily is forced to give up swimming when A secretly gives her doses of HGH, human growth hormone.

Even as a young child, Shay Mitchell was interested in the performing arts, declaring to her parents that she would pursue such a career. Shay began dance lessons at the age of five, toured the city to compete with a variety of other dance schools. At the age of 10, Shay'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. Shay was one of the girls selected. By her late teens, Shay had successfully modeled for a variety of companies. Wanting to focus on her true passion, Shay returned to Toronto and began to study acting. PLL is her first major acting job. Shay originally auditioned for the role of Spencer Hastings.

fans;

001. xmidnightx
002. Creamsodaqueen
003. crazycait714
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021. mesmerized
022. Beautiful Disorder
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027. TheSweetestSmile
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034. .: DoDs:.
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064. ~ayumi~
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069. Kelly_Dylan
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074. -Glena-
075. Maily
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078. meya
079. eNVyLove
080. havisham
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082. BearDogg-X
083. Emily_Jawbreaker
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090. LiVenLoVe902
091. diannaagronlove
092. shayholicz
093. hot_vanilla
094. arakha

Emily in the books is very physically different from in the show. She is described as having strawberry blond hair that is tinted green from the chlorine in the pool, and her dorky "Swim Chick" t-shirts are the height of her fashion. She has broad shoulders and skinny, but muscular legs; she most often wears jeans and swimming t-shirts and never takes off the friendship bracelet Alison made her. Eventually, she does exchange the bracelet for a silver one after she wishes to forget about Alison and the drama. Later on, she always carries around an orange tassel that reminds her of Alison. Emily is also superstitious: she makes conditions with nature, seeing things as signs, such as the condition that the next car that passes will be red, which to her means that something unique will happen -- or making a wish at "4:56" instead of "11:11."

Emily was a friend of Alison DiLaurentis and deeply attracted to her. She dated a boy named Ben Coogan before realizing her true feelings were for girls. She falls for and secretly dates Maya St. Germain. When A outs Emily to the whole school, her parents force her to go to Tree Tops, a “de-gaying” rehabilitation center. Failing that, Emily is shipped off to Iowa to live with relatives; deeply unhappy there, she runs away. Her parents ask her to come home, stating that they will learn to accept Emily for who she is. Later on, Emily discovers that she’s actually bi-sexual, when she falls for and eventually sleeps with a boy named Isaac Colbert. Although they soon after break-up, Emily learns she’s pregnant and secretly gives the baby up for adoption during spring break. When Emily accidentally meets Kelsey, one of Spencer's former friends, she becomes smitten. However, things fall apart when Kelsey, depressed, attempts to commit suicide and is sent to the Preserve.

Having fallen in love with Alison in seventh grade, Emily strongly believes that Alison is the love of her life and frequently fantasizes about Alison still being alive and loving Emily back. Emily admits to being somewhat obsessed with Alison, priding herself on knowing everything about her. For a brief period of time, when Alison comes back as "Courtney," the two have a romantic relationship; Emily is heartbroken when Alison reveals it was all a lie.

Emily’s closest friends are the other PLLs and during the periods when they are not associating with one another, Emily is very lonely. She is quite popular at school, but feels as though she's not close with anyone. She is constantly searching for a "best friend" to take Alison's place. Though she is very close to the other PLLs, they are often annoyed by how sensitive she is and her devotion to Alison. Her insistence that Alison is alive often causes problems for them as a group.

extras;

links
Twitter
Facebook
Fansite
Fanpop
IMDb
YouTube

interviews
Pretty Little Liars with Shay Mitchell
Shay Mitchell: Addicted to Pretty Little Liars Books!
Shay Mitchell with Access Hollywood's Dish of Salt
Alloy Interview with Shay Mitchell
Shay Mitchell: How I Became a Pretty Little Liar
Shay Mitchell Gabs About Prettly Little Liars
Shay Mitchell on the Audition Process
21 Things You Didn't Know About Shay Mitchell
Shay Mitchell on Good Day LA / Kick-boxing

future titles
Because Shay is obsessed with the PLL books, just like we are.
Because she loves Emily's character.
Because her dream dinner date is Marilyn Monroe.
Because we love her whichever team she plays for.
Because we love shopping at Aritzia as much as she does.
Because she's a glamazon.

past threads
01 — 02 — 03 — 04 — 05 — 06 — 07 — 08 — 09 — 10
11 — 12 — 13 — 14 — 15 — 16 — 17 — 18 — 19 — 20