"Pretty Little Liars" cast Shay Mitchell used to be ashamed of her Asian heritage as she confessed to hating being asked who she was.

Shay Mitchell's real name is Shannon Mitchell, born to a Filipina mother and a Scottish father, but was raised in a predominantly white neighborhood. Growing up, she claimed to have felt a lot of pressure about her skin.

"It was the first thing people noticed. They'd say, 'Are you the daughter of my nanny?' I hated being asked who I was, and all my friends had blond hair and blue eyes," she said in an interview with Yahoo.

When she was young, Shay Mitchell allegedly tried to change her appearance by wearing colored contact lenses, dyeing her hair and making sure she stayed indoors as much as possible to lighten her amber skin.

"That girl wanted to be something she wasn't," said "Pretty Little Liars" cast Shay Mitchell.

Moving out of the neighborhood did her good. When she graduated, she transferred to Thailand with her boyfriend before moving on to Hong Kong where she carved a career as a model.

"I remember landing and walking in the market and seeing live eels being chopped, the heat, the pollution, the traffic. It was a huge shock. I had to be completely independent. I hadn't ever done a load of laundry before - my grandma was amazing," she said.

Shay Mitchell is best known for playing Emily, the lesbian teen, on the ABC show "Pretty Little Liars," but she has other TV appearances as well in "Glee," "Hey Tucker!" and "Aaron Stone."

"Pretty Little Liars" cast Shay Mitchell graces the Maxim cover for the sexy magazine's February 2015 issue. The excited actress even shared a copy of the cover on her Instagram and wrote the caption: "So excited to be @maximmag 's February cover girl!!! On stands January 13th! Thanks to @carlenekmakeup hair: @riadazar9 nails: @nailsbymarysoul and the amazing photographer @jamesmacari and my cheerleader @sammyinla #imsideeyeingapizzainthisphoto."