Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell has admitted she was once deeply unhappy with her half-Filipino heritage, and went out of her way to look more Caucasian.

Growing up in a predominately white area of Toronto, Canada, the now-27-year-old actress tells Yahoo Style that she was often presumed to be 'the daughter of a nanny' by her peers.

'I hated being asked who I was, and all my friends had blonde hair and blue eyes,' she recalls, adding that she dyed her locks lighter, wore colored contacts and hid from the sun to leave her skin as pale as possible.

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Long ago: Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell, pictured in a new shoot for Yahoo Style, has admitted she was once deeply unhappy with her Filipino heritage, and went out of her way to look more Caucasian

High school was a miserable time for Shay, a former model. She ate her lunch in the bathrooms to avoid 'the mean girls' of the cafeteria and claims she always 'wanted to be something she wasn't.'

After she graduated, the actress moved to Thailand, then Hong Kong to 'switch things up.'

Here Shay carved out her independence, having previously never done a load of her own laundry before.

Ashamed: Growing up in a predominately white area of Toronto, Canada, the now-27-year-old actress says she was often presumed to be 'the daughter of a nanny' by her peers

Misfit: 'I hated being asked who I was, and all my friends had blonde hair and blue eyes,' she recalls

Looking back: Shay dyed her locks lighter, wore colored contacts and hid from the sun to leave her skin as pale as possible

Unhappy: High school was a miserable time for Shay. She ate her lunch in the bathrooms to avoid 'the mean girls' of the cafeteria and claims she always 'wanted to be something she wasn't'

Back in the U.S., after a stint doing bottle service in clubs, Shay hit the big time in 2010 when she was cast as lesbian teen Emily Fields in Pretty Little Liars.

All my friends had blonde hair and blue eyes

She now splits her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives with her rescue dog Angel, a German shepard-mix.

Despite her slim frame, Shay insists she's an avid fast food fan. Each time she's in a car on the way to an airport, the actress takes a large pizza with her to eat along the way.

'Whatever I don’t eat I give to the driver, but let’s be honest, there’s only a couple slices left,' she says.

New horizons: After she graduated, the actress and former model moved to Thailand, then Hong Kong to 'switch things up'

Fortunes changed: Back in the U.S., after a stint doing bottle service in clubs, Shay hit the big time in 2010 when she was cast as lesbian teen Emily Fields in Pretty Little Liars

Bi-coastal: Now Shay splits her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives with her rescue dog Angel, a German shepard-mix

Where does it go! Despite her slim frame, Shay insists she's an avid fast food fan. Each time she's in a car on the way to an airport, the actress takes a large pizza with her to eat along the way

Sharing is caring: 'Whatever I don’t eat I give to the driver, but let’s be honest, there’s only a couple slices left,' she says

Shay has come a long way since stardom was just a pipe dream and a poster on her vision board.

'I had a surfboard for the Teen Choice Awards and a picture of Hollywood,' Shay recalls.