Shay Mitchell may play the quiet and reserved character Emily Fields in the hit drama series Pretty Little Liars (PLL), but off-camera, the talented half-Pinay, half-Canadian stunner is perhaps one of the most accommodating and candid celebrities to visit the country.

Although initially in the country for a planned vacation in Palawan, Shay managed to find some time to meet up with her loyal “Filipino Mitchies” and promote the latest season of her hit TV show, which premieres this January 12, 2013 on ETC.

At a press conference held recently at the Makati Shangri-La, a very bubbly Shay surprised the crowd when she greeted everyone, “Mabuhay! Kamusta kayo?”

She also proudly mentioned a few more Filipino words, such as “Kumusta ka?,” “mabuti,” “salamat po” and “mahal kita.”

One proud Pinay
Even though she was born and raised in Canada and has never visited the Philippines until recently, Shay has always been proud of her Filipino heritage and admires our happy disposition.

“Filipinos are the happiest people in the world—even my friends want to be Filipinos, too,” quipped the 25-year-old actress.

“They love coming for family barbeques, you know the big Filipino ones in the park. They’re like, ‘When’s the next one?’ they want to be Filipino too. One thing, we’re just generally happy people and positive. Those are two good traits to have.”

Shay is also proud of her Filipino skin color and even gave some advice to young Filipinas who are “morena” like her.

“I hope you embrace your Filipino color because it’s a beautiful color. Trust me, many people in the world would want our color—and I still want to get darker when I go to Palawan!” she revealed.

As for her favorite Filipino food, she singled out “turon” as her favorite dessert, and said she loves eating at Jollibee, Goldi-locks and Red Ribbon. She was even so amazed when she saw Jollibee in Makati. “They have a Jollibee!” she told her mom, who jokingly answered, “Yes, tanga, this is where it started!”

Shay is the second actress from the show to visit the country following Lucy Hale who came in February as one of the newest endorsers of local fashion brand Bench. Shay admits that Lucy has only wonderful things to say when the two of them talked about the former’s visit to the Philippines.

She then joked about why Bench didn’t contact her instead; “Yeah, what’s up with that? Really? Come on! I’m the only half [Filipina] on the show!” before bursting out in laugher.

When asked by The Manila Times if there was something she usually lied about, Shay smiled before answering; “Probably where I was all the time . . . when I said I was at one friends house—I really wasn’t. But that was when I was younger, so its okay now.”

As for her New Year’s Resolution, Shay believes you don’t have to wait for a new year to change or start something, but says she plans to be healthier and probably train for a marathon this coming year.

Pretty big hit
Based on the series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard PLL follows the story of friends Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily as they search for answers to the mysterious disappearance and death of their best friend Alison.

As the girls investigate in to what really happened to her and the secrets she left behind, they start receiving cryptic threats from a mysterious tormentor named “A” who knows all their personal secrets.

In all new episodes, we see “A-team” member Mona ready to head back to the halls of Rosewood High having been given a clean bill of health by Radley Sanitarium — much to the Liars’ dismay. With their former tormentor now back in their life, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer each have their own opinion on the “new” Mona. Having made their lives a living hell little under a year ago, is she really cured? And what other secrets could she have up her sleeves? It’s up to Mona to prove to the Liars if she has changed her ways or not.

Season 3 premieres with all new episodes this January 12, Saturday at 8 p.m., Match aired with the US on ETC.