Shayla Stensby was born in Orange County, in Southern California. Throughout her childhood, she always gravitated to and felt most at home in the arts. She was enrolled in dance classes for the majority of her adolescence, was a dedicated member of honor choirs and other musical ventures, and has always held a passion for acting. Shayla has been involved in countless theatrical productions onstage and many film projects. She is managed by Richard Harding of Harding Talent Management. Shayla received her Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of California Irvine through the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA. In her time at the university she has taken intermediate undergraduate acting and was granted enrollment into a graduate advanced acting course, acting on camera, scenic design, directing, stage management, and creative writing courses, and has rounded out many of the unique skills that she brings to her craft. 

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Aside from acting and performing, Shayla enjoys surfing, snowboarding, and dirt bike riding with her family and friends, as well as writing music and playing piano in her down time. More personally, Shayla is a CODA, which stands for Child of Deaf Adults, and she looks up to her profoundly deaf father as a role model and inspiration in her life and career. She has been learning American Sign Language and hopes to help bring stories from and about the deaf community to life, and yearns to give back to her dad and his community in any way that she can.