Shinhye was born on February 18, 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States with the English name Shayna and the oldest of five children. In 1996, Shinhye started her acting career at the age of 6. She became a semi-well known child actress and model in her hometown. When she was 8 years old, her parents sent her to live with her aunt and uncle to accept an offer to join a Korean agency, Mint Entertainment. There she became a child star and a teen star. When Shinhye was 15, she started to take on a more serious modeling career. She eventually grew interested in singing after having been in a few musicals and was set to debut in a girl group but before they could debut, the girls along with some trainees started to spread rumors about her and started false scandals. When she tried to confront her CEO about it, she found out that one of the girls was actually his daughter. Two months before they were supposed to debut, Shinhye was pulled from the lineup and the CEO's daughter was put in and made the leader. After that, Shinhye had decided she had enough of the entertainment world and went on an indefinite hiatus while she went back to school. She decided to get a teaching degree in acting and literature. To her the two went hand in hand since she felt that in order to act correctly you needed to know the history of acting and there was no better way than through the writings of playwrights across history. She started acting again when she was 23 but only accepted small roles that don't take a lot of commitment.

With all of this, of course Shinhye isn't exactly the same she used to be. Being famous ever since she was a child, she's used to being in the spotlight so many things no longer surprise her. Due to her past, both with her company and love, she doesn't trust others easily. The only people she really cares about are her family, herself and her job. However, she hopes to one day find the one that can get past her wall around her heart and she'll love them unconditionally. Besides that, she's actually very playful, loves to play the guitar and dance. She absolutely loves musicals, little kids and tends to be a bit sarcastic and blunt. She can also be a bit motherly, as can be seen in the way she cares for her younger siblings. She takes her job seriously and expects her students to take it seriously as well. However, she's known to be very laid back when not in the classroom.