Meet Young Sensation Shaylee Mansfield: Unapologetically A Deaf Actress

Shaylee Mansfield is an American actress and a former YouTuber. She is making history as one of the youngest deaf actresses.

She describes herself as a perfectly imperfect, forever deaf girl. Mansfield came to the limelight after videos went viral in which she was seen telling Christmas stories in American Sign Language.

Similarly, she made her acting debut in 2019 as Michelle, a homeless, deaf girl, in the Disney+ film Noelle. What other movies and television shows has she appeared in?

How old is the actress? Are her parents also deaf? Does she have a sibling? Grab all the details on her personal and professional life here.

What Is Her Age? Meet Her Family

Shaylee Mansfield was born in 2009 in Burbank, California. As of now, she is 13 years old.

She was born deaf to deaf parents Sheena McFeely and Manny Johnson. Her parents run ASL Nook, a website and YouTube channel that teach American Sign Language.

In Women's History Month in 2022, Shaylee talked about her ancestry, her parents, and how she could possibly get vitiligo as her father is diabetic.

She wrote:

My mom, grandma, and puppy are all immigrants... Their family is Irish, British, Asian, Portuguese, and many more. My dad and Grammy discovered several years ago that they’re of Jewish ancestry.

The actress continued:

My dad also has vitiligo, which I could possibly get one day. My deaf arrived.f parents didn’t think they woudeafave a Deaf baby until me… There was and is no other way for me to have been created. I’m wholly and uniquely beautiful. They are not defects at all. They are not something to be fixed. I am unapologetically me.

Shaylee has a younger sister, Ivy, who can hear.

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Daughter Of Sheena McFeely And Manny Johnson 

Shaylee Mansfield is the eldest daughter of Sheena McFeely and Manny Johnson. Her mother is a Hong Kong immigrant and a former actress.

She was born to an Irish father and part Asian mother. After attending a regular school until she was ten, her parents then enrolled her in a dynamic program with sign language. 

She earned a Bachelor of Arts with a Special Major in Journalism, Communications, and Deaf Studies from California State University, Northridge, in 2008.

In 2014, Sheena joined Gallaudet University for her Master's degree in sign language education. She graduated in 2015.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she always wanted to be an actress, but Hollywood was not ready to give better opportunities to someone like her.

She actually majored in Cinema and Television Arts at CSUN, but the professors did not believe a deaf person could be a successful student, so she changed her major to Communication Studies instead.

Sheena then half-heartedly let go of her dream to be an actress and went on with her life.

She met Manny Johnson. He was born in Georgia and was raised in Texas, He was fascinated with entrepreneurship since childhood which later ignited his passion for supporting deaf businesses everywhere. 

As of now, he worked as a financial coach, and board advisor, and is also working for his parents’ business. 

The two fell in love and eventually got married. Then their little Anzel, Shaylee Mansfield, arrived in their lives and changed them forever.

Just like her mother, Shaylee was also obsessed with acting and the camera. Her daughter's obsession with acting and the rise of social media helped Shaylee and her husband establish their own social media empire.

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Career Highlights

The couple created the ASL Nook web series, inspiring millions of people to learn sign language.

The Mansfield family has garnered millions of fans and has been featured on The Nate Berkus Talk Show, A&E's Deaf Out Loud documentary, and Disney's most viral commercials.

Sheena Mansfield worked on The M Projects in 2008 as an event coordinator, and in 2010, she worked as the Pearls event producer and director.

Later, she joined the University of Texas as a professor in 2014 and worked there till 2016.

In 2013, she established her own company, Sheena McFeely, LLC. Via her company, she works as a motivational speaker and has spoken at "schools, colleges, events, and organizations, touching on topics such as authentic representation in media, inclusion, and her life as an immigrant Deaf girl raised in an all-hearing family."

She is also a producer and creator and has consulted on "projects with Disney, Estée Lauder, A&E, Penguin Random House, Kickstarter, and award-winning production companies."

Sheena has produced, directed, and written over fifty episodes of ASL Nook. Similarly, she has directed and filmed Kickstarter's viral PSA, "10 Deaf Children, 1 Powerful Message."

Likewise, she has documented the Pearls Awards event, which was released on YouTube.

Sheena's work has been featured in Austin Woman Magazine, The Huffington Post, Upworthy, Mental Floss, and Ability Magazine.

Furthermore, the mother of two received SXSW Community Service Awards in 2019 for her outstanding contribution to the authentic representation of Deaf people. 

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Shaylee Mansfield’s Career Highlights: Unapologetically A Deaf Girl

As mentioned earlier, Shaylee Mansfield was obsessed with acting and the camera. As per IMDb, she was attached to the camera and began filming herself everywhere she went and at every chance she got.

Then, she and her family began making videos for their YouTube channel, ASL Nook, a website and YouTube channel that teaches American Sign Language.

She appeared on the channel from 2013 until 2019. She began signing Christmas stories on the channel at age four with "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

As per her mother, Shaylee has always had a deep love of books and storytelling.

In an interview, she said:

"From day one, Shaylee has been and will always be a bookworm. "In fact, when she cried as a baby, a book would magically wipe her tears away."

At five, she performed How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The video went viral, and they received lots of praise and appreciation. She performed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 2015 and The Polar Express in 2016.

The Mansfield family also appeared in the Disney commercial, where they met an actor dressed as Minnie Mouse who had recently begun learning sign language

The advertisement was a huge success, becoming one of Disney's most-watched videos.

The family also appeared in the documentary film Born This Way Presents: Deaf Out Loud, which aired on A&E on September 12, 2018.

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Movies And TV Shows

Shaylee Mansfield made her television debut in 2019 in the comedy series This Close, starring deaf creators Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman.

She appeared as Margaret in an episode titled "Frog of Truth." The same year, she made her movie debut in Noelle.

Mansfield played the role of Michelle, a homeless, deaf girl, in the Disney+ film. Though the movie failed to impress the audience, she definitely impressed them.

In 2020, she appeared in another television series, Bunk'd created by Pamela Eells O'Connell, that premiered on Disney Channel.

She appeared as Willow in an episode titled My Fairy Lady. The same year, she played the role of Zuzu in the Netflix movie Feel the Beat. With the movie, she became one of the youngest deaf actresses to play a lead role.

Likewise, in 2021, she appeared as Peyton, the deaf daughter of Kim (Amy Smart) and Brad (Peter Facinelli), in 13 Minutes.

13 Minutes is the story of "four families in a heartland town who are tested in a single day when a tornado hits, forcing paths to cross and redefining the meaning of survival."

Similarly, she worked on the animated movie Madagascar: A Little Wild, becoming the first deaf person to be credited as a voice-over actress for a signing role with Dreamworks.

She said in an interview, "To be credited is a huge deal... "Voice" is not only for people who "speak" with their mouths." "My hands and language are very much my voice."

Net Worth And Advocacy

The young actress Shaylee Mansfield is in the initial phase of her career and has a long way to go.

Having said that, she has already established herself as a professional actress and a social media influencer.

As of January 2023, her estimated net worth is between $500k and $800k.

Mansfield is also a good advocate. During her YouTube career, she aimed to encourage families and children to learn ASL,

Her lifelong dream is to demonstrate authenticity to the deaf community and raise awareness about ASL.

In April 2020, during the lockdown, the 13-year-old was "criticizing Instagram for a lack of captioning; in it, she said she and over 400 million other deaf or hard-of-hearing people are unable to understand videos with sound."

She tweeted the video, which was watched, retweeted, and liked millions of times. She was seen asking Instagram's chief executive officer, Adam Mosseri, to add automatic captioning to the network.

In May 2021, Instagram released a sticker that automatically transcribes speech in Instagram Stories.

Mansfield Family

The Mansfield family is an inspiration to many for their work and enthusiasm. They are very active on social media, which they use to spread the word about a variety of issues as well as their wholesome family values.

According to their website, ASL Nook,

Shaylee, the oldest sister and daughter, is sassy, strong, and smart. Even after a full day of school, you’ll never catch her staying still. She is either pretending to teach a class, writing and performing songs, pulling up a laptop to google all kinds of information to understand the world a bit better, or being a hilarious, sometimes crazy stand-up comedian.

Likewise, 

Ivy, the baby of the family, is cuddly, a fly on the wall, and a TV fanatic. Heck, Ivy can give quite the mean stare when she is unhappy. Do not let her tiny stature deceive you, as she is one brave climber, a whale of a swimmer, and an expert at finding hiding spots! Ivy loves building with Legos, logs, and wooden blocks; creating her own abstract art; and making her own bracelets!

Also, 

Manny is a feminist dad to two crazy, adventurous girls. Sometimes Sheena feels like Manny is the third kid. He is also a joker, a sweet potato lover, and a chameleon who blends in with all kinds of people.