Emily Fields

Emily Fields is one of the main characters in both the book and television series. She is a competitive swimmer and she for some time struggled with her sexuality. In the episode Moments Later, she comes out to her parents. Her father, is very sympathetic. While her mother is very angry and upset. Emily Fields is portrayed by Shay Mitchell.

Television Series
Competitive swimmer Emily befriends Maya St. Germain, her new neighbor who resides in Alison's former home. Maya introduces Emily to marijuana, and the girls grow closer. A message from "A" reveals Emily to be curious about her sexuality, and hints that she had kissed Alison in the past or had been in a relationship with Alison. Emily's mother invites Maya to stay for a while, and she and Emily share a room and a bed. Emily's boyfriend, Ben Coogan, becomes possessive and almost forces her to have sleep with him, but she is saved by Toby. Emily breaks up with her boyfriend and kisses Maya in a photo booth at a party; however, someone steals the photograph and makes copies. Emily goes with Toby to Homecoming, much to the shock of her friends, who believe Toby is dangerous. Emily begins to feel the same way, but Toby brings her to the hospital after she is knocked out trying to flee from him. "A," gives the copies of Emily kissing Maya to Emily's mother. She's devastated but doesn't say anything. Emily tells Toby she just wants to be friends, and likes Maya romantically. Emily starts seriously dating Maya, telling her friends but keeping it a secret from her parents. Emily's secret is revealed in "The Perfect Storm". Toby tells Emily he didn't kill Alison, and asks her to meet him.

Emily, Spencer, and Aria visit Hanna at the hospital. Hanna says Noel (Aria's former crush and flirtation) is "A." Emily tells Toby she wasn't the one who turned him in. She goes to Hanna's surprise "Welcome Back!" party. Emily confesses to her parents that she's a lesbian and is in love with Maya. Her dad isn't happy about it, but accepts it and understands that she's still his daughter. Her mother is completely heartbroken and devastated, and says it's "disgusting". Emily invites Maya over to meet her parents as her girlfriend, and Maya has a great time. Her parents both try to be nice and friendly, but Emily's mother notices Emily and Maya playing footsie and goes into the kitchen and starts crying. After Maya leaves, her mother says she's not okay with her being a lesbian. In the episode "Know Your Frenemies" Emily's mom finds pot in Maya's things and tell her parents. They send Maya to rehabilitation. In "Careful What U Wish 4" the girls are at a dance-a-thon and Emily finds a canteen of liquor in Hanna's jacket pockets and drinks it and then calls Maya to talk to her but is disappointed when it sounds like that Maya is not into her.

In "If At First You Don't Succeed, Lie, Lie Again", Emily has to put up with a new rival on the swim team Paige McCullers, who is trying to become team captain, and makes a comment over her sexuality. When Spencer learns about Paige's comment she informs the coach, which upsets Emily. In "Je Suis Un Ami" Emily and Paige compete for anchor, after Paige's comment the coach chooses Emily as anchor. Upset about losing anchor, Paige tries to drown Emily. Later, Paige come by Emily's house and apologizes for what she has done explaining that she hates herself and is suprised that Emily doesn't hate her, as well. In "The New Normal" Paige's father comes up to the school accusing Emily of getting preferential treatment due to her sexuality but is rebuffed by Ezra Fitz. Emily's mom hears about this and puts Mr. McCullers in his place. When Emily goes to her car Paige gets in to explain that her father's behavior was not because of her and expresses jealousy at how "easy" Emily's life is. After Emily explains just how difficult it is to be her, Paige kisses her, asks her not to tell and runs off. In "A Person of Interest" Emily runs into Paige in the locker room and they discuss what happened. Paige asks Emily to act like it did not happen, which upsets Emily. Later Emily gets a note from Paige to meet her somewhere that night. They talk, and then Paige persuades Emily to come up on stage and sing karaoke with her and then they kiss out in the parking lot. The next day Paige texts Emily to have a picnic. They discuss that there is a concert coming and Paige says that she can not be seen with her there. Then Emily says that should just be friends because Paige wants to keep it a secret. In "Someone to Watch Over Me" Emily sees Paige with Sean and gets jealous. When Sean asks her if she know if Paige is single she says "I don't know her very, all we do is swim on the same team," she confronts Paige and says that it is just a group thing. Later Emily gets a text from Paige and she comes over and tells about her date and says that the whole date felt like it was phony, and says that if she says that she is gay that the whole world will change and Emily agrees. Emily tells Paige why she like girls like her because she encouraged her to get up on stage and sing, something she would not do on her own and they kiss. "Monsters in the End" Paige gets tickets to a concert for her and Emily, but also for a guy for insurance. Emily persuades Paige to meet a member of the pride group from Sheridan prep, but does not show up. Emily and a member of the group talk about Paige and her situation. The next day at the festival, she meets Samara from the pride group at one of the booths she is set up at and Paige sees her and gets jealous. Later Paige asks Emily what she told Samara, after telling her about the situation she was in with her parents. Emily finally tells Paige that she can not be her little secret anymore.

In "Monsters in the End", Emily remembered a snow globe that Alison gave her the day she died. Alison had asked her to keep the globe a secret, suggesting that Alison trusted Emily the most of all of her friends. Upon inspection she found a key to a storage facility hidden inside of the globe. The storage facility contained a thumb drive filled with videos that displayed recodings of all of the girls who spent time on that street, including a video of Jenna pressuring Toby into sex. They assume that Ian was the person making these videos and he killed Alison because she found out about it.

In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Pam Fields tells Emily that they are going to move to Texas to be closer to her father.

Physical Appearance
Emily is tall and thin, with tanned skin and long dark brown hair, she wears mini skirts and cute blouses.

Ben Coogan

 * Started : Before "Pilot"
 * End : "Can You Hear Me Now?"
 * Reason : Ben attempted to rape Emily.

Maya St. Germain

 * Started : "Please Do Talk About Me When I'm Gone"
 * Ended : "Careful What U Wish 4"
 * Reason : Maya was sent to juvenile camp, and when Emily called Maya, Maya blew her off and was very uninterested in her. They presumably broke up even though it was never "official."

Paige McCullers

 * Started : "The New Normal"
 * Ended : "A Person of Interest"
 * Reason : Paige wants to keep their relationship a secret, something Emily refuses to do. Emily wants to remain friends, though.
 * Started : "Someone to Watch Over Me"
 * Reason: Paige comes over to Emily's house, to discuss her date she had with Sean and said it felt wrong and that the world will change if she comes out and then they kiss.
 * Ended: "Monsters in the End"
 * Reason: Emily is sick of keeping their relationship a secret and that its too complicated, Paige wants to keep it a secret and not tell the whole world yet.

Trivia

 * In the book Emily had strawberry blond hair whilst in the series she has black hair.
 * Emily's fashion sense in the series is more fashionable compared to her outfits in the book. Although she still dresses more casually and comfortably than the other three liars.
 * Shay Mitchell, the actress playing Emily, originally auditioned for the character Spencer Hastings.
 * Emily is the most sensitive out of the four girls.
 * This is Shay Mitchell's first starring role in a TV series.
 * Emily tends to show a great deal of compassion and empathy for people who are outcasts or act suspiciously.
 * Since coming out, Emily has the fewest secrets of the main four girls.
 * In the series, Emily and Spencer appear to be very close friends.
 * In the books, Emily is bisexual. She dates a Christian boy named Isaac. He breaks up with her when he believes Emily is making up things about his mom just to cause drama. Later, he asks for her back but she rejects the offer.