Shelby Rabara

Rabara was born in Orange County, California.^[2] She was raised by her mother in a single-parent household, along with her two siblings.^[3] She graduated with a degree in world arts and cultures from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2003.^[4][3]

Rabara initially began her career as a dancer and was a member of the Laker Girls, the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.^[3][5] In 2005 she won a role at her very first audition, which was for the sitcom Grounded for Life.^[4] She said, in response to autistic fans of Peridot, the character she voices in Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future, that she was "happy that I can voice a character that gives people on the spectrum somebody to identify with."^[6]

Rabara is of Filipino descent.^[7][8]

Rabara began a relationship with actor and dancer Harry Shum Jr. in 2007. The two became engaged in October 2013 while on vacation in Hawaii^[9] and were married on November 22, 2015, in Costa Rica.^[10] The birth of their daughter was announced on March 28, 2019.^[11]