Shantel Yvonne VanSanten was born in Luverne, Minnesota. She is of Dutch and Norwegian descent. VanSanten was raised in Dallas, Texas where she attended Incarnate Word Academy (an all-girls college prep school) in Houston and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. VanSanten also started her career as a model at the age of fifteen for the Page Parkes Management.
VanSanten first appeared as a finalist on NBC's reality television series Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Model Search but was eliminated in the series's first episode.

In 2007, it was announced she had signed on in a film adaption of the novel t.A.T.u. Come Back. Filming took place throughout 2007 in Los Angeles and Moscow. Starring alongside Mischa Barton, the film premiered in Russia on January 25, 2011, and in the U.S. a year later.

In 2009, VanSanten appeared as Lori Milligan in The Final Destination, the fourth installment in the Final Destination film series. Released on August 28, 2009, the film debuted at #1 earning $28.3 million in its first weekend. The film was released to negative reviews, but earned international gross of $183.2 million. It is Shantel's highest grossing film to date. Also in 2009, she made a guest appearance in the television series CSI: NY in the episode "She's Not There" as Tara Habis.

In 2009 Shantel was cast as a series regular on The CW television drama series One Tree Hill in the series seventh season. She portrays the role of photographer Quinn James and the on screen sibling to Bethany Joy Lenz's character. Shantel's role on the series has continued till the series ninth and final season. Shantel's final appearance was in the series 187th and final episode One Tree Hill which premiered on April 4th 2012. BuddyTV ranked her #24 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Women of 2010" list and #21 in 2011.

VanSanten stars as Christine in Something Wicked. The film is the last to feature the late actress Brittany Murphy, who portrays VanSanten's sister-in-law Susan.Shantel appeared as the female lead in Fragile Bird music video by Canadian Alternative band City and Colour. In the spring of 2012, Shantel began shooting the movie "Home for Christmas" opposite Rob Mayes, Mark Famiglietti, Nikki DeLoach and Orson Bean in a family, romantic, holiday comedy directed by Michael Feifer.

A new woman has captured Barry Allen’s heart — and brought even more comedy to the sophomore season of The Flash.

Related 

Last week, Shantel VanSanten made her debut as the quirky police officer Patty Spivot, who instantly bonded with Barry (Grant Gustin) and secured a spot on Joe’s (Jesse L. Martin) anti-metahuman task force, which may help her finally get justice for the death of her father. What’s next for The Flash’s newcomer? EW caught up with VanSanten to get the scoop on Patty’s future and an interesting departure from her comic book counterpart:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What’s your take on Patty Spivot?

SHANTEL VANSANTEN: My initial take is a lot different than what she’s evolved into over the last few episodes. Initially, she was this smart, bright, ambitious and spunky cop, who worked for CCPD. She was so confident and so sure after becoming a cop that she wanted to be on the anti-metahuman task force. To find out that her purpose is rooted in this dark place in her past was really interesting for me. Moving forward, it evolves from there in such a fun, great way where now I get to be on the anti-metahuman task force and fight metahumans. Patty’s hoping to come face-to-face with Mark Mardon (Liam McIntyre) eventually, and be able to avenge her father’s death. In the meantime, she’ll take down some other metahumans, and try to do the right thing as a foot cop. She has the same ambitions — if she had powers, I couldn’t imagine what she would do — as The Flash does. She wants to help save as much as she can of the world.

Patty is fairly new to the comics. Did you read up on her?
 
I did. Actually, when I got the job, it was right before my birthday. For my birthday, I received from my family a whole bunch of The Flash comics. I’m a big comic book fan, but I actually have not read any of the recent ones of The Flash. I did read some of them. It’s interesting because in the actual comics, Iris (Candice Patton) and Patty butt heads a little, because Iris oversteps boundaries. I would say they don’t play into any of that. That’s not anything that’s interesting to watch, in my mind, like catty, girly stuff. It’s funny where it all picks up. I’m interested to see what parts they take from the comic books.

Then what can you say about Patty’s relationship with Iris?
 
Right now it looks like a lot of work relationship stuff with her. Her main relationships are with Barry and Joe. Developing those relationships has been really important over the episodes. For her to have a developing work relationship, it’s hard because everybody has secrets. Joe has secrets, Barry has secrets and Patty has hers. Everybody has a little bit of a wall up. It’s interesting to watch and see things develop.

What secrets does Patty have? Or do you just mean about her father being killed by the Weather Wizard?
 
I think every character on this show has secrets. The main secret really is that Mark Mardon had killed her father. That’s not something she’s shared with anybody else other than Joe. Really, if you watch, everybody has things that they don’t tell, especially once you get into relationships.

What can you tease of Patty’s relationship with Barry moving forward?
 
With Barry, it’s this really fun, lighthearted, great dating relationship. We get to see their first date, which is a very unconventional first date. There’s so much comedy. In my mind, it feels very Patty and Barry. The way that they’ve written things is like they are kindred spirits. They both get the jokes that each other tells, no matter how nerdy or scientific. I’ve had to learn a lot of science words, which has been a lot of fun. In the meantime, I’m holding a gun half the time when I’m working with Joe. I get to play a really fun, strong, smart woman, and that part is everything that every actress looks for.

Image Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW 

Might Patty learn the truth about Barry’s alter ego?
 
I actually don’t know. I haven’t asked ahead of time. Personally, I’m sure that secret will eventually have to come out. Secrets can only stay secret for so long, especially if they’re dating. I’m interested to see how Patty will react to that. The anti-metahuman task force works alongside of The Flash on a lot of things, but she doesn’t know that’s who she’s dating.

Does dating Barry put Patty in more danger?
 
I would say it does. [Laughs] The closer we get, the more danger that Patty could be in. The closest things to The Flash are the things that are most at risk, as we’ve see in the past.

She’s basically the only person on the task force at the moment. What does her working relationship with Joe like like?
 
They have an interesting work relationship because they’re so different. Joe’s a very tough guy, and very regimented and work-oriented. Patty’s very spunky, quirky and tells a lot of jokes. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t take her job seriously, she just approaches it differently. She also has a scientific mind. So her and Barry can connect on that. It’s developed nicely, but also in a natural way. The minute you throw two partners together, it doesn’t always work perfectly, but the evolution of it has been very fun. They’re slowly starting to open up to each other and realize they need each other.

Have you had a chance to play Earth-Two Patty Spivot yet?
 
I have not. That would be awesome. It would be like having a twin in another dimension. They’ve talked about it and said in another Earth Barry could be a mechanic or something like that. It’s always interesting to see what they can do. They were smart to open up the possibilities of Earth-Two, because it does give you a lot more to play with. As an actor, you always want to play with characters, and get to play a totally different side to somebody.

What surprised you most about this role?
 
I think it was the strength that I found in her. At first I found the quirkiness and I understood it. I understood the nerdy moments, and that maybe nobody else gets her but Barry. But I found a surprising amount of strength, like in the scene where she’s tied up and she gives that whole speech, it was really profound and was everything that she stood for. There’s a choice that you could’ve made when you got your powers between good and bad. A lot of people in The Flash story choose bad. They could’ve chosen good. Also, when she says she doesn’t have powers. She knows she wasn’t given a gift, but she still wants to do as much as she can. Those moments come across as a lot of strength in Patty. At first I couldn’t get over how quirky and awkward she was with some of the things she says, but it’s been fun finding a balance between the two.