McCullough grew up in San Francisco, California.[2] At school, she was involved with the theater group, and acted in drama and musicals.[2] She went to college and received a degree in accounting.[2] Then she worked as an electrician for two years, and also as a veterinary technician.[2]
Career
Shanna McCullough chose her stage name Shanna after the heroine from her favorite romance novel, and McCullough because of her Irish ancestry.[3]
After starting to work in porn, she also performed as a dancer in nightclubs.[2] During a break from the business, she also worked as a stripper and went back to school to study zoology, with the aim of working in the animal health care field.[2] In 1999, wired.com reported that Shanna was operating a website called ShannaCam giving members 24-hour access to multiple webcams installed in her home.[4] As of March 2009, the website appears to have ceased operating. In March 2008, she walked the Los Angeles Marathon.[5]Dave Cummings has said Shanna was one of the actresses he most enjoyed working with.[6]
In a 2014 interview with The Rialto Report, McCullough said she picked her stage name as it sounded like her grandmother's last name. She also professed to have had a fairly "normal upbringing" and that she did well in school.[7] In the interview, she clarified how her name "McCullough" is pronounced ("-lough" should be articulated "-low" rather "-off"). She is of English, French, German, Irish, and Swiss descent.[8][7]
