Sharni Vinson was born in New South Wales, Australia, and grew up in Sydney's southern beach suburb of Cronulla. She began singing, dancing, and acting at a young age, becoming the third generation of performers in her family. Her mother was a performer in musical theater, and her grandmother was Australia's youngest ballerina in 1945 to be offered a scholarship in the Borovansky Ballet Company in England.
Vinson enrolled as a student in the Brent Street School of Performing Arts in Sydney, where she trained in all facets of dance over the next 10 years. At the age of 17, she was signed to Roadshow Music Australia as a member of the all-girl pop group, "Foxfire IV", whose debut single 'Roses' reached the top 50 on Australia's ARIA charts.
Vinson is still best known amongst Australian audiences for her role as 'Cassie Turner' in the long-running television series, "Home and Away" after she joined the show permanently in 2004. Her performance earned her a nomination for 'Most Popular New Talent' at the TV Week Logie Awards in 2006.
In 2008, Vinson announced she would be leaving the #1 Australian drama series to pursue a career in America, where she was immediately embraced by the entertainment industry. She booked continuous guest roles on CSI:NY, NCIS, My Boys, Cold Case, and CW pilot 'Austin Golden Hour'. She also secured herself the lead role in the pilot presentation, 'The Depths', produced by Gregory Bonann (creator/producer 'Baywatch').
In March 2009, Vinson booked the coveted lead role of 'Natalie' in Disney's "Step Up 3D"- the third installment of the 'Step Up' dance film franchise. The physically demanding role required a brutal 5-month 'boot camp', which included lengthy days of weight lifting, dance rehearsals, dialect coaching, capoeira classes, and parkour training.
In 2011, Vinson portrayed pro-surfer 'Tara' in 'Blue Crush 2, Wild Coast' - a role which was specifically written in to add Vinson to the film. The film required all of its actors to partake in a vigorous surf camp, where her ocean-savvy skills were put on display in the middle of shark-infested waters in Durban, South Africa.
By the end of 2010, Vinson headed back to her home country where she joined the Australian/Singaporean co-produced shark thriller 'BAIT 3D', written by Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil- Extinction). The film literally took a bite out of the Chinese box office after it opened #1 in October 2012, grossing over $25M in its first 3 weeks in theaters.
In March 2011, Vinson auditioned for the low-budget, indie horror film, titled "YOU'RE NEXT", which for months had been unable to cast its lead female actress. It was during her audition that director Adam Wingard (Godzilla v Kong) became convinced he had finally found his lead girl. She earned her the title of America's new 'cream queen' and received critical acclaim for her role as Erin.
In November 2012, Vinson led the way in the remake of an Australian cult classic, 'PATRICK', originally released in 1978. She was asked to play the lead role of 'Nurse Kathy' opposite Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Alien) and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Brothers and Sisters).
In June 2014, Vinson was asked to join Jackie Chan in his latest action adventure epic, "Dragon Blade", opposite John Cusack (Being John Malkovich) and Adrien Brody (The Pianist). As one of the most costly Chinese films of all time, it released in February 2015 breaking all records at the box office in China.
In October 2014, Vinson teamed up with NYFA film student Shantal Freedman to play small-town cop 'Jackie' in her final graduation project at the New York Film Academy. The short film titled "TICKETED" went on to become an official selection for the 2015 Short Film Corner at Cannes International Film Festival, the LA Shorts Fest, and won Best Student Film at the LA Cinema Festival of Hollywood.
In May 2015, Adi Shankar (The Grey, Castlevania) approached Vinson about playing the lead female character in his highly anticipated new series titled, 'The Guardians of Justice'. In the half-animated, half-live-action superhero saga, Vinson portrays the fastest woman on Earth, 'The Speed', opposite Jane Seymore, Denise Richards, and WWE wrestler Diamond Dallas Page.
Constantly taking on physically demanding roles and always up for a challenge, Vinson most recently agreed to participate in the 8th season of Australian SURVIVOR, 'Heroes verses Villains
