Sharni Vinson

Sharni Vinson

Sharni Vinson (born July 22, 1983) is an Australian model, actress and dancer best known for the soap opera Home and Away and the film Step Up 3D.

Early life

Vinson was born in Sydney, Australia. She was raised by her single mother; her father lives in Canada. Vinson studied with the Australian Theatre for Young People for four years and enrolled as a student in the Brent Street School of Performing Arts, studying dance when she was twelve. On leaving high school, Vinson continued her studies as a full-time student with the Brent Street School.

Acting

Vinson portrayed the role of Cassie Turner in the Australian soap opera Home and Away from 2004 to 2008. She joined the show permanently in December 2004, having previously appeared twice on the show as a minor character and auditioning for the role of Martha McKenzie but losing out to Jodi Gordon. In 2006 Vinson was nominated for a TV Week Logie Award for Best New Talent for her performance in Home and Away. In April, 2008 Sharni announced she would be leaving the series to pursue a career in America.

She portrayed the role of Lori Mandel, a pregnant woman held hostage in a bank in CSI:NY. Vinson also had a guest role in episode 13 of NCIS, "Broken Bird", which first aired on 13 January 2009. She played the part of an airline hostess named Jeanette. Vinson also played a minor role in Cold Case episode "Metamorphosis" as Mia Romanov who worked at the circus.

She has also appeared in other Australian television shows such as Saturday Disney, The Footy Show, and the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children Telethon. She was also featured on the Australian televisions series Creature Features with her pet dog.

For her first film, Vinson was cast as the female lead in the third installment in the Step Up film series, titled Step Up 3D. Filming took place in late 2009 and the film was released on August 6, 2010. She was then cast as one of the leads of Forehead Crush 2, which was filmed in mid-2010 and is set to star in the action thriller No Man's Land from director Jason Cox.

Music career

Vinson was a member of four piece girl group FoxFire IV who had minor chart success with their single "Roses" reaching the top 50 ARIA singles charts. The follow up single "Romeo" was not released and the group parted ways. "Romeo" was eventually used on Francesca Belperio's album Way Of The World. Sharni has expressed no plans to return to music.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2010	Step Up 3D	Natalie
2011	Blue Crush 2	Tara
2011	No Man's Land	TBA
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004-2008	Home and Away	Cassie Turner	Logie Award nomination
2008	My Boys	Caitlin	1 episode
2008	CSI: NY	Lori Mandel	"Hostage"
2008	Austin Gold Hour	Lilly	Made-for-television
2009	NCIS	Jeanette	"Broken Bird"
2010	Cold Case	Mia Romanov	"Metamorphosis"
2010	Make It Or Break It	Dancer