blake lively image: Sharni Vinson

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Sharni Vinson

Sharni Vinson (born July 22, 1983) is an Australian model, actress and dancer known for her work in the soap opera Home and Away and the film Step Up 3D.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. Vinson played 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 Vinson announced she would be leaving the series to pursue a career in the United States. 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 Jeannette. 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 Blue Crush 2, which was filmed in mid-2010 and the action thriller No Man's Land directed by Jason Cox.