Sharni Vinson

MAKING MOVES

Words By Alana Huehn | August 16 2022

Actor Sharni Vinson’s smile and positivity are infectious. She’s radiant, dynamic, wise, and authentically alive. In line with her daring, adventurous spirit, she knows who she is and what she wants. True to her statement that energy is transferable, I left our conversation feeling motivated to ‘carpe diem’ the sh*t out of everything. We spoke about her life, passions, career, and future.

Jacket and Bralette by ADIBA, Pants by Ivodià London, Jewelry by Coly Los Angeles

Sharni Vinson was always destined to be a performer. Coming from a family of entertainers, she’s been acting, singing, and dancing from the moment she could. Describing herself as an extremely active kid, her family always encouraged her to pursue her dreams. From a young age, she poured herself into sharpening her skills. Stepping things up at age twelve by attending one of Australia’s most prominent performing arts schools Brent Street. Her mother did everything possible to support her, adamant that if this was the path she wanted to take then she must learn from the best in the industry.

“I’ve just been so lucky that like, I had the right tools given to me from a young age and the right support system that encouraged me to actually go after that dream, not trash it,” she says.

Sharni wears Top and Pants by Vegan Tiger

Then at the age of 26, the stars aligned when she was cast as ‘Natalie’, the leading lady in Disney’s dance movie franchise Step Up 3D. “They moved me to New York City and put me on Broadway”, where Vinson says lived her dreams I knew exactly what I wanted to do and that’s probably what’s helped me along the way. filming, dance rehearsing, and living on Broadway. “It was like I knew back then that this was like my calling”, she says of her strong conviction and dedication from a young age. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do and that’s probably what’s helped me along the way”.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do and that’s probably what’s helped me along the way.

Sharni wears Suit by Ocean Rebel, Jewelry by Coly Los Angeles

Over the last eleven years, Vinson’s established a reputation for herself as someonewho fearlessly takes on physically demanding acting roles. The flexibility and strength of her dance background easily synthesized with action roles. Well on her way to becoming a bonafide action star, her career has taken her across the world and pushed her physical abilities. “I’m just super physical like I’m someone that has a lot of energy on a daily basis”, she says, “I feel good when I’m m ov i ng”.

Vinson’s built a repertoire in swords, knives, guns and weapons training, fight choreography, capoeira, parkour, and surfing. She’s worked closely with stuntmen and has experience performing action scenes on wirework, where they “hook you up to a harness and fling you across the room and you’re doing flips in the air”, she says. Her unique skill set has also been adapted or specifically written in for roles such as pro surfer ‘Tara’ in ‘Blue Crush 2’ and survivalist ‘Erin’ in the cult indie horror film ‘You’re Next’. The latter earned her the award of Best Horror Actress at Fantastic Fest 2011.

Lighting up when she talks about the physicality of the acting roles she’s taken on throughout her career, Vinson exclaims, “I do feel like it’s what I was kind of born to do… it’s what I love doing (and) it’s what I would prefer to continue doing”. When it comes to acting roles she sees in her future and the films she enjoys watching the most, she says “ the more action the better…I just love it.” For her, physical roles require more from her beyond crafting a character from a script by pushing boundaries on all aspects of what she’s capable of. It’s no wonder she gravitates to playing a badass.

I’m just super physical like I’m someone that has a lot of energy on a daily basis

Jacket and Bralette by ADIBA, Pants by Ivodià London, Jewelry by Coly Los Angeles

Of her latest role in the Nextflix TV series, ‘The Guardians of Justice’, Vinson says “I’ve probably trained my whole life for a role like this”. Leading the cast as ‘The Flash’, a character based on DC Comics ‘The Speed’ who has super speed powers, she jumped in deep to play the role. “Who doesn’t want to play the fastest woman on earth?”, she says. From the outset, the creator of the series and brain behind Bootleg Universe, Adi Shankar, had her lined up for the role of the idealistic heroine, hell-bent on justice. “He was like, you were just perfectly cast as this character, because like you are this character…you’re fast, everything you do is quick..you’re just like, super speed”, she says. Friends for a decade, Vinson says Shankar was acutely aware of her physical abilities and thus was able to stretch the character beyond what was initially written.

‘The Guardians of Justice’ is a highly creative, dark satire murder mystery, loosely based on the most famous of superheroes of DC Comics and the Justice League. “It’s sort of breaking the mold of superheroes”, says Vinson, except that these superheroes have slightly different names and are “messed up in the head”. The series is a psychedelic, fast-paced experimental assortment of live action against a myriad of animation styles. Also starring Denise Richards, Kellan Lutz, and WWE wrestler Diamond Dallas Page, she describes the series as “groundbreaking in the formula that we’re using with the intertwined, different types of animation, it’s very hectic, it’s kind of like living a day in Adi Shankar’s brain”. The narrative is “very tongue in cheek..there’s a lot of things in it that (is) pushing the boundaries for sure, with a lot of stuff ”.

Vinson also stepped up to the mark for the very first time as co-producer for ‘The Guardians of Justice’. Being involved with the project from the get-go, she called it “such a crazy journey, it’s not been your typical formula of the way that you would create a TV show”. Crafted over more than six years, it started as a passion project envisioned as a ten-part web series. After running into challenges along the way, a pause on the project ultimately blossomed into a seven-episode TV series. Evolving as the right people came on board to give justice to Shankar’s vision.

Sharni wears Denim set MAR by Maria Karimi, Jewelry by Coly Los Angeles

‘The Guardians of Justice’ premiered at the Canneseries Festival in October 2021. Accepted into the short form category as one of ten TV series, Vinson calls it “a dream come true”. Blood, sweat, and a bucket list moment of walking the Cannes Festival stairs magnified further how proud she felt about the finished product. “It was crazy because we filmed everything so sporadically over the course of six years that it was like watching something that I wasn’t involved in, in a way, like I didn’t know, no one knew what was coming next”, she says. “I’m so glad that we persisted”, she says in reflection, because “a lot of the time, the best things that you do are the things that don’t come easy”.

Sharni wears Denim set MAR by Maria Karimi, Jewelry by Coly Los Angeles

What probably has kept me going is the ability to say no, don’t say yes to everything that comes your way

With ‘The Guardians of Justice’ now birthed into the world for all to see, the end of the project brought about shifting tides for Vinson. Likening her life over the last four years to that of a gypsy, she’s ebbed and flowed wherever work pulled her, with her heart often drawn back to her home base of Australia to be close to her family. Especially during the worst times of the Covid-19 pandemic, this quality time with her treasured mother, grandfather, and extended family has been priceless. It connected her back in with her roots and made her question how she really wants to be living her life. In the past, Vinson’s “career has (always) been most important, but at nearly 40, that’s not the case anymore”, she says. This time widened her sometimes too tightly funneled vision and helped her to realize and reshuffle her priorities.

Sharni wears Dress by Vegan Tiger, Boots by SYLVEN New York

Vinson singles out 2020 as “the worst year of probably everyone’s lives, but definitely mine, I had a shocker, it was horrible”. A year that threwall motions into chaos as the world was forced to slow down and learn on its feet how to cope with deep uncertainty.“Everyone in the whole world almost took a backseat and went, reevaluate: what am I doing, what’s important, what do I want to do next?”, she says. In hindsight, she sees those intensely turbulent times as a necessary evil with the grace of reasoning behind it. A time that realigned her compass to “start making better choices, just for living ahappier life”, she says.

Learning through discovering what’s important in life has brought Vinson full circle in returning home to Australia. A place where she’s creating a home alongside her family for the foreseeable future, forgoing her previous lifestyle of going back and forth between Sydney and LA. She first moved to LA twelve years ago after her breakout role as ‘Cassie’ in Australia’s long-running soap series ‘Home & Away’, a TV show that launched a lot of Australians to stardom in Hollywood. Fast forward to now, she says that “the industry has changed so much, you used to have to live in Hollywood to work in Hollywood”. Looking clearly at her next step forward, Vinson is taking steps to rebuild her brand as a “bigger fish in a small pond”, she says. While she takes her career seriously, she’s adamant that it doesn’t define her. “I’ve done it for so long that like, I’m happy to put that as number two or number three down the line now and continue doing it but not with the same weight”, she says. Continuing that “when it comes to family…it’s number one”.

Sharni wears Dress by Ivodià London, Jewelry by Coly Los Angeles

Vinson’s attitude is refreshing in a world where our achievements are social designations we wear labeling who we are. While she’s had many opportunities throughout her years, she shares that she picks and chooses her roles with a finetoothed comb. “What probably has kept me going is the ability to say no, don’t say yes to everything that comes your way”, she says. Saying no to acting roles that aren’t in alignment with her and her perception within the industry has “really helped keep me in my lane of knowing, you know, the career trajectory that I want to take and sort of not differing too far from that”, she says.

Touching on the longevity of her acting career, Vinson says that remaining down to earth and grounded has been a secret to her success. Being in Hollywood to become famous has never been her ball game. “I’m dedicated to the craft first and foremost”, Vinson says. “I genuinely love doing what I do, and seeing characters come to life, and putting as much of myself into these characters as I can”, she says. Vinson is crystal clear on where her energy should go. Her laser-sharp focus, as said in her own words as “eyes on the prize all the time”, is what keeps her booking jobs and showing up day after day as her best. “I’ve got my head screwed on straight, I don’t get carried away with the other things that can kind of like convolute you from the industry”, she says.

“My number one thing is if I don’t enjoy doing it, I don’t do it. If I don’t like it, I’m not doing it”, she says. This goes for everything in her life. Staying flexible, fit, and healthy mentally and physically is a daily practice for Vinson. She consciouslychooses to fill herself from the inside out. A way of life that coexists and compliments what she does for a living. Saying that the true benefit of being in an optimal condition physically is that it “changes your whole mental game”. Whether it’s walking her beloved dog, practicing pilates, or going to bed early so she can wake up and go to set the next day feeling 100%. Vinson says that “people should just try to find what makes them happy and what they really enjoy doing and do more of that”.

I genuinely love doing what I do, and seeing characters come to life, and putting as much of myself into these characters as I can

Sharni wears Top by Luciana Balderrama, Kian wears Jewelry shirt by Coly by Abel Honor, Los Angeles Pants by Buttermilk Oink, Shoes Jean- Baptiste Rautureau

Never one to be afraid of dancing on top of, or stepping outside the box, Vinson envisions her future in full bright lights. “If it’s in the vein of the performing arts like I’ll be pretty happy doing that”, she says. It’s not hard to believe that for someone so positively energetic, whatever she decides to put into action will come her way. “I’ve just always been a dancer, singer, actress, and now that I’ve got my executive producer thinking cap on” she says. Alongside her newfound passion for film editing and thecontinued development of a film she’s been writing for the past seven years, Vinson’s creative juices are overflowing.

Sharni wears Top by Luciana Balderrama, Kian wears Jewelry shirt by Coly by Abel Honor, Los Angeles Pants by Buttermilk Oink, Shoes Jean- Baptiste Rautureau

Focused on putting one foot in front of the other as the best person she can be, Vinson believes that one should “set your goals in concrete, and make your plans in sand”. Cementing the direction of your future means that “if something happens to deter your path then you still know what direction you’re heading in, you can just sort of detour and go (another) way...it’s not such a big deal (because) what you thought the road to get there was is actuallythe road that is going to get you there in the end”.

Sharni wears Trench Coat by Vegan Tiger, Pants by Charles and Ron

PHOTOGRAPHY Glenn Nutley @thecontentcollective

HAIR STYLIST Armando Roméo @HairbyArmi

MAKEE-UP Stevi Christine @naturallyby

FASHION STYLIST Coby Connell @cobyconnell