Shea attended the University of Waterloo (Ontario), studying kinesiology and playing hockey until his athletic career was derailed by an eye injury.

Anatomy, biomechanics, and a deep understanding of the body’s physical capabilities has come in handy for Shea who has been living and working as a stunt performer in Vancouver for nearly 25 years.

After an eye injury curbed his dreams of the National Hockey League, he headed west with vague notions of Hollywood and in need of income.

"I crashed a beer commercial audition and two days later I was in Hawaii blasting around on jets skis in shark infested waters making more money than I ever dreamed possible.

In "Tin Man", a season 1 episode of Stargate SG-1, he appeared as Colonel Jack O'Neill's (Richard Dean Anderson's character) 'clone'.