[2] Subverted from her initial intention of becoming a commercial artist or a singer, she began acting with May Hollinworth's Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney after graduation.
Soon, her "distinctively mellifluous voice" led to her being recruited into radio during its so-called "Golden Era" where she became a national favourite on serials such as Dr Paul (in which she played the leading character for ten years), Tudor Princess and Tudor Queen (all three, 1950s Grace Gibson productions,[2] plus Dossier on Dumetrius.
Most memorably, she gave what critics called "the definitive" performance of Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.
Her performances drew admiring reviews from Sydney critics, including Lindsay Brown, Harry Kippax, and Geoffrey Thomas.
In later life Shearing resided at Erina, New South Wales, on the Central Coast, and was active in community arts programmes, volunteer work, and had also branched into directing not long before her death.