Shayne was born in Kharkov, Russian Empire (now Kharkiv, Ukraine) to the family of Veniamin Olkenitsky-Nikulin, a Jewish actor.

[1] World War I intervened before he could join the Moscow Arts Theatre, and during the conflict he fought with General Wrangel and the White Armies.

[citation needed] Shayne emigrated to the United States in 1928, travelling as a second-class passenger on board the S/S Berengaria, which arrived at the Port of New York on September 14, 1928.

As an actor, Shayne performed in movies such as None but the Lonely Heart (1944)[2][3] and The Stranger (1946), starring (and directed by) Orson Welles.

[4] In his penultimate film appearance Shayne dominates two minutes of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), playing the old bookseller Pop Leibel.