She is best known for her role as Eric Draven's murdered fiancée, Shelly, in The Crow starring opposite Brandon Lee.
She briefly attended the University of Toronto, but dropped out before finishing her first semester in order to pursue creating music in New York City.
Shinas made her film debut in the 1994 action thriller The Crow, starring Brandon Lee.
[6] Shinas then landed a role opposite Charlie Sheen and Nastassja Kinski in Terminal Velocity.
In 2008, Shinas graduated from the USC School of Cinema-Television in Los Angeles, California where she directed a film titled Spring Eternal as a thesis project.