Born in May 1891 in Sieradz, Poland. Her parents were merchants. She learned to read and write Yiddish, a little 'davening,' and a little Polish with a cantor's daughter. There she made the acquaintance of the actor Yosef Shayevitsh, with whom she married and went with him on tour. She began as a chorister in the chorus of the Yiddish theatre with Zandberg in Lodz, later on her own going over to small, then to greater roles and followed the actor's path with her husband. Since 1919, when her husband was killed during a civil conflict in Russia, she didn't act for a bit of time, but later she joined a member troupe in Russia. She married the actor Avraham Kurtz, returning to Poland, where she acted with Esther Rukl Kaminska across the province, then in Warsaw in the Kaminski Theatre, in the winter of 1927 with Lidia Potocka, later with other prominent troupes and actors, among them Maurice Schwartz in his offering of Singer's "Yoshe kalb."

Dina's son, the composer Israel, was killed by the Nazis.

About her tragic end, Jonas Turkow writes:

"When the 'actions' began in the Warsaw Ghetto, A. Kurtz with his darling wife Dina Shayevitsh--also a Yiddish actress of merit--was tsugeshribn as a bakery worker with her friend Korman in the bakery on Novolipye Street. The joy did not last long, as there came a 'selection' (a Jewish cleansing directed by the Germans), and dos porl Kurtz aiz nor el pi ns gelungen zikh. From then on they had aribergetrogn in our metal 'shop' on Milne Street.