[citation needed] Ames began her film career in 1927 as a stand-in for Pola Negri.

With the advent of talking pictures, Ames' popularity grew and she was usually cast as society women, or in musicals.

She appeared with the three leading men from the 1931 version of Dracula (Bela Lugosi, David Manners, and Edward Van Sloan) in The Death Kiss (1932).

[5] In December 1941, Ames began a weekly series of movie-review programs on WNBT in New York City.

[12] For her contributions to the film industry, Ames has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1612 Vine Street.