She moved to Budapest, where Esterházy took acting lessons from Ilka Pálmay and worked for Városi Színház, the local theater.

Esterházy made her film debut in Palika (1918), followed by Lila test, sárga sapka (1918), and A szerelem mindent legyöz (1921).In 1923, after receiving an offer from Sascha-Film, she left to Vienna, where she starred in Young Medardus (1923).

She was married to the actor Fritz Schulz In Berlin, she acted in Nanon (1924) with Harry Liedtke and Hanni Weisse, and Two People (1924) opposite Olaf Fjord.

Under the direction of Karl Grune, she acted in the historical drama Spy of Madame Pompadour (1928) with Liane Haid.

Shortly after the Anschluss, Esterházy's husband Fritz Schulz was arrested for "racial reasons" and presumably detained in the Rossauer Lände police prison in Vienna.