She made her first professional performance at an Oakland theater in a production of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.

"[2] Allen's early professional experience included acting in stock theater in Oakland and directing and performing in the Fairmont's Rainbow Lane revue.

[4] She would subsequently sign a contract with Universal Studios,[5] and later appeared in several films released by this corporation, including The Marriage Chance (1922),[6] and A Self-Made Failure (1924).

Her final credited screen appearance occurred in 1926, as Thora Barton in the cast of The Set-Up.

On November 25, 1920, Allen married actor, screenwriter, and director Hampton Del Ruth[1] (the couple later divorced).