Her performances were noticed by film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who brought her to the United States with the aim of creating a screen personality to rival Greta Garbo.

[Note 1] Sten was discovered by the Russian stage director and instructor Konstantin Stanislavsky, who arranged an audition for her at the Moscow Film Academy.

[citation needed] Sten went on to act in other plays and films in Ukraine and Russia, including Boris Barnet's comedy The Girl with a Hatbox (1927).

[citation needed] Making a smooth transition to talking pictures, Sten appeared in such German films as Salto Mortale (1931) and The Murderer Dimitri Karamazov (1931) until she came to the attention of American movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn.

He poured a great deal of time and money into Nana (1934), Sten's first American film, a diluted version of Émile Zola's 19th-century novel.

Attempting to rectify this situation by studying at The Actors Studio,[4][6] Sten appeared in several television series during the 1950s, including The Red Skelton Show (1956), The Walter Winchell File (1957), and Adventures in Paradise (1959).

She had an uncredited bit in the Frenke-produced Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) and a full lead in The Nun and the Sergeant (1962), her final film (also produced by Frenke).