Cameron's first acting experience was in The Midnight Marriage with Cora Urquhart Brown-Potter at the Madison Square Theatre on Broadway.

She was a spectator at a rehearsal when a member of the cast in a minor role fell ill. She volunteered to take over the part, learning both lines and dance steps by the following evening.

In 1887 she took the part of Agnes Carew in the Broadway production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a role that she would reprise in London and many other cities.

Upon returning to the United States, she became the first actress to portray Nora in A Doll's House on Broadway, when Henrik Ibsen's controversial play opened at Palmer's Theatre in December 1889.

She did appear once post-retirement, in a final performance as Raina in George Bernard Shaw's play Arms and the Man, at the Garden Theatre on January 8, 1900.

While traveling to a show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in February 1895, Cameron and a maid were injured when an out of control passenger coach crashed into their private rail car.