Bennett attended Lionel Logue's acting and elocution classes in Perth, and after receiving encouragement from a visiting actress in 1910, she joined a touring company.

Film historians Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper describe it as "a crude production doggedly faithful to the stage.

"[8] Both films were released in Australia after Bennett left for the United States in June 1915, travelling with Niblo and Cohan.

Her first appearance in the U.S. was in Henry Arthur Jones' play Cock o' the Walk at George M. Cohan's Theatre on Broadway in late 1915.

In 1922, she starred in three films, one of which became her most famous role, the female lead of Maid Marian in Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks.

She made a transition to sound, appearing in two 1931 Jackie Cooper-Robert Coogan films: Skippy (which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture) and its sequel Sooky.

Later at the end of the decade she appeared in a few minor roles, the last being the Marx Brothers 1941 film The Big Store.

Niblo and Bennett commissioned architect Wallace Neff to design their house on Angelo Drive, which they named Misty Mountain.