In its obituary for her, The New York Times describes her as "an actress who never quite reached the top in her profession ... [and who] tirelessly devoted herself to appearing perpetually youthful, an act that made her famous".

[3] In 1890, "against the wishes of her parents", Ward made her stage debut as Cupid in Pippino with vaudevillian star Eddie Foy.

Ward resumed her career in 1905 after her husband suffered severe business losses that left him, according to news reports, "practically penniless".

[8] In 1915, around the time Ward's stage career was waning, American movie producer and director Cecil B. DeMille convinced her to perform in The Cheat, a silent film melodrama co-starring Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa.

In it Ward portrays a society woman who embezzles money and turns to an Asian ivory dealer (Hayakawa) for help, with brutal consequences.

In 1909, in an interview with newspaper reporter Marguerite Martyn, Ward stated, "My husband hates my work", and then she questioned why women are treated differently than men professionally:He wouldn't speak to me for six months after I returned to the stage.

But as for my duty, there are men of leisure who have indulgences, who give up half their time to sport or travel or study or research in some favorite art or science, so why shouldn't a woman?