Ashbrooke was born to British parents in India or the East Indies,[1] or in England,[2] and educated in Dublin.

[3] She acted on the New York stage and toured in plays in North America, with credits in The Twelve Temptations (1889),[5] The Ice King (1890),[6] McKenna's Flirtation (1892),[7][8] Dolly Varden (1893),[9] Blue Grass (1894),[10] When London Sleeps (1896),[10] An Irish Gentleman (1897),[10] A Young Wife (1900),[11][12] Why Women Sin (1903),[13] Her Mad Marriage (1904),[14] and At the Old Cross Roads (1908).

[15] The Omaha Bee described Ashbrooke in 1890, as "a much stronger woman than you usually see in farces" with a "handsome figure, a well modulated voice, and an art which shows a most excellent school.

"[16] Ashbrooke appeared in dozens of silent films between 1911 and 1923, including an adaptation of Vanity Fair (1911), The First Woman Jury in America (1912), The Cross Roads (1912), The Forgotten Latchkey (1913), The Ragged Princess (1916), On Dangerous Ground (1917), The Scarlet Letter (1917),[17][18] The Lone Wolf (1917),[19] Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp (1917), Blue-Eyed Mary (1918),[17] Swat the Spy (1918),[17] The Woman on the Index (1919), An Amateur Widow (1919),[20] A Stage Romance (1922), and Big Brother (1923).

[22] Ashbrooke described herself as a widow when she married actor and circus clown Tote Du Crow in 1889;[2][23] they separated in 1904, and divorced in 1909.