Born Fredricka Berneice Hawkes, a native of Montana, Ridgeway worked as both a vaudeville performer and a professional trick rider before making her film debut in 1916.

Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels, historian Paul Young noted Ridgeway as an "iconoclastic silent film star.

"[4] Ridgeway was born Fredricka Berneice Hawkes on April 8, 1898 in Missoula, Montana,[5][6][7] later moving with her family to Butte, where she attended primary school.

[11] She appeared as Evelyn Hastings in the 1917 picture The Learnin' of Jim Benton opposite Roy Stewart, and was noted in a review for her "delightful" performance in the film.

[12] In 1919, Ridgeway appeared in Victor Schertzinger's comedy When Doctors Disagree, followed by a supporting part in Tod Browning's drama The Unpainted Woman (1919) for Universal Pictures.

[16] Ridgeway made her final screen appearance in a minor uncredited role in We Live Again (1934),[17] an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Resurrection, before retiring from acting.