She worked with the Comédie-Française, under the name Henriette Risner, her stepfather's surname, and on one of her tours she met her future husband, George Morineau, in Belgium.

Having returned to France, she was then invited by the French actor and director, Louis Jouvet, to take part in a tour of South America with his theatre company.

Travelling with her daughter, she stayed in Brazil at the end of the tour and started to work with the company of the actress and director, Bibi Ferreira, performing in Portuguese for the first time.

In 1948, she gave the first performance at the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia in São Paulo, with The Human Voice, a monologue by Jean Cocteau.

In 1963 she was sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil on a cultural mission to Portugal, spending eight years there directing, acting and teaching at the National Conservatory.