[citation needed] The family moved to California when Juanita was a young girl, and she attended Los Angeles High School, where she dropped out after completing 9th grade.

She took on the name Juanita Hansen, and appeared in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914), a film based on Baum's book, in a minor role as the bell ringer.

Hansen's performance in the Universal productions led to a 1920 deal with Pathé to star with Warner Oland and William Bailey in the 15-episode serial The Phantom Foe.

[citation needed] In 1928, Hansen retired from movies after she was scalded in a bathroom accident in the Hotel Lincoln in New York City.

[5] When she returned to work, behavioral problems caused by her drug addiction disrupted filming and ended her relationship with Pathé.

Hansen and Anna Luther were named as two co-respondents in a divorce suit brought by Evelyn Nesbit against Jack Clifford.

[8][9] She began working in live theatre, appearing as The Lady in Black in the Broadway production The High Hatters (1928).

She was jailed in 1937 on a narcotics charge but was cleared when she testified that tablets that police found in her purse were prescribed to her for medical purposes.

In 1938 she wrote the book The Conspiracy of Silence, arguing that drug addicts should be sent to specialized medical institutions for treatment instead of being sent to prison.

Her body was found by her maid, Pearl Edwards, who told deputy sheriffs the actress was suffering from a heart ailment.