[3] Dresser worked as a burlesque dancer and a singer at the Boston dime museum and then made her vaudeville debut in 1900.

She formed a team named "Louise Dresser and Her Picks", a singing act that was backed by a chorus of African-American children.

In 1906, she began to play New York vaudeville stages, and that year, she was in the musical About Town with Lew Fields, which was a hit.

[citation needed] Dresser made her film debut in The Glory of Clementina (1922), and her first starring role was in The City That Never Sleeps (1924).

In 1925, she starred in The Eagle, opposite Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Bánky as Catherine the Great, and played the title role in The Goose Woman, alongside Jack Pickford.

[citation needed] After retiring in 1937, Dresser worked as a volunteer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.