Ryley wrote 27 plays and directed many of them herself, the best known being Mice and Men, Christopher Jr and An American Citizen, some of which were adapted on film in the early 1900s.

She likely met her husband, J. H. Ryley, while touring with Richard D'Oyly Carte's Comedy Opera Company while performing in Congenial Souls in 1878.

It came as a shock to the friends and neighbors of the couple when it was revealed that they were not legally married until 1890, after J. H. Ryley obtained a divorce from his first wife, English character actress Marie Barnam.

[2] Ryley first appeared onstage at the age of fourteen in London, playing Queen of the Fairies in an annual Christmas pantomime.

[3] Her American debut was in Princess Toto by W. S. Gilbert and Frederic Clay in Boston, and her first New York performance was in 1881 either in Solomon and Stephens's Billee Taylor with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, as Susan,[3] or in Reward of Virtue.

[4] Ryley stated: "Colonel McCaul, finding I was quick at writing songs and fixing up scenes, employed me at what is termed 'hack work,' on the understanding that my name was never to appear.

Americans found Christopher Jr. to be a riotous comedy, but Londoners, when the play was performed as Jedbury Junior, read it as a domestic drama.

[7] In 1902, Ryley was writing and directing new works while productions of her plays Mice and Men and Jedbury Junior were receiving tours and revivals, respectively.

"[3] Although semi-retired, Ryley still performed occasionally, including in a 1904 benefit matinee at London's Garrick Theatre, where she played Ophelia in W. S. Gilbert's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

[8] When asked why women should have the right to vote, Ryley replied, "[L]ooking at it from the standpoint of common sense, I think it necessary for the progress of humanity – necessary as the means to an end.