[3] Wilson began her career in Hollywood in the 1934 film Down to Their Last Yacht as a ship passenger,[4] and then appeared in Babes in Toyland as Mary Quite Contrary.

[5] [6] Wilson appeared in Ladies Crave Excitement (1935),[7] The Girl Friend (1935),[8] Stars Over Broadway (1935),[9] Miss Pacific Fleet (1935),[10] The Big Noise (1936),[11][12] Melody for Two (1937),[13] Boy Meets Girl (1938),[14][15] Sweepstakes Winner (1939),[16] Virginia (1941),[17] She's in the Army (1942),[18][19][20] You Can't Ration Love (1944),[21] Young Widow (1946),[22] and Never Wave at a WAC (1952).

[23] Her career got a boost when she performed at Harold Lloyd's Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals, which led to her being cast in Boy Meets Girl in 1938.

[30] In 1952, she played Jane Sweet in A Girl in Every Port,[31] based on the short story They Sell Sailors Elephants by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan.

In June and July 1950, Wilson portrayed Lady Teazle in a production of The School for Scandal at the Circle Theater in Hollywood.

[39] During February 1958 she starred as Cherie opposite Robert Gist as Bo in a production of Bus Stop at the Sombrero Playhouse in Phoenix, Arizona.

[41] Wilson's left leg was the model for a 35-ft (sometimes referred to as 34-ft), two-ton sculpture outside the Theme Hosiery (later Sanderson Hoisery) plant on Olympic and Barrington in West Los Angeles.