Leiko conquered the German big screen first, starring in The Diamond Foundation (1917), Kain (1918), Ewiger Strom (1919), Die Frau im Käfig (1919) and Lola Montez (1919) as the dancer.

[1] When the silent movie era ended Leiko retired from film acting.

In 1935 she visited the Soviet Union and stayed to join the company of the Latvian State Theatre in Moscow.

On 3 February 1938 at the age of 50 she was shot and buried in a mass grave at the secret NKVD killing field at Butovo, near Moscow.

[1] A memorial sign, Last Address of Maria Karlovna Leiko, was put up on the wall of house 9, building 3 at Obolensky lane in Moscow on May 14, 2017.