[1] A member of the prominent pioneer Workman-Temple family of Los Angeles, she was the daughter of Joseph Manuel Workman (1833–1901)[2] and Josephine Mary Belt (1851–1937).

On March 22, 1915,[5] Josephine (Belt) Workman married David D. Parten (1857–1929), a law enforcement officer who died after being accidentally hit by a backing car.

After replying in 1909 to a Bison Motion Pictures newspaper ad, which called for "exotic-looking girls" to play "Indian maidens", she soon became famous as "Princess Mona Darkfeather", noted for leaping onto her pinto pony, "Comanche", and galloping away bareback.

[citation needed] Darkfeather was a noted moving picture artist who regularly starred in roles of Indian and Western dramas.

[7] Other films he directed her in include A Forest Romance, For the Peace of Bear Valley and Justice of the Wild, all released in 1913, in which she played opposite Harry von Meter.

Darkfeather was Cecil B. DeMille's first choice to portray the Indian wife, Nat-u-ritch, in his famous western The Squaw Man (1914), but she was too busy, as she and Montgomery were producing their own movies independently for release through the Kalem Company, and she was unavailable to play the role.

In late August 1918, she made a special appearance at the Liberty Theater in Tacoma, Washington, as actress, singer and lecturer.

[9] She and her husband, Frank Montgomery, were living at 1117 3rd Avenue in Seattle, Washington, in September 1918, when he registered with the local draft board for World War I.

The decision gave her a one-ninth interest in 315 acres (1.27 km2) of what was said to be the largest walnut grove in California, at Bassett Station, near El Monte, and she was awarded a cash judgment for $129,163.

On December 23, 1937, she and Frank Montgomery, who was by then a technician of the Hal Roach Studios sound department, and was currently working on Merrily We Live starring Constance Bennett, were remarried in Darkfeather's home at 1420 ½ Mohawk Street, Echo Park.

[18] Mona Darkfeather died at age 94 from a stroke, due to cerebral atherosclerosis, at a convalescent center on South Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles.

[19][20][21] She is interred in section K, lot 116, grave 7, in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, under the name Josephine Workman.