In August 1887 she made her stage début as Bertha in the play Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua in her home town.

She would work continually throughout the 1910s and appear in a variety of roles for such directors as Urban Gad and Frederic Zelnik and opposite such popular actors of the era as Emil Jannings, Alfred Abel and Lya Mara.

Murnau-directed eerie drama Phantom opposite Alfred Abel, Grete Berger, Aud Egede-Nissen, Lya De Putti and Lil Dagover.

[2] Some of her most enduring roles of the early talkie era were the 1931 Gerhard Lamprecht-directed adventure Emil und die Detektive and the musical Der Kongreß tanzt (English: The Congress Dances), also released in 1931 and starring Lilian Harvey, Conrad Veidt, and Lil Dagover.

The film starred Hungarian actors Vilma Bánky and Victor Varconi and was a remake of Der Rebell, also featuring Engl and released earlier the same year and also directed by Trenker.