[1] In adulthood, Olga Petrova insisted that she had been born in Warsaw, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, and throughout her life she spoke with an appropriate accent, even in private.

She probably chose the name and persona of Madame Olga Petrova herself, though later publicity suggested that the name was chosen by a producer, to reflect the penchant at the time for elegant Russian stars such as Anna Pavlova.

She made her first notable appearance under that name at the London Pavilion in April 1911, and her success led to her being quickly signed up for the Folies-Bergere cabaret in New York.

She insisted on, and gained, top billing on a show at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, where she was described in Variety in 1912 as "one of the cleverest, classiest, and most attractive of turns".

[2] In 1913, she met local physician John Dillon Stewart in Indianapolis, Indiana, and they married that year in Kansas City.

[2] She also interviewed a number of prominent film stars on paid assignment for Shadowland magazine, Motion Picture Magazine, and Photoplay Journal, including Marion Davies, Mary Pickford, Theda Bara, Alla Nazimova, Norma Talmadge, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and Rudolf Valentino.

[13] She made several visits to Saranac Lake, New York at the height of her fame at the request of theatrical agent William Morris.

In the summer of 1921, she turned the first shovel of earth for a housing project sponsored by the chamber of commerce at a lot on Lake Street donated by Walter Jenkins.