She began her career on the stage at age 6, and later moved on to silent films appearing in a number of popular serials.

Often cast as a plucky onscreen heroine, White's roles directly contrasted those of the popularized archetypal ingénue.

Against the wishes of her father, White dropped out of school, and in 1907,[3] she went on the road with the Trousedale Stock Company, working evening shows while keeping her day job to help support her family.

She claimed she had performed in Cuba for a time under the name Miss Mazee, singing American songs in a dance hall.

She made her debut in films that year, starring in a series of one-reel dramas and comedies for Pat Powers in the Bronx.

[3] In 1910, White was offered a role by Pathé Frères in The Girl from Arizona, the French company's first American film produced at their studio in Bound Brook, New Jersey.

[7] Pathé director Louis J. Gasnier offered her the starring role in film serial The Perils of Pauline, based on a story by playwright Charles W. Goddard.

The film features the central character Pauline in a story involving considerable action, for which the athletic Pearl White proved ideally suited.

[3] At the Pathé movie studio, she met Blanche Rubenstein (later married Claude Auzello) and both travelled to France where White hoped to reboot her acting career.

Silent films could be made in any country, and as White was a recognizable star worldwide, she was offered many roles in France.

[22] According to published reports after her death, White's friends claimed that she intended to make a comeback in sound films.

She told reporters she did not like to be photographed as she felt that photos made her face look fat, adding "Why should I have my picture taken when I can get paid for it?

The injury she sustained to her spine while filming The Perils of Pauline had continued to cause her pain, which she eased with drugs and alcohol.

[25] In early July 1938, she checked herself into the American Hospital of Paris in the suburb of Neuilly due to issues with her liver.

She slipped into a coma on August 3, 1938, and died the following day of what was identified in her obituaries as a "liver ailment"[23][24] (likely cirrhosis due to years of heavy drinking).

[25] Pearl White's place in film history is important in both the evolution of cinema genres and the role of women.

The Perils of Pauline only is known to exist in a reduced nine-reel version released in Europe in 1916, but The Exploits of Elaine survives in its entirety and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1994.

[4] The 1947 Paramount Pictures film The Perils of Pauline, starring Betty Hutton, is a fictionalized biography of Pearl White.