[1] Following the Nazi rise to power in 1933, the Jewish Carlsen left Germany for Switzerland where she settled permanently.
Carlsen attended the acting school of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and made her debut in 1907 at the Hof-und Nationaltheater in Mannheim.
In productions of the Duskes-Film and the Imperator-Film, she appeared in front of the camera as a leading actress in melodramas from 1913.
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Carlsen, who was of Jewish descent, remained in Switzerland for good and appeared mainly at the Schauspielhaus in Zürich.
She was temporarily married to director Karlheinz Martin (1886-1948) and actor Karl Forest (born Obertimpfler, 1874-1944).