Vola Vale

From Wikipedia She was born Vola Smith in Buffalo New York Vale was educated in Chevy Chase Maryland She began her career in amateur theatricals in Rochester New York Then she played in stock companies for a while Her first movie experience was with Biograph under the tutelage of the great film director DW Griffith After a month of playing atmosphere parts Vola was offered a genuine role She wore a velvet gown with a train and a feathered hat Soon she was appearing in short reel films for Biograph Among the actors she was cast with were William S Hart Sessue Hayakawa Tsuru Aoki William Haines Harry Carey Tully Marshall and William Russell She was adept in playing Spanish Italian French and Gypsy roles Aside from Biograph Vola worked for Fox Film Famous PlayersLasky Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures Her ambition was to play Madame Butterfly with an actual Japanese company as well as to act as Lorna Doone She was most inspired by Hayakawa and hoped to learn to act inside as he did With Sessue Hayakawa she made Each To His Kind 1917 Before filming began it was decided that the name Smith was too common to be used by a motion picture star She changed her professional name to Vola Vale