Actress. Born in San Francisco, California, she first appeared in several stage productions as a child, most notably the 1899 production of Palmer Cox’s “Brownies In Fairyland”, before entering films. A star of the silent film era, she first found work with the William Fox Studios, before signing a contract with the Vitagraph Company of America, to appear in a series of movie shorts in 1911. She made her actual film debut at the age of sixteen in “The Hieroglyphic” (1912), but it was her role as ‘Mary Winslow’ in “Her Maternal Right” (1916), that she will be best remembered. A versatile performer, she appeared in a total of 74 films and comedy shorts, among them “All Is Faire In Love And War” (1911), “The Long Skirt” (1911), “The Cabin Boy” (1911), “The Cross Roads” (1912), “The Hindoo’s Curse” (1912), “The Gamblers” (1912), “Three Girls And A Man” (1912), “The Esterbrook Case” (1915), “The Tigress” (1915), “The Rail Rider” (1916), “Putting Pep In Slowtown” (1916), “Caprice Of The Mountains” (1916), “Enlighten Thy Daughter” (1917), “Shame” (1917), “An Amateur Widow” (1919), Piccadilly Jim” (1919), “The Woman God Sent” (1920), “After Midnight” (1921), “The Broken Silence” (1922), “The Broken Violin” (1923), “The Lure Of Love” (1924), “Another Man’s Wife” (1924), and “Trouping With Ellen” (1924), her last film. After her retirement from Hollywood she married William M. Brownell with whom she had a daughter, Virginia. The family later settled in Danvers, Massachusetts, and it was here that Zena passed away from cancer at the age of 80. (bio by: K)