By her own account, Gibson's parents had worked in show business. She began her stage career at the age of 12, apparently when her father left and she remained as the sole means of support for her mother. Gibson appeared on the Pantages Vaudeville Circuit for over two years. In 1909, she became a member of the Theodore Lorch Stock Company in Denver, where she was cast in a wide variety of roles. She entered the film industry in 1912, getting a job with Vitagraph in Santa Monica, where she stayed for three years. For six months during this period, Taylor was acting in the same studio and they made four films together: "The Love of Tokiwa", "The Riders of Petersham", "The Kiss", and "A Little Madonna". An article in "Variety" the following year noted that the 19-year-old budding film star had purchased a cliffside bungalow overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. In 1915, she left Vitagraph and went to the Thomas Ince Film Company, where she played a small supporting role in "The Coward", the film which made Charles Ray a star. She subsequently had supporting roles in many comedy shorts and was the subject of several promotional articles in fan magazines.