Lilyan Tashman's entertainment career began in vaudeville, and by 1914 she was an experienced performer, appearing in "Song Revue" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with rising stars Eddie Cantor and Al Lee. In 1916, she played Viola in a Shakespeare-inspired number for the Ziegfeld Follies and remained with the Follies for the 1917 and 1918 seasons. In 1919, producer David Belasco gave her a supporting role in Avery Hopwood's comedy "The Gold Diggers". The show ran two years with Tashman acting as an understudy, and occasionally filling in, for star Ina Claire.