Laemmle entered films in 1925, as "Carla Laemmle", in an uncredited role as a ballet dancer in the original silent film version of "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) and later had a small role in the early talkie version of "Dracula" (1931). In that classic film, she portrayed (again uncredited) a bespectacled passenger riding in a bumpy horse-drawn carriage with Renfield as he is traveling to Dracula's castle, and had the first spoken line of dialogue in the film. Laemmle continued to appear in small roles until the late 1930s, when she disappeared from the movie screen. She briefly came out of retirement to play a vampire in "The Vampire Hunters Club" (2001).