Born in Decatur, Illinois, in 1901, Ferguson graduated from Nicholas High School of Chicago and the Academy of Fine Arts. Ferguson was a newspaper reporter before entering the motion picture field.

Ferguson began working in films as a stunt girl when she was 12 years old, although her first recorded credits are in 1917. She soon starred in roles for Fox Film Corporation by 1920, which is when her career really took off with films such as Hungry Hearts (1922) for Samuel Goldwyn. She was cast mostly in westerns, comedies, and serials. She was selected as a WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1922.

On June 21, 1925, Ferguson married actor William Russell, who died in 1929. The following year, she married businessman Richard L. Hargreaves. Following her second marriage, she left films to concentrate on stage work, though she only received minimal success in this medium.

In 1933, she left acting altogether to become a publicity and public relations counselor, a job that made her a major power in Hollywood, because she was representing such big name stars as Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, and Robert Taylor, among others. Ferguson represented actress Loretta Young for more than nineteen years. She kept reporters from needlessly disturbing Young and was considered one of the foremost “suppress agents” in Hollywood.

In 1941, her second husband died and she retired from publicity work in 1967.

Ferguson died in Clearwater, Florida in 1977, aged 75. She is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale in Glendale, California.