Baclanova spent her early years in her native land appearing in silent films from 1914 until 1918, reducing her age by several years and changing the spelling of her native surname Baklanova. She was often billed under her surname only, similarly to the surname-only nomenclature of her fellow countrywoman Nazimova.
She emigrated to the United States in 1925, and started appearing on stage and subsequently in Hollywood films, which she remains most noted for the Universal Pictures silent The Man Who Laughs as the evil Duchess Josiana and in Tod Browning's cult-classic horror film Freaks (1932) at MGM, as scheming circus trapeze artist, Cleopatra.
Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova was born on 19 August 1893 (other sources state 1883, 1884 or even 1900, according to her obituary) in Moscow, Russia. She was the daughter of Vladimir Baklanov and his wife Alexandra, an actress in early Russian films. She had 6 siblings, including later Soviet general and World War II hero Gleb Baklanov. Baclanova studied drama at the Cherniavsky Institute before being accepted into the Moscow Art Theatre with contemporaries such as Maria Ouspenskaya in 1912.

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