Osborne was born as Helen Alice Myres in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Roy and Mary Myres.
She soon became — under mysterious circumstances — the child of Leon and Edith Osborn, who called her Marie and added the "e" to the surname, apparently to obscure the adoption.
Her foster parents, the Osbornes, introduced their daughter to silent films when they left Colorado to work at Balboa Studios in Long Beach, California.
Osborne made her debut credited as Baby Osbourne in 1914's short drama film Kidnapped in New York.

Osborne signed to a lucrative contract with Balboa Films (and working with director Henry King and writer Clara Beranger), by the age of five she was starring in silent films, including her best remembered movie, Little Mary Sunshine, from 1916, one of her few films which still survive on celluloid.
Some of her other films are Maid of the Wild (1915), Sunshine and Gold (1917), What Baby Forgot (1917), Daddy's Girl (1918), The Locked Heart (1918), Winning Grandma (1918), The Sawdust Doll (1919), and Daddy Number Two (1919).
At the age of eight, she completed her final film as a child star, Miss Gingersnap in 1919.
In all, she was featured or starred in 29 films in a six-year period.
Most of her films were produced at Diando Studios, the former Kalem Movie Studio in Glendale, California.
Osborne was born as Helen Alice Myres in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Roy and Mary Myres. She soon became — under mysterious circumstances — the child of Leon and Edith Osborn, who called her Marie and added the "e" to the surname, apparently to obscure the adoption. Her foster parents, the Osbornes, introduced their daughter to silent films when they left Colorado to work at Balboa Studios in Long Beach, California. Osborne made her debut credited as Baby Osbourne in 1914's short drama film Kidnapped in New York.
Osborne signed to a lucrative contract with Balboa Films (and working with director Henry King and writer Clara Beranger), by the age of five she was starring in silent films, including her best remembered movie, Little Mary Sunshine, from 1916, one of her few films which still survive on celluloid. Some of her other films are Maid of the Wild (1915), Sunshine and Gold (1917), What Baby Forgot (1917), Daddy's Girl (1918), The Locked Heart (1918), Winning Grandma (1918), The Sawdust Doll (1919), and Daddy Number Two (1919). At the age of eight, she completed her final film as a child star, Miss Gingersnap in 1919. In all, she was featured or starred in 29 films in a six-year period. Most of her films were produced at Diando Studios, the former Kalem Movie Studio in Glendale, California.
Marie Osborne Yeats