Rosina Lawrence was born in Canada to British parents, and her early childhood was spent attending schools in Canada, England, Boston, and Los Angeles, where her father worked as a stage carpenter and set designer. She studied ballet for four years and tap dancing for another at the Maurice Kussell Studio, took singing lessons, and learned acting under tut theelage of French-Canadian thespian Joseph De Grasse. During her school holidays, she performed in plays, and at the age of ten, she made her motion picture debut in A Lady of Quality (1924).
At thirteen, Rosina appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's The Angel of Broadway (1927),where she was also used as a hand double for the star Leatrice Joy. For the next seven years, she commuted between vaudeville and film work, earning extra dollars as a Hollywood fashion model. She doubled for Sally Eilers in both Dance Team (1932) and Disorderly Conduct (1932),as she resembled her in looks. However, her roles at this point were limited to bit parts and walk-ons.
Eventually, Rosina landed a couple of lead roles, both in second feature mysteries: Welcome Home (1935),opposite James Dunn, and Charlie Chan's Secret (1935),with Warner Oland as the screen's first incarnation of the famous detective. She also had two decent production numbers in MGM's marathon biopic The Great Ziegfeld (1936),but those scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.
Her career was somewhat revived after she was signed by Hal Roach and found a little niche as the school teacher in the "Our Gang" comedy shorts. She also starred several times in slapstick farce as the wife of Charley Chase and with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Way Out West (1937),which was allegedly the duo's personal favorite.
Rosina left the acting profession upon her marriage to the Brooklyn lawyer Juvenal Marchisio, a union that produced three children. Marchisio died in 1973, and Rosina didn't remarry until 1987, when she married actor, academic, and Laurel & Hardy biographer John McCabe.
