The daughter of a stage entertainer, New York-born actress Genevieve Tobin started treading the boards as a child and appeared in the role of Little Eva in the silent short Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910). Her older brother George Tobin and younger sister Vivian Tobin also became stage and film actors. By her teens Genevieve was appearing as a sparkling blonde ingénue on 20s Broadway, steadily gaining notice with her chic looks and vivacious personality. Considered a medium-weight talent, she nevertheless tackled such roles as Cordelia in "King Lear" (1923) in addition to her usual frothy comedies and musicals such as "Polly Preferred" (1923). Following her New York performance in 科尔·波特's musical "Fifty Million Frenchmen" in 1929 in which she introduced the song "You Do Something to Me," Genevieve started focusing squarely on films, particularly screwball farce, starting with a couple of glamorous leading lady roles in the early talkies A Lady Surrenders (1930) and Free Love (1930), one a heavy drama and the other a lighter comedy both co-starring 康拉德·纳格尔. Genevieve moved into second leads as the 1930s flew by, however, often playing the arch or self-involved 'other woman' role. She appeared in fine form as the problematic third wheel in 红楼艳史 (1932) with 莫里斯·舍瓦利耶 and 珍妮特·麦克唐纳; Goodbye Again (1933) co-starring 华伦·威廉 and 琼·布朗德尔; _Kiss and Make Up (1934)_ with 加里·格兰特 and 海伦·马克; The Goose and the Gander (1935) with Kay Francis and 乔治·布伦特; and, her last, 艺人新宠 (1940) which paired up 詹姆斯·斯图尔特 with 罗莎琳德·拉塞尔, and was also directed by her husband (and former stage actor) 威廉·凯利. Genevieve abandoned her career for high society after marrying Keighley and never looked back -- her marriage lasting 46 years until his death in 1984 at age 90+. Genevieve herself would live to become a nonagenarian, dying of natural causes in 1995 in Pasadena, California.
Sister of actor George Tobin and actress Vivian Tobin.
Trade Paper articles in November 1933 announced that due to her conflicting schedule in working in the movie "Mandalay" Kay Francis had been replaced in "Wonder Bar" by Genevieve Tobin. Kay Francis ultimately returned and completed her role in "Wonder Bar" as originally planned.