Ince met his wife, actress Elinor "Nell" Kershaw, whom he married in 1907, when they appeared together in a Broadway Show,
For Love's Sweet Sake. Kershaw was a Biograph girl; that is, she was a signature actress in films produced by the Biograph film company. Ince had appeared in a few films during his acting career, though at the time film acting was regarded as inferior to the live theater. But after his marriage, Ince started to appear in more films through his wife's connections at Biograph. By 1910, he was working exclusively in films, making $5 per day, but was regularly under employed. Ince ended his acting career in that year and decided to become a director.
Ince had appeared in some films for the Independent Motion Picture Company (IMP). In 1910, he was given an opportunity to direct for them. Ince's break came when a director at IMP was unable to complete work on a small film. Ince's work on the film, Little Nell's Tobacco (1910), impressed IMP's owner Carl Laemmle and Ince was hired as a director. During Ince's short tenure at IMP, he and another director worked on several films in Cuba with Mary Pickford.
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