Elisabeth Neumann was born in Vienna, where she graduated the high in 1917 and then studied acting privately from 1917 to 1919. In 1919 she got a contract at the Kammerspiele in Munich, Germnay. In the following years she was a renowned character actress at various Berlin theaters, including those of Max Reinhardt, Leopold Jessner and Victor Barnowsky. In 1934 Elisabeth Neumann returned to Vienna, where she acted at the literary and political satirical cabaret Literatur am Naschmarkt, from 1935 to 1937.
In 1938 Elisabeth Neumann immigrated along with her parents to the UK. After six months, following the Home Office’s denial to grant them work permit, the family immigrated to the USA. At first they were supported by a Jewish relief organization. During 1939-1940 Elisabeth appeared in Victor Gruen’s antifascist revue theater, the Refugee Artists Group in New York. She also participated in German language broadcasts of Aufbau, New York (1941-1942 Aufbau- Radio-Stunde, !942- We fight back), and until 1945 in productions of the Tribuene fuer freie deutsche Literatur und Kunst in Amerika, New York. Later she performed in Fekix G. Gerstan’s and Gert von Gontard’s German language theater The Players from Abroad in New York. Thereafter Elisabeth Neumann acted on Broadway and in movies in Hollywood.
In 1949 Elisabeth Neumann returned to her native Austria, and appeared in various theaters in Vienna, later also in West Berlin. In 1955 she did some film work in Munich, Germany.
Elisabeth’s first husband was Siegfried Bernfeld, she then married Berthold Viertel in 1949.