Greenleaf's first important role came in the late 1890s playing Herbert, the king's forester, in stock productions of
The Prisoner of Zenda and its companion piece
Rupert of Hentzau. In 1898, he played Mr. Hunston in
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's play ''
Trelawny of the 'Wells' that opened at the Lyceum Theatre in New York on November 22, 1898. His next Broadway performance was in The Pride of Jennico'' with James K. Hackett and
Bertha Galland staged at the Criterion Theatre in 1900. Later that year, he played the role of Myrtle May's lover in a road production of
The Parish Priest with
Daniel Sully. During the first decade of the 20th century, Mace Greenleaf played leading roles in stock companies on both coasts and middle America. He returned to Broadway in 1905 to play the
prince of Wales in the romantic musical
Edmund Burke. In 1911, he joined the fledgling motion picture industry where he would appear in at least 18 films in the final year of his life. ==Marriage==