F. was born in 18.. in Bialystok, Poland.

Her father was a worker in a shawl factory, immigrating to Alsace  [lotringen], where F. was educated, and there she completed a school. In 1898 F. went to America, where she in 1902 through the actor Charles Cohen was entered onto the stage of a Yiddish vaudeville house. In just a short amount of time, thanks to her exceptional temperament, she became one of the popular Yiddish soubrettes.

From vaudeville F. crossed over to the legitimate theatre and acted in Adler's "Grand Street Theatre." In the first production of Leon Kobrin's "Yankel Boyle" in 1913. She acted in the role of "Kheyke", and the critic "Israel the Yankee" [I. I. Freedman] wrote the following about her:

"Ida Fein plays an important fool ("Shmendrik"), soon with the same talent with which Mogulesko acted the menlekhn fool, but if she plays Kheyke is another question. It is a certain fool, but not Kheyke. The audience was so amused to see her act that they couldn't make out whether she was playing."

From soubrette roles F. later crossed over to mother roles, but she became ill, and on 3 Mar 1918* F. died almost on the stage of the "Circle Theatre" in Detroit. F. came to her eternal rest in New York, where a gravestone was erected for her on 6 November 1926.