Myers had been a theatre actor for 10 years before he went into films as an actor for Siegmund Lubin's Lubin Studios in 1909. By 1914, he was directing his own comedy shorts featuring him and his wife, Rosemary Theby, for Universal, the Vim Comedy Company, and Pathé studios. After 1920 he had many starring roles in feature-length films, the most notable of which was as the eccentric alcoholic millionaire in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931). His career declined after the introduction of sound films. Myers appeared in 330 films between 1908 and 1938, and directed 54 films between 1913 and 1917.
