Born in Georgia, she studied in Vermont and at Syracuse University. At 20, she became a chorus girl in New York. She played regularly in theaters tour and got to know George Cukor.

In 1930 she signed a contract with Paramount and made his debut in Fast and Loose. Hopkins was known for her roles in The Smiling Lieutenant, who was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where it managed to Rouben Mamoulian, get a good representation from Hopkins. Hopkins sat down again in Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (Trouble in Paradise), where he gave her loads of Kay Francis, and the best lines of dialogue began in Design for Living, in addition to the Hopkins Fredric March and Gary Cooper in a ménage à trois.

Their controversial role it played in early 1933 in the film adaptation of William Faulkner novel, The Sanctuary, under the title The Story of Temple Drake, which triggered such a violent dispute with the censorship authorities that in 1934 the tighter Production Code came into force.

In 1935 she received her only Oscar nomination for the role of Becky Sharp in the eponymous film version of the popular novel Vanity Fair. The film was the first feature-length strips in Technicolor, having previously only short films were produced. Rouben Mamoulian directed some scenes as the ball of the Duchess testimony to the innovative force to deploy with Mamoulian to enhance the color of the plot could.

Middle of the decade, Hopkins was known as a performer, dramatic roles, and moved from Paramount to Samuel Goldwyn, who often began alongside Joel McCrea. 1936, both worked with alongside Merle Oberon in the film version of The Children's Hour (dt Title Infame Lies). Lead director William Wyler, who got along well with Hopkins. 1939 Hopkins moved to Warner Brothers and then shot two films on the side of Bette Davis: The Old Maid and Old Acquaintance of 1939 from the year 1943. Both actresses were not well mitanand Hopkins and Davis then described as the most thoroughgoing bitch I have ever worked with / the biggest witch with whom I have ever worked with. This opinion joined by many colleagues as Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson and Gary Cooper.

The role of Hopkins in Old Acquaintance was only because Norma Shearer, who had shortly before passed from the screen, the supply of Jack Warner had refused to play second fiddle in addition to Bette Davis. Miriam Hopkins retired after 1943, a time from the screen. She went back to 1948 in some minor roles, such as in the William Wyler production of The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland and Carrie, the film adaptation of the novel by Theodore Dreiser, with Jennifer Jones. In William Wyler's second adaptation of The Children's Hour Hopkins took over the role of Fay Bainter. One of her last roles she played in a film by Russ Meyer, based more or less on John Cleland's novel Fanny Hill.

She was awarded two stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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