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Félix`s legendary career started in 1940, when she was approached on the street in Mexico City, where she was vacationing, by Fernando Palacios, who cast her in his 1943 film La China Poblana. She accepted despite the fact that she wasn`t an actress and personally believed the story line was absurd. Although she had never acted before in her life, she accepted the challenge because Palacios convinced her that she had the " right look " for the part. The last copy of this film was lost during a fire and another copy has never been found.

Her first movie was El Peñón de las Animas in 1942, which placed her alongside Jorge Negrete, the number-one actor in Mexico at the time, catapulted her to fame. Throughout her long career she acted in 47 movies.

Her beauty and flamboyant personality propelled her to international stardom and icon status, in movies like Woman Without a Soul and La Generala, and especially Doña Bárbara. She refused to work in Hollywood unless she made her grand entrance from the "big door" and not the small rôles offered by Cecil B. de Mille (although some sources indicate that the real reason was her poor command of the English language prevented her from working in Hollywood). Félix stated "I was not born to carry a basket".

She worked in French, with greats such as Jean Renoir, and Italian films as well as in the Mexican cinema.

She lost the leading role of "Pearl Chavez" in the 1945 film Duel in the Sun, although it was written with her in mind, to Jennifer Jones, reportedly due to work commitments in Europe. As a result, she never achieved the fame in the USA that she achieved in Latin America and Europe.

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