Arce's place or date of birth is not certain, and her full name has two versions. It is said that she came from a Guatemalan heritage and as a child she was singing and dancing. She came to notice in the early years of the Peruvian film industry.[2]
Arce was noted for her work in theatre company. She had a short marriage to an Irishman named Reilly in 1920 that resulted in two daughters.[1] Luis Ugarte directed Camino de la Venganza (The Road to Vengeance) in 1922.[3] The film featured Teresita Arce as the main role of Juanacha, a young native woman who acts against the exploitation of a mine operator named McDonald. He is killed after he kidnaps her. Arce became the first popular Peruvian actress.[4]
Arce played the role of the bride of the bandit Luis Pardo Novoa [es] in the romanticised film Luis Pardo. The film was made by Enrique Cornejo Villanueva in 1927 starring himself in the title role.[5]
Peruvian radio in 2018 recounted how Arce became a comic personality on the radio around Lima when the radio was a prime means of communication. She created "Chola Purificación Chauca" who would talk about current events and she was well known and mentioned in a book by Mario Vargas Llosa. She came to grief when she made a joke about the powerful Prado family.[6]
Her second marriage to Guillermo Mesinas Barrantes in 1955 was attended by a large crowd, and it was filmed as a Peruvian newsreel.[1]
Arce continued to perform on the stage and the radio until the 1960s.[4] She died in 1981.[4]
