Bessie Barriscale (born Elizabeth Mary Barriscale; June 9, 1884 – June 30, 1965) was an American actress who gained fame on the stage and in silent films.

Barriscale was born in New York City to Samuel Barriscale, an England-born immigrant of Irish parentage, and Jenevieve Spaulding from Ireland. Her father's occupation was elevated railroad car conductor in 1900. Later motion picture publicity had her father coming to the United States with a London company that presented The Lights of London.

As a child she went by "Lizzie Barriscale", the name under which her first stage performances were credited. Barriscale was the eldest of five children; a younger brother, Charles Barriscale, also went on stage. For both, the propelling impetus for acting was their paternal aunt, Anna Barriscale Taliaferro, whose daughters Mabel and Edith Taliaferro were actresses. Anna Taliaferro was the founder of the first casting agency for theatrical children, to whom stage producers looked for young performers.

According to one source, Barriscale was born Elizabeth Barry Scale in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Irish immigrants from County Cork.^{[citation needed]}

The 1900 US Census says she was born in England during May 1886, the same year her parents immigrated to America. That birthdate agrees with one of her early notices from May 1897, but not the birthplace. Later censuses report New York as a birthplace, with ages that suggests an 1884 birthdate. Her obituary says she was a New York City native, and cites her age at death as 81.

Barriscale's first verifiable performance was an 1896 tour of Shore Acres with James A. Herne. She played Mary Berry, while her younger cousin Edith Taliaferro played Millie Berry. At Chicago in early May 1897, a brief profile on the children of that tour described Lizzie Barriscale as "nearly 11 years old", with a "beautiful soprano voice". It went on to say she started on stage "as a comic opera cherub" who could sing all of the prima donna's songs. An article on stage children from December 1899 mentioned Lizzie Barriscale as among the best-known of young performers, and included a photo of her indicating she was with the James Kidder Hanford Company. Her first known credit as Bessie Barriscale comes from a poorly received 1901 stock company performance of The Widow Bedott, for which she was the only actress praised.

During spring 1902 Barriscale was the Proctor Stock Company's ingenue at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York. While performing The Rift Within Love's Cloud, a one-act comedy by F. Clifford Smith, during late March and early April, she met actor Sumner Gard, also in the play. On April 30, 1902, they were married in Manhattan. She did not tell her parents until January 1, 1903. For a while they toured together with Proctor, but during summer 1902 Barriscale joined another tour playing In Old Kentucky, which would last two years.

That was followed by two years as Lovey Mary in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. She became leading woman with the Belasco Stock Company in Los Angeles after performing for a year in Belasco's Rose of the Rancho. She went on to portray Luna in The Bird of Paradise and to have the lead in We Are Seven.