Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1950. She appeared as an actress in over 25 films, amongst which How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1970), by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and The Age of the Earth (1980), by Glauber Rocha. After performing on television, Ana Maria began to direct short films, such as Assaltaram a Gramática (1984), Spray Jet (1985), Já que Ninguém Me Tira pra Dançar (1987), O Bebê (1987), Mangueira Amanhã (1992) and episode of the film Final Call (1994), and the features Lara (2002) and Reidy, Building Utopia (2009), presented at the 33rd Mostra.