Ana Maria Belo is one of Australia’s most versatile performers. She is deaf, wears hearing aids and communicates in speech and Auslan - Australian sign language. 

Ana Maria is the first of her Portuguese family to be born in Australia. She began performing at a very young age and has continued to perform on most of our stages and screens – small, large, independent and mainstream.

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She began losing her hearing at the age of 7. By the time she was 14, hearing in her right ear was almost completely gone. She trained at NIDA through her deafness and entered the industry without anyone suspecting a thing. Later in 2012, she lost more hearing in her left ear and began wearing hearing aids and learning Auslan. She is the first deaf Australian performer to be cast in commercial musicals. Ana Maria is an advocate for accessibility and is excited about the future of the Industry. 

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Ana Maria is a gifted writer, and has directed and produced her short films that have gone on to film festivals around the world. Her short film, Things To Do won her a TROPFEST award. The AACTA nominated series It's Fine, I'm Fine, which Ana Maria starred in and was additional series writer, premiered at CanneSeries in 2022 and can be viewed on SBS On Demand.. 

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