Anna Maria Monticelli

Anna Maria Monticelli is an Australian actress, screenwriter and producer.

Early life Monticelli was born in 1952 in Tangiers in Morocco. In her childhood, she lived in five European countries, where, fluent in four languages, she was a translator for her French-Italian father and Spanish mother. The family emigrated to Australia when Monticelli was in her primary school years.

Career Using the professional name 'Anna-Maryka', Monticelli started out as a model in Sydney, gracing the covers of Australian Playboy, Cleo and Vogue and appearing in television commercials. Some of her early film roles include 1981 New Zealand thriller Smash Palace with Terence Donovan, 1982 drama film Heatwave alongside Judy Davis and 1982 suspense thriller The Dark Room. She also appeared with Wendy Hughes in 1984 film My First Wife, playing the role of Hilary.

Further recognition came when Monticelli won the 1984 AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role as Anna in post-war drama film Silver City. Having originally used her married name 'Anna Jemison' professionally, she reverted back to her maiden name, Monticelli as she accepted the award. That same year, she also played Anne Winter, alongside Bryan Brown in The Empty Beach and appeared in family film Archer’s Adventure, opposite Nicole Kidman in one of her earliest roles.

Monticelli's television credits began with a guest role in 1981 sports drama series Sporting Chance with Noni Hazlehurst In 1984, she had an ongoing role as Eva Tarrant in Carson's Law, opposite Lorraine Bayly. In 1994, she appeared in the children's sci-fi adventure series Sky Trackers, in the regular role of Marie Colbert, alongside her husband Steve Jacobs. Further television credits include Family and Friends, Rafferty's Rules, Home and Away, The Girl from Tomorrow, the Mission Impossible television reboot and 1988 adventure miniseries, Emma: Queen of the South Seas, with Steve Bisley.

However, Monticelli's true passion lay in writing. Her first writing credit was 2001 feature film La Spagnola, which she also produced. and a Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Original Screenplay in 2002. It was also Australia’s official entrant in the Foreign Language Category at the 2002 Academy Awards. It went on to receive several international awards and was widely distributed. McTiernan had directed Monticelli in the film Nomads. The couple met first met on the set of 1984 film Silver City in 1984, in which Jacobs also had a small part. They also appeared together in an episode of Mission Impossible and then fell in love on the set of Sky Trackers. Together, they formed Australian based company, 'Wild Strawberries' in the mid-1990s. The couple have lived in Palm Beach, north of Sydney, for over 40 years.