De Leo directed and produced the HBO documentary, “Rape: Cries from the Heartland” which garnered a national CableACE Award in 1991.
In 1995, De Leo was one of the directors and producers of “High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell,” which chronicles the lives of three people in Massachusetts fighting to overcome a crack addiction and was nominated for a CableACE Award.
HBO aired De Leo’s documentary “Six Months To Live: Alternative Medicine and the Fight for Life” in 1997. Following the lives of four people who were diagnosed with terminal cancer, the documentary received a Bronze Award at the Tokyo Video Festival in 1998.
During the 1996-97 basketball season De Leo followed the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team and produced and directed “A Cinderella Season: The Lady Vols Fight Back. After airing on HBO in 1998 the film was awarded a national sports Emmy®.
De Leo was the director, camerawoman, reporter, and editor for “Bellevue: Inside Out,” a documentary HBO aired in 2001, the first look at life inside America’s most famous mental institution.
De Leo is also a photographer with the Sipa Agency. Her photos have appeared in national and international publications including Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report and various European publications. In 1994 De Leo started her own production company, Downtown TV Documentaries, and has been independently producing and directing documentary films.
De Leo’s film “White Horse” was nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlinale in Germany.
De Leo published an article about Chernobyl in Discover magazine.
After De Leo screened her Chernobyl films in Japan, she was invited to publish a book of her essays on Chernobyl in Japanese.
Her latest film, “The People Will Decide” is in production.
Maryann De Leo has also taught at The School of Visual Arts/ MFA in Social Documentary Film.