After recording a commercial directed by Walter Salles, she was called by Jayme Monjardim,[3] to audition for TV Manchete for Shock a program broadcasting music clips.

After reading the synopsis, Oliveira fell in love with the character of Juma, a role initially intended for actress Glória Pires, and offered to play her.

The telenovela was a big hit, winning a large audience for Rede Manchete and becoming a landmark in Brazilian soap operas.

In 2011, she had a cameo role as lesbian and convicted drug dealer named Araci Laranjeira in Insensato Coração.

[12] In 2018, Cristiana returns to the cinema after eleven years since the last film in which she participated, Nossa Senhora de Caravaggio.

She is in the cast of Eu sou Brasileiro,[13] by Alessandro Barros; Borderline,[13] by Cibele Amaral; Paixão Nacional,[13] by Teresa Jessouron, and in Uma Carta para Ferdinand,[13] by Anderson and Kleber Dresch.

In 2019, after three years away from television, she will return to soap operas on Topíssima, RecordTV's telenovela, playing Lara, a social climber.