At 13, she completed vocal training with Karl Grünwald and Emma Sebold, and took acting lessons, as well as studied dance and piano.

[3][4] Neumann originally wanted to be a singer, but at the urging of Max Mack, she instead opted for a career in film, and made her debut in the short Whims of Fate (1912) alongside Erwin Fichtner and Hanni Weisse, followed by Im Übermut (1912) and Das Bild der Mutter (1912).

She remained a popular actress throughout the 1920s, working with directors such as Reinhold Schünzel, Rudolf Biebrach, Hans Werckmeister, and Adolf E. Licho.

She is credited with writing 24 films, including The Beggar Student (1936), Men Without a Fatherland (1937), Sergeant Berry (1938), and Kora Terry (1940).

After World War II, Neumann wrote two more screenplays, her final being Man müßte nochmal zwanzig sein [de] (1958).