Maranca took on the stage name Marcella Albani and she made her film debut in L'amplesso della morte (1919), directed by Parisch.

She played a supporting role in Old Mamsell's Secret (1925), which starred Frida Richard, and acted opposite Mady Christians and Bruno Kastner in The Divorcée (1926), based on the operetta Die geschiedene Frau.

In 1926, her creative partnership with Parisch ended, and she began working with directors such as Joe May, Friedrich Zelnik, and Wilhelm Dieterle.

Albani starred with Paul Richter in Dagfin (1926), in which she played Lydia, and with Sandra Milovanoff and Werner Krauss in Make Up (1927).

She devoted herself to literature, and wrote several novels, one of which, La città dell'amore (1934), was adapted for the screen, with Albani starring in it in addition to producing it.