Inês de Medeiros was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1968 and moved to Portugal in 1975, where she completed her academic education and built her professional career. She studied Portuguese Literature at the NOVA University of Lisbon and pursued Theatre Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Before taking on municipal responsibilities, she held prominent positions in the cultural sector, notably serving as Vice-President of the Inatel Foundation and Director of the Teatro da Trindade Inatel. She began her active political involvement in 1995 as Youth Representative in Jorge Sampaio’s presidential campaign. Later, she served as the Socialist Party’s national representative in the 2009 European Parliament elections, the same year she was elected to the Portuguese Parliament.

Between 2009 and 2016, she served as a Member of Parliament, representing the districts of Lisbon and Setúbal. During this period, she was Vice-President of the Socialist Party parliamentary group and participated in several interparliamentary groups, most notably the Portugal–France group, which she later chaired. She was also a member of the Portuguese delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE.

Alongside her political career, she remained active in film and theatre, working as an actress in numerous national and international productions. As a film director, she directed works such as Letters to a Dictator (2008) and Le Portugal de… (2015), receiving recognition at international film festivals.

In 2017, she was elected Mayor of Almada, a position she successfully renewed for a second and third term (2021–2025 and 2025–2029). She has also held roles in several municipal and metropolitan bodies, including serving as Vice-President of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. In 2022, she was awarded the French Légion d’Honneur, and since 2026 she has been a member of the Faculty Council of the NOVA School of Science and Technology.