Isabela Merced

Merced was born in Cleveland, Ohio.^[4][5] She is the daughter of Katherine, who was born in Lima, Peru, and Patrick Moner, who was born in Louisiana.^[4][6] Merced has stated that Spanish was her first language, and she struggled with English when she first started grade school,^[6] adding that she considers herself more Peruvian than American.^[7] She has two brothers. At age 15, she was accepted into college.^[8][9]

Merced began acting after her family's Cleveland home was destroyed by a fire. She was a Judy Garland fan, so her parents, in an attempt to distract her from the loss, encouraged Merced to audition for a local production of The Wizard of Oz. She agreed and was cast as a Munchkin. She attended the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory, led by Broadway producer Fred Sternfeld, who tried to persuade Merced's mother into taking her to New York to pursue auditions. After some reluctance, her mother agreed, and the family moved to New York City for a month to help Merced pursue a career on Broadway.^[10][11]

Merced has said that she wanted to be an actress from a very young age, inspired by movies featuring Shirley Temple and Judy Garland and starting in local community theatre at age six.^[12] Merced booked her first job, a Claritin commercial, on what was supposed to be her last day in New York City during the summer she spent auditioning there.^[13] She made her Broadway debut at age ten in a production of Evita,^[14] in which she sang in Spanish with Ricky Martin.^[6]

Merced's first starring performance was as CJ Martin, the lead role on the Nickelodeon television series 100 Things to Do Before High School,^[6][14][15] from 2014 to 2016. That same year, she began providing the voice of Kate, one of the main characters in the Dora the Explorer spinoff, Dora and Friends: Into the City!, a role she performed from 2014 to 2017.^[16] In 2015, she appeared as Lori Collins in the Nickelodeon Original Movie Splitting Adam,^[17] and was cast as Sadie, one of the leading roles, in the 2016 Nickelodeon Original Movie Legends of the Hidden Temple.^[18][19] Merced’s debut album Stopping Time was produced by Broadway Records and was eventually released on September 18, 2015.^[20]

In May 2016, Merced was cast in the film Transformers: The Last Knight, which was released in June 2017.^[21][22] She voiced Heather in the animated film The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, which was theatrically released on August 11, 2017.^[23]

In 2018, Merced had a major role in Sicario: Day of the Soldado, playing the daughter of a drug cartel head,^[24][25] in a performance lauded by critics. The New Yorker's Anthony Lane wrote "Moner is terrific, and her character’s fortunes can be read in her eyes—blazing to begin with, as she scraps with another girl in a schoolyard, but dark and blank by the end, their youthful fire doused by the violence that she has seen."^[26]

In the same year, she played the adopted daughter of the characters played by Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne in the comedy film Instant Family,^[27] for which she also wrote and sang the song "I'll Stay".^[28][29] In 2019, Merced starred as the title character in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, a live action film adaptation of the animated series,^[30][31] and was cast in the Christmas romantic comedy ensemble film Let It Snow.^[32] The same year, she was cast opposite Jason Momoa in the film Sweet Girl for Netflix.^[33]

On October 14, 2019, Merced announced to her fans via a post on her Instagram account that she had decided to change her stage name to Isabela Merced,^[34] in memory of her late grandmother whom she never met.^[35] Merced later explained that she had not legally changed her name and said that it was "just a stage name but it's got a deeper meaning".^[36] Her first single, "Papi", was released on October 25, 2019, followed by her first music video released on November 6, 2019.^[37] On May 22, 2020, Merced released her debut EP, The Better Half of Me, through Republic Records^[38][39] and was named one of Billboard's top 15 new Peruvian artists to listen to in July 2020.^[40]

In March 2022, it was announced Merced would star in Turtles All the Way Down, a film adaptation of the 2017 novel by John Green, which began filming in April 2022.^[41][42] In March 2023, Merced joined the cast of Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus.^[43] In July 2023, Merced was cast as Hawkgirl in the DC Universe (DCU) film Superman (2025).^[44] In January 2024, Merced was cast as Dina in season 2 of The Last of Us.^[45]

Merced has discussed her struggles with anxiety.^[46]

Her mother has had an ongoing battle with breast cancer for an unknown period of time. As of 2020, she is free from the disease.^[47][48]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Isabela Merced.

• Isabela Merced at IMDb
• Isabela Merced on Instagram