Isabela Merced

Merced was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Katherine Moner, who was born in Lima, Peru, and Patrick Moner, who was born in Louisiana. Spanish was her first language, and she has described herself as half Peruvian and half from Ohio. She has two brothers, Jared and Gyovanni, and was homeschooled through Ohio Virtual Academy.

Her interest in performance developed after her family's Cleveland home was destroyed by a fire. Her father was one of the firefighters responding to the incident. Because she was a Judy Garland fan, her parents encouraged her to audition for a local production of The Wizard of Oz, where she was cast as a Munchkin. She later attended the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory and spent a month in New York with her family pursuing Broadway auditions.

Merced began acting in community theatre as a child and booked a Claritin commercial during a summer of auditions in New York. She made her Broadway debut at age 10 in Evita, performing in Spanish alongside Ricky Martin. At age 15, she was accepted into college.

Her first starring television role was CJ Martin in Nickelodeon's 100 Things to Do Before High School, which ran from 2014 to 2016. She also voiced Kate in the animated series Dora and Friends: Into the City! from 2014 to 2017, and appeared in the Nickelodeon productions Splitting Adam and Legends of the Hidden Temple. Her film debut was as Young Nadia in The House That Jack Built.

Merced moved into major film roles with Izabella Yeager in Transformers: The Last Knight in 2017. In 2018, she played Isabel Reyes, the daughter of a drug cartel head, in Sicario: Day of the Soldado, a performance praised by critic Anthony Lane. She also played Lizzy, the adopted daughter of characters portrayed by Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne, in Instant Family, for which she wrote and sang the song "I'll Stay."

In 2019, she starred as Dora Márquez in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, the live-action adaptation of the animated series, and played Julie in Let It Snow. She later portrayed Rachel Cooper in Sweet Girl, Juliet in Rosaline, Cora Herrera in Father of the Bride, Aza Holmes in Turtles All the Way Down, Anya Corazón in Madame Web, and Kay in Alien: Romulus.

Merced played Dina in the second season of HBO's The Last of Us and Kendra Saunders, also known as Hawkgirl, in Superman and Peacemaker. She is also attached to the films Man of Tomorrow, Psyche, Ibelin, Dutch and Razzlekhan, and The House of the Dead, with executive producer credits for Psyche and The House of the Dead.

Merced released her debut album, Stopping Time, through Broadway Records in 2015. She followed it with the EP The Better Half of Me through Republic Records in 2020. Her singles include "PAPI," "Don't Go," "Caliente Navidad," "Agonía," and "Cuffing Season," while her collaborations include songs with Sebastián Yatra, Matt Hunter, Kayfex, and Tony Succar.

In 2019, she announced that she would use the stage name Isabela Merced in memory of her late grandmother, changing from Isabela Moner. Merced has described herself as queer and has spoken about her participation in queer relationships and her support for LGBTQ representation in American pop culture. She has polycystic ovary syndrome and has discussed attending therapy and experiencing anxiety.