Isabela Merced facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Isabela Merced
Merced in 2019
Born	Isabela Yolanda Moner (2001-07-10) July 10, 2001 (age 23) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Citizenship	American Peruvian
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2013–present

Isabela Yolanda Moner (born July 10, 2001), known professionally as Isabela Merced since 2019, is an American actress. She played the lead role in the Nickelodeon television series 100 Things to Do Before High School (2014–2016), and went on to feature in the films Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Instant Family (2018), and Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018). She starred as the titular character in the adventure film Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) and played main roles in the romantic drama film Turtles All The Way Down (2024) and the horror film Alien: Romulus (2024).

Early life

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

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.

Career

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. 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. She made her Broadway debut at age ten in a production of Evita, in which she sang in Spanish with Ricky Martin.

Merced's first starring performance was as CJ Martin, the lead role on the Nickelodeon television series 100 Things to Do Before High School, 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. In 2015, she appeared as Lori Collins in the Nickelodeon Original Movie Splitting Adam, and was cast as Sadie, one of the leading roles, in the 2016 Nickelodeon Original Movie Legends of the Hidden Temple. Merced's debut album Stopping Time was produced by Broadway Records and was eventually released on September 18, 2015.

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

Merced in 2018

..... 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."

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, for which she also wrote and sang the song "I'll Stay". 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, and was cast in the Christmas romantic comedy ensemble film Let It Snow. The same year, she was cast opposite Jason Momoa in the film Sweet Girl for Netflix.

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, in memory of her late grandmother whom she never met. 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". Her first single, "Papi", was released on October 25, 2019, followed by her first music video released on November 6, 2019. On May 22, 2020, Merced released her debut EP, The Better Half of Me, through Republic Records and was named one of Billboard's top 15 new Peruvian artists to listen to in July 2020.

In 2024, she starred in Turtles All the Way Down, a film adaptation of the 2017 novel by John Green, and Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus. In July 2023, Merced was cast as Hawkgirl in the DC Universe (DCU) film Superman (2025). In January 2024, Merced was cast as Dina in season 2 of The Last of Us.

Personal life

Merced has discussed her struggles with anxiety. She has attended therapy.

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

Filmography

Key

Denotes productions that have not yet been released

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	The House That Jack Built	Young Nadia
2016	Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life	Jeanne Galleta
2017	Transformers: The Last Knight	Izabella
	The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature	Heather (voice)
2018	Sicario: Day of the Soldado	Isabel Reyes
	Instant Family	Lizzy
2019	Dora and the Lost City of Gold	Dora	Final credit as Isabela Moner
	Let It Snow	Julie	First credit as Isabela Merced
2021	Spirit Untamed	Lucky Prescott (voice)
	Sweet Girl	Rachel Cooper
2022	Father of the Bride	Cora Herrera
	Rosaline	Juliet
2023	Migration	Kim (voice)
2024	Madame Web	Anya Corazon
	Turtles All the Way Down	Aza Holmes
	Alien: Romulus	Kay
2025	Superman	Hawkgirl	Post-production

Television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Growing Up Fisher	Jenny	Recurring role, 7 episodes
2014–2017	Dora and Friends: Into the City!	Kate	Main voice role
2014–2016	100 Things to Do Before High School	CJ Martin	Lead role
2015	Splitting Adam	Lori Collins	Television film
2016	Legends of the Hidden Temple	Sadie	Television film
2019	The Amazing Race Canada	Herself	Episode: "Clamageddon Continues"
2020	#KidsTogether: The Nickelodeon Town Hall	Herself	Television special
2021	Maya and the Three	Widow Queen	Miniseries; voice role
2025	The Last of Us	Dina	Season 2; Recurring role

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Isabela Merced para niños