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 was born on July 10, 2001. She is known professionally as Isabela Merced since 2019. She is an American actress who has starred in many movies and TV shows.

Isabela played the main role in the Nickelodeon TV series 100 Things to Do Before High School (2014–2016). She also appeared in films like Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) and Instant Family (2018). She played the famous character Dora in the adventure movie Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019). More recently, she had big roles in Turtles All the Way Down (2024) and Alien: Romulus (2024).

Early life

Isabela Merced was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Katherine, was born in Lima, Peru. Her father, Patrick Moner, was born in Louisiana. Isabela has shared that Spanish was her first language. She found English a bit hard when she first started school. She feels more Peruvian than American. She was accepted into college when she was 15 years old.

Isabela started acting after her family's home in Cleveland was destroyed by a fire. She was a big fan of Judy Garland. To help distract her from the fire, her parents asked if she wanted to try out for a local play. It was The Wizard of Oz. She said yes and got a part as a Munchkin. A theater director told her family they should move to New York City. They did, so Isabela could try to act on Broadway.

Career

Isabela Merced has always wanted to be an actress since she was very young. Movies with Shirley Temple and Judy Garland inspired her. She started acting in local community theater when she was six. Her first acting job was a commercial for Claritin. She got this job on what was supposed to be her last day in New York City. She had spent the summer trying out for roles there.

Isabela made her Broadway debut at age ten. She was in a play called Evita. In this play, she sang in Spanish with Ricky Martin.

Nickelodeon and early films

Isabela's first main role was as CJ Martin. This was the lead character on the Nickelodeon TV series 100 Things to Do Before High School. She played this role from 2014 to 2016. At the same time, she started voicing Kate. Kate is a main character in the Dora the Explorer spin-off show, Dora and Friends: Into the City!. She voiced Kate from 2014 to 2017.

In 2015, she was Lori Collins in the Nickelodeon movie Splitting Adam. In 2016, she played Sadie in another Nickelodeon movie, Legends of the Hidden Temple. Isabela also released her first music album, Stopping Time, on September 18, 2015.

Merced in 2018

In May 2016, Isabela was cast in the movie Transformers: The Last Knight. This film came out in June 2017. She also voiced Heather in the animated movie The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature. That movie was released in theaters on August 11, 2017.

Later films and music

In 2018, she played Isabel Reyes in Sicario: Day of the Soldado. She also played Lizzy, the adopted daughter of characters played by Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne, in the comedy film Instant Family. Isabela even wrote and sang a song called "I'll Stay" for this movie.

In 2019, Isabela starred as the main character in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. This was a live-action movie based on the cartoon series. She also appeared in the Christmas romantic comedy Let It Snow. That same year, she was cast with Jason Momoa in the Netflix movie Sweet Girl.

On October 14, 2019, Isabela told her fans that she would use the stage name Isabela Merced. She chose this name to honor her grandmother, whom she never met. She later said it was a stage name, not a legal name change, but it had a deep meaning for her. Her first song, "Papi," came out on October 25, 2019. Her first music video followed on November 6, 2019. On May 22, 2020, she released her first EP (a short album) called The Better Half of Me. Billboard magazine named her one of the top 15 new Peruvian artists to listen to in July 2020.

In 2024, Isabela starred in Turtles All the Way Down. This movie is based on a 2017 book by John Green. She also appeared in Fede Álvarez's movie Alien: Romulus. In July 2023, Isabela was chosen to play Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl in the DC Universe (DCU) film Superman (2025). In January 2024, she was cast as Dina in the second season of The Last of Us TV series.

Personal life

Isabela Merced has a health condition called polycystic ovary syndrome. She has talked openly about her struggles with anxiety and has attended therapy.

Her mother has faced a battle with breast cancer. As of 2020, her mother is in remission, which means the cancer is under control.

Film roles

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	Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl	Post-production

Television roles

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

Video game roles

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Isabela Merced para niños