Isabela Merced Bio
Isabela Yolanda Moner (born July 10, 2001), known professionally as Isabela Merced since 2019, is an American actress. She first gained widespread attention as the lead of the Nickelodeon series 100 Things to Do Before High School and went on to build a career that spans family films, action features, and prestige drama. Merced’s work includes Transformers: The Last Knight, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Instant Family, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Madame Web, Turtles All the Way Down, and Alien: Romulus.
Early Life and Background
Isabela Merced was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Katerine, a nurse who was born in Lima, Peru, and Patrick Moner, a firefighter who was born in Louisiana. She grew up speaking Spanish as her first language and has said she struggled with English when she started grade school, later describing herself as half Peruvian and half from Ohio. Merced has two brothers.
Merced began acting after a fire destroyed her family’s Cleveland home, an event her father responded to as the on-call firefighter. Her parents, looking to lift her spirits after the loss, encouraged her to audition for a local production of The Wizard of Oz, a Judy Garland favorite. She was cast as a Munchkin, attended the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory led by Broadway producer Fred Sternfeld, and later traveled to New York City with her family to pursue auditions.
Path to Acting
Merced has said she wanted to become an actress from a young age, inspired by Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, and she started performing in local community theatre at age six. Her first paid booking was a Claritin commercial, won on what was meant to be her last day auditioning in New York City during a summer trip. By age ten, she had made her Broadway debut in a production of Evita, singing in Spanish alongside Ricky Martin.
She continued to train and audition, and was accepted into college at age fifteen. Her early stage experience and professional debuts prepared her for television and film work, leading to her first starring role as CJ Martin on the Nickelodeon series 100 Things to Do Before High School.
Isabela Merced Career
Early Career (2014–2016)
Merced’s first starring performance was as CJ Martin on the Nickelodeon television series 100 Things to Do Before High School, which aired from 2014 to 2016. In the same period, she voiced Kate in the Dora the Explorer spin-off Dora and Friends: Into the City!, a role she held from 2014 to 2017. She also appeared as Lori Collins in the Nickelodeon Original Movie Splitting Adam (2015) and as Sadie in Legends of the Hidden Temple (2016).
In 2015, Merced released her debut album Stopping Time, produced by Broadway Records. These early projects established her as a recognizable young performer across children’s television and music.
Breakthrough (2017–2019)
In May 2016, Merced was cast in Transformers: The Last Knight, released in June 2017, and she voiced Heather in the animated film The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature that same summer. Her 2018 role as the daughter of a drug cartel head in Sicario: Day of the Soldado drew strong critical praise, including from The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane, who wrote that Merced is terrific and that her character’s fortunes can be read in her eyes.
Also in 2018, she appeared in the comedy Instant Family as the adopted daughter of characters played by Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne, and she wrote and performed the song I’ll Stay for the film. In 2019, she starred as the title character in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, the live-action adaptation of the animated series, and appeared in the Christmas ensemble film Let It Snow and the Netflix feature Sweet Girl opposite Jason Momoa.
On October 14, 2019, Merced announced she would use the stage name Isabela Merced in memory of her late grandmother. She released her first single Papi in 2019, followed by her first music video on November 6, 2019. Her debut EP The Better Half of Me followed in 2020 through Republic Records, and Billboard named her one of the top 15 new Peruvian artists to watch in July 2020.
Notable Works and Milestones
Merced’s signature works include the lead in 100 Things to Do Before High School, the title role in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, and a critically acclaimed turn in Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Her career has been marked by early stage success on Broadway, a smooth transition to leading television roles, and a steady move into major studio films.
Isabela Merced Award Nominations
Verifiable nominations for Isabela Merced could not be confirmed from the available sources at this time, so specific nomination totals and categories are not listed here.
Isabela Merced Awards Won
Verifiable award wins for Isabela Merced could not be confirmed from the available sources at this time, so specific award totals and categories are not listed here. Industry recognition in 2025 included TVLine naming her the year’s Drama Star to Watch as part of its Women to Watch feature, and Variety including her in its annual Power of Young Hollywood Impact Report.
Isabela Merced Family
Isabela Merced is the daughter of Patrick Moner, a firefighter born in Louisiana, and Katerine Moner, a nurse born in Lima, Peru. She has two brothers. Her Peruvian and American heritage has been a recurring theme in her public remarks, and she has spoken about her closeness with her late grandmother, whose memory inspired her stage name change in 2019.
Personal Life
Merced has described herself as having been queer her whole life and has spoken about being in queer relationships, saying she aims to do her part for the queer community in American pop culture. She has also discussed her Catholic upbringing and how it shaped her early experiences.
In addition, Merced has spoken openly about living with polycystic ovary syndrome and about attending therapy and managing anxiety. She has continued to balance her acting career with her music releases while growing into more dramatic leading roles across television and film.
