The actors who paved the way for Isabela Merced: “They are the reason why I’m here”
Interesting place, Peru. It’s not a country that people mention very often, or that you ever see on TV, or even read about much. That’s despite it being the third largest country in all of South America and home to all kinds of cool stuff like lost ancient cities and a canyon that’s twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in America. Plus, of course, it has a movie star, a small, adorable bear in a blue coat that moved to a posh part of London and made what many hipsters believe to be one of the best films ever.
But now it also has another one in the shape of Isabela Merced – an actor who, at just 24, has already starred in some of the biggest franchises of all time.
OK…so technically she was actually born in Cleveland, Ohio, but for the purposes of allowing us to mention Paddington we are going to lean in on the fact she is half-Peruvian and even says herself: “I wish I could say I’m 100% Peruvian; I’ve always felt that way.”
Regardless of her nationality, Merced is certainly smashing it on the big and small screens right now; her acting reel over the past couple of years standing up to anyone else working in Hollywood.
One of those annoyingly talented people who can do several things very well (she’s an actor, musician, songwriter and a dancer), Merced shook off the ignominy of appearing in Marvel’s 2024 shocker Madame Web by immediately being cast in Alien: Romulus, then TV zombie smash The Last of Us and now appearing as ‘Hawkgirl’ in James Gunn’s Superman reboot.
So in just a year, she’s ticked off Marvel, Aliens, The Last of Us and DC Comics. Not bad, not bad at all. And that’s without mentioning that as a kid, she also popped up in Transformers: The Last Knight – meaning there aren’t many billion-dollar franchises left for her to complete.
Merced has also forged something of a path by becoming the first Latina spider-woman and building on some of the work done by her female heroes, saying: “There are people like America Ferrera, Eva Longoria, and Jennifer Lopez. They are the reason why I’m here”.
She added: “They paved the way and did the hard work, and I hope that I can do a really amazing job, at the very least. Because we usually have to perform and try a little bit harder than everyone else [to get to the same place.”
Merced now wants to be someone that other Latina actors can look up to and follow into movie-making, adding, “I hope I can do that so people are more inclined to head down this path of representation.”
Meanwhile, Gunn’s new imagining of the ‘Man of Steel’ is certainly causing some controversy, as is often the way, given the online fervour that superhero adaptations tend to attract. But despite many in the media attempting to paint it as too ‘woke’, the film has been very well reviewed by critics and audiences alike.
The good news for fans of Merced’s Hawkgirl is that she will also appear in the second season of Gunn’s Peacemaker, which hits screens later this year. While she’s previously admitted to being more of a Batman than Superman fan, she took the role on Gunn’s request and told IGN: “I loved getting to explore the chemistry between the Justice Gang. I love that James continues to work with the same people. I hope I’m part of that gang now.”
