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Last year, Isabela Merced was living a double life. By day, she was running around the set of “The Last of Us” in Vancouver — dodging Infected, WLF soldiers and Seraphites alongside co-star Bella Ramsey.

Then, after wrapping what was sometimes a 15-hour workday, she’d be on a flight 4,500 miles away to Atlanta — doing costume fittings and fight training to become Hawkgirl in James Gunn’s “Superman.”

“I didn’t know I could do that,” she tells De Los. “I proved to myself that I’m capable of more than I think.”

The Peruvian American actress has the kind of career that any young actor would aspire to: She made her Broadway debut at 10 years old in “Evita,” earned critical acclaim acting opposite Benicio del Toro in “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” at 17 and starred in the live-action film adaptation of the massively successful “Dora the Explorer” franchise when she was just 18.

In the last year alone, she’s grown into a certified action star, making waves in huge franchise entries like “Alien: Romulus,” “The Last of Us” Season 2 and “Superman.” At 24 years old, her filmography of formidable heroines, scrappy spitfires and multifaceted young women in major blockbusters has put her on a path that’s been largely inaccessible to so many of the Latino actors who came before her. It’s why she also has her sights set on producing, hoping to provide more opportunities for her community in front of and behind the camera.

Yet this month, she’s turning her focus away from the screen and toward her other creative calling: music.

In 2020 she released her debut EP, “The Better Half of Me,” which showcased her bilingual prowess through soulful Latin pop tracks, written and produced alongside her brother, Gyovanni Moner, during quarantine. Now, she’s revisiting the project in a collaboration with the Grammy Award-winning Peruvian artist Tony Succar. Their new single “Apocalipsis,” released Friday, transforms Merced’s 2020 song of the same name from a slow jam to a modernized salsa groove fit for a Miami nightclub.

With “Superman” now out on digital platforms, Merced spoke with De Los about donning Hawkgirl’s helmet, working with Succar on “Apocalipsis,” and what’s coming up next.

It seems like everything is kept pretty under wraps for these massive superhero movies. How much did you know going into your “Superman” audition?
Initially, I had no idea who I was auditioning for because everything had secret names. I think mine said “Cyclone” in the script. I didn’t actually find out who I was until the day of the camera test with the [Justice Gang].

Oh, wow. How did they tell you?
They didn’t want to make it obvious that they were about to tell me, so it was all really mysterious. I’d been doing all the fittings, and the fight training, and then I got pulled into James [Gunn’s] trailer with the producers and everyone, and they were like “Do you want to be Hawkgirl?” As soon as I found out, I was really, really excited because I was like “Oh thank God, it’s someone I know.”

What was your connection to Hawkgirl before this?
I grew up watching [the “Justice League” animated series] and the character is canonically Latina, so I loved that. Her history is really complicated, and it gets even crazier when you get into the comics, but I was a huge fan of her in the show, and I drew a lot on my memories of Maria [Canals-Barrera’s] version of her. I mean, they’re two different characters, but they’re still of the same spirit because they share memories of their past lives.

What made you most excited about this version of the character? Did you connect with her at all?
She’s the only young woman in this group of guys, in an industry that’s mostly headed up by men, and in a movie that’s mostly led by men. It was a really cool opportunity to exercise a different way of being in that kind of environment. She’s kind of the unfiltered and disconnected, doesn’t-care-how-she’s-perceived version of me, and that was really cathartic to play.

Isabela listened to punk music to get in the mindset to play Hawkgirl.

(Jason Roman)

Because you also have a music background, I’m curious about whether you use music as a tool to get into character?
Oh, yeah, definitely. Every character I play, I make a playlist of songs that remind me of them, and I’ll play them before I go to film. With Hawkgirl it was a lot of punk music that I was discovering, with all these really strong singers. Then there were songs that Bella [Ramsey] and I really loved by Adrianne Lenker that informed our experience a lot as Dina and Ellie [in “The Last of Us”]. There was some ‘80s music in there too, maybe some early 2000s, but in general, just really soft, sweet, romantic songs.

You’re releasing a salsa remix of your 2020 single, “Apocalipsis,” with Tony Succar. How did that come about?
I mean, “remix” almost feels like an understatement because it feels like a completely different song. That’s thanks to Tony, who’s the first Peruvian to win a Grammy. He came to me with this opportunity four years ago, and we recorded the song, but I was signed to a label and we weren’t able to release it. Now that I’m free and independent, and he won his Grammy, he wanted to put it on his EP, and I was like, “Hell yeah, let’s do it.” He gave me the freedom to do the video for it, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. I got to dance for it, and I learned all the choreography in an hour and a half. It was crazy, but I’m really excited for people to see it.

How would you describe your music taste? And how does it connect to the type of music you want to make?
It’s hard to pin down. If I’m looking at my most recents, it’s Hermanos Gutiérrez. But it’s also Dick Gaughan, Big Thief, Los Mirlos, which is a Peruvian band, and the Andrew Oldham Orchestra. There’s no through line there other than good music. I already have a lot going on with acting, so if music could stay something fun and light for me, and not so disciplined, I think that would be nice.

Is there a musical or an idea for a musical that would get you excited about returning to Broadway?
Have they done a Selena musical? No, I think I would have remembered that. But that would be cool, getting to dance on stage. It would be like a concert-slash-musical theater experience, kind of like what they did with Gloria Estefan’s “On Your Feet!” If it was made by the right people with respect to her life and her legacy, I think that could be dope.

But honestly, if I were to do something on Broadway, I would love for it to be an original composition. I’m currently working on one right now. I’m producing it, and also going to be in it. Things are moving along really well, and it’s another project with friends. I think we have to take more bold chances when it comes to Broadway, because everyone’s trying to reach a younger audience — but I think the most efficient way of doing that is by allowing the younger audience to bring their stories forward and tell them.

You’ve mentioned that you’re getting into producing. What kind of projects do you have in the works right now?
I’m producing one movie that’s shooting in September called “Psyche.” I’m really excited about it. We have Latina director, and also the project I’m supposed to do next after that is going to be directed by a Peruvian woman. So there’s some really, really cool s— that I’ve been trying to do, where I’ll have more creative control and freedom — but also a lower budget, so, you know, roughing [it] compared to what I’ve been doing the last few years. But I’m excited to get to the root of why I love to do this and feel it fully.

Your career is so interesting because it’s just getting started, and yet, it’s not the kind of career that many Latino actors have historically been able to achieve so early on. How do you process that?
I’m in an interesting position because I think Hollywood is really comfortable picking Latino actors who are sort of white-forward or mixed before they’re willing to cast Indigenous people. And look, I’ll take anything I can get, because, girl, I’m just trying to work in this economy. [Laughs]

But I think being aware of that is really important because when I go off and do my own projects, and have the power, I can hire people that look more like the people that I grew up with, or that look like my family. But it doesn’t always happen that way. Financing is hard to get, and when you’re trying to bring people on, they want someone who’s already known, and Hollywood just hasn’t given many of those opportunities to people of certain skin colors.

Because you’ve grown up in this industry, I’m curious what your experience has been like learning to speak up for and advocate for yourself?
Something I’ve learned is that there’s always a power struggle going on, whether that’s on a personal level, or on a bigger level, or even socially. I think we’re constantly fighting for power. And because of that, we can become very defensive. So I think the biggest challenge for me wasn’t necessarily what I went through, but how I reacted to it: by choosing to keep an open heart and still love freely and trust in people because of how I was raised. I think we all have a choice to make when we’re harmed, and that’s to either close up and harm others, or to keep going. It sucks, but I won’t let that dictate the way I move through life.

Joe Layton’s evil character Mick Michaelis is back to cause chaos in Weatherfield but as Joe tells The Mirror he’s already received a torrent of online abuse from viewers

Corrie cop killer Joe Layton has been forgiven by Colson Smith for killing off his much-loved character PC Craig Tinker in a violent attack with a baseball bat. The same can’t be said for fellow Weatherfield residents, whose lives will be in danger next week when Joe’s character Mick Michaelis runs amok on the cobbles after a dramatic jail break.

As he tries to snatch his kids and flee abroad, Mick lands DC Kitt Green in hospital, needing lifesaving surgery. Joe, 33, who is leaving the soap, says of Colson: “He was such a positive energy and for the other cast and crew there’s obviously a massive Colson-sized hole everywhere at Coronation Street. “But we had a good chat when we first met and continued to chat.

“We were both Leeds United fans, so we bonded over that pretty quickly. And I was just struck by what a lovely warm-hearted person he is.“He never made me feel in any way shape or form: ‘I’m doing this bad thing to this popular character.’” Playing a Corrie baddie has prompted some unexpected encounters. Joe tells The Mirror: “I was in Scotland with my sister who lives up there. We were sitting outside a restaurant having a drink and a lady came out from the restaurant.

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“She stood next to me and looked at me and she went, ‘should you not be in prison?’

“She told me that she and the five ladies inside sitting looking at us through the window were all police officers, including the head of the constabulary in Scotland!” Monstrous Mick has had Corrie fans on the edge of their seats since he first stepped on to the cobbles back in February.

But Joe, who was spotted by a US agent at 22 and moved to the States – where he spent 6 years after being promised Hollywood stardom – says his younger self would have turned the role down. Joe, who returned to Britain five years ago, says: “If you’d asked me when I moved to America if I’d ever do a soap, I think I’d have said ‘no.’ No disrespect to soaps, but I didn’t think they were for me.

“I’m just so happy that I was offered the role in Coronation Street when I was. I’d grown up a bit and my attitude towards work had changed. “It’s a great lesson for me that you should try everything, because what I experienced in my six months at Coronation Street was incredible.” And he will be leaving the cobbles with a bang, as Mick causes mayhem after his jail break.

“No-one on the street is safe,” Joe warns. “We’ve seen what he’s capable of – he’s already killed Craig and attacked Kit. “His plan is to look for his kids and try to escape. We see a different side to him and how much his kids mean to him.

“Serving a life sentence isn’t something he can deal with and he’ll do whatever it takes to get out of the country and take his kids with him.” Joe’s big break came 11 years ago when he landed the lead role in the BBC drama series Tatau.

“I came out of drama school and hit the ground running,” he recalls. “I did Tatau and off the back of that I got picked up by a US manager and US agent and had the opportunity to go out there.

“They said ‘you’re going to come over and you’re going to do whatever you want to do.’ In your early 20s why would you not believe that?”

But, renting a studio apartment in the middle of Los Angeles, the scales soon fell from his eyes “It was great, but it was like living next door to Harrods, but not having any money,” he laughs. “I was walking past all these lovely shops and restaurants, but I was cooking baked beans back in my apartment.”

Still, he was delighted to land a role in the hit American TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “When I first drove into the Universal Studio parking lot, I remember sitting in my car calling my dad saying ‘you’ll never guess where I am,’” he smiles.

But, despite this great role, life in LA could be tough. At times, he admits: “I also worked as a carpenter and doing food delivery. I was a very small fish in a very big pond. “It was demoralising at times, but it also taught me to stand on my own two feet.”

And when he started being offered bigger jobs back in Blighty, he came home. Since then, he’s worked alongside Jodie Comer in Thirteen, he appeared in the Dawn French comedy The Trouble with Maggie Cole and in the Netflix crime drama Young Wallander, as well as being cast in the BBC series The Bombing of Pan Am 103.

Then came Mick – a wife beating thug and one of Corrie’s nastiest characters of recent years. “I got a lot of hate online in the form of comments or tweets or direct messages,” Joe recalls. “I think everybody just thought ‘There’s no room for this guy on the street, we don’t like him, get rid, we wish that you’d never existed as an actor or a person!’ “Because Corrie is such a staple in so many people’s day to day and because it’s been on so long, there’s sometimes a fine line separating reality and your character.

“I was lucky that my previous job was The Bombing of Pan Am 103. That was airing at the same time on BBC. So, the night that Craig was killed I was on ITV at 8-9pm and then 9-10pm I was on BBC playing a really nice American character.”

London-born Joe, who grew up in Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales, wrote a journal as Mick, to help understand his character. “I wrote it first person as Mick,” he explains. “It was just a stream of consciousness. “I was playing an abusive husband who kills a police officer. On paper that’s dreadful and horrible, but my job as an actor is to get to the why and the motivation. You don’t judge the character; you try to understand them and step into their shoes.

“Mick is a really wounded, angry man who has been let down and fallen through the cracks at multiple different times in his life. Sadly there are lots of men out there like that.”

But Joe, who would happily return to Corrie, won’t be watching his final scenes. He is filming in Lithuania for a new Apple TV sci fi series Star City, in which is is playing a Russian cosmonaut alongside Rhys Ifans and Anna Maxwell Martin.

“It was really exciting to go straight into that,” he says. Joe, who will also be touring the UKwith the play Lost Atoms in September, is glad he will miss his soap exit. He says: “When I did my very first TV job my mum organised for lots of friends and family to come over and watch and I felt more nervous than I’d ever felt performing on stage in my entire life!’ he says. “I was hardly in it, but I still felt self-conscious.

“So, the morning that Craig was killed, I went on ITVX at 7.30am to watch it on my own, to prepare myself before I watched it with my girlfriend and our friends in the evening!”

Lost Atoms premieres at Curve Leicester from 22 September before a nationwide tour. For tickets and information go to: www.franticassembly.co.uk

Downton Abbey actress Phyllis Logan was reunited with her husband Kevin McNally on-screen in the latest instalment of a Channel 5 crime drama

Downton Abbey’s Phyllis Logan has been reunited on our screens with her real-life spouse, Kevin McNally, in Channel 5’s gripping crime series, Murder Most Puzzling.

The show, an adaptation of the much-lauded Puzzle Lady Mysteries from the mind of author Parnell Hall, follows sleuth Cora Felton whose exceptional crossword-solving talents see her become a surprising asset to the police department in a sleepy town.

McNally, known for his roles in epic franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean and acclaimed series including The Crown and Unforgotten, portrays Gilbert – a potential romantic fixture in Cora’s life.

According to the episode narrative, “Cora is distracted by love, as she’s wooed by a charming suitor, Gilbert. When Sherry says he seems too good to be true, it causes a rift between the women but plants a seed of doubt in Cora’s mind.”

Phyllis first encountered Kevin on the set of Love and Reason, back in 1993. It wasn’t until well into their workforce years that they tied the knot in 2011, after becoming parents to their son David in 1996, reports Surrey Live.

In a heart-to-heart with Mail Online in 2017, Phyllis divulged details about their unexpected romance: “I never thought real love.

“The sort where your blood tingles and your world explodes with joy – would happen to me at my time of life,” she shared. “I believed I had missed out. But I’m ever so glad it happened.'”

Phyllis and Kevin, who recently played Jane Austen’s parents in the BBC period drama Miss Austen, reunite as on-screen lovers in the new series Murder Most Puzzling.

Set against the backdrop of the idyllic market town of Bakerbury, the show introduces us to Cora Felton, a crossword aficionado who lends her puzzle-solving prowess to the local police force when a murder mystery unfolds.

The official synopsis for the series reveals: “After the body of a teenage girl is found in the local cemetery with an enigmatic clue in her pocket, Bakerbury Detective DCI Hooper seeks help from the town’s newest, and most famous, resident – Cora Felton, AKA The Puzzle Lady.”

Cora’s unconventional ‘shoot first, ask questions never’ method becomes an asset as she navigates through a web of murderers, swindlers, and dodgy officials.

Despite harbouring a secret that could destroy her and those close to her, Cora’s uncanny knack for unravelling murder mysteries stands out. “And, as it turns out, Bakerbury isn’t as sleepy as it looks.”

Murder Most Puzzling airs on 5.

There has been speculation that one Coronation Street legend could make their return to the show for their son’s funeral

Coronation Street star Lisa George, who is best known as Beth Tinker on the long-running soap, left the show last year but fans have been speculating on her possible return for her on-screen son Craig’s (played by Colson Smith ) funeral. Last year, Lisa said: “As I filmed it I knew Beth was leaving and it was my final scene on the cobbles.

“Halfway through, when he called the cab to stop, and they got out I actually got really, quite tearful. I cried afterwards because it’s been this huge part of my life for such a long time.” Meanwhile, almost a year later, Beth’s police officer son died in brutal scenes on the ITV soap after a vicious attack at the hands of villain Mick Michaelis in the previous episode. Mick beat innocent Craig with a bat before leaving him for dead.

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Fans believe Lisa could be reprising her role but sources claimed the funeral will be taking place off screen, so Lisa wouldn’t be back on the show.

“Craig’s funeral will take place away from Weatherfield with Beth very much involved – but she won’t be back on screen,” they said to The Sun. “It will all make sense for the story and there’s a very touching goodbye to Craig from his friends in the community instead.”

The Mirror have reached out to ITV for comment. Meanwhile, after Craig was rushed to the hospital, his nearest and dearest had been hopeful that he would survive despite his horrific injuries, including swelling on the brain following the brutal attack.

Sadly, Craig tragically died, leaving Kirk Sutherland completely heartbroken as he rushed into the hospital room in floods of tears.

Colson, 26, recently opened up about the moment show boss Kate Brooks told him that the character was exiting the soap. “It feels like the end, and it’s great. It’s a bookmarked, signed, sealed, delivered sort of thing. It’s been nice to see it play out,” he said.

Speaking to Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard on This Morning, he went on to add: “When you get told you’re leaving a show, the one thing you ask is ‘Am I killed and how do I go?’ I wanted to be killed.

“I think that really was the right thing. I’ve been in that building since I was 12 years old. I know how it works; you pick up on vibes, you pick up on things.

“I told Jack and Ben, tonight’s the night, will you be there for me? I went up to the boss, and she said, ‘This isn’t going to be an easy conversation.’ I said, ‘Let’s get it out of the way.'”

Speaking about his meeting with Kate, he said: “Getting told is hard, hearing the words – I tried really hard not to put the words into her mouth. As soon as I knew, I was at peace with what was going on.”

Despite asking to be killed off from the soap, Colson admitted he had no idea how brutal it would be.

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