Isa Briones

Isabella Camille Briones, born January 17, 1999, in London, England, is a British and American actor and singer. The daughter of musical theater performers Jon Jon Briones and Megan Briones, she grew up in a family entirely immersed in the performing arts. Her father was completing the West End run of Miss Saigon when she was born, and her parents had originally met in Stuttgart while auditioning for the same production. Briones was ten months old when the family relocated to New York City, and seven years old when they moved again to Los Angeles. She is Filipino on her father's side and Swedish and Irish on her mother's, and has a younger brother, Teo Briones.

Briones began modeling in New York City at age three and started appearing in film and television productions in 2008, taking on supporting roles in features including Brown Soup Thing, Takers, and Lonely Boy. She studied acting and singing at home under her parents' guidance and later majored in theatre and musical theatre at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Among her early stage credits was the role of Susan in a Los Angeles production of Miracle on 34th Street, in which her mother played her character's mother.

Her Los Angeles stage work earned significant recognition in 2018, when the LA STAGE Alliance nominated her for three Ovation Awards for Featured Actress in a Musical. She received nominations for her portrayal of Perón's mistress in Evita and won the award for her performance as Natalie in Next to Normal. She had previously played the same role in an earlier production of Next to Normal in 2016, and critics took note of her command of the part across both runs. Margaret Gray of the Los Angeles Times named her the breakout star of the 2017 production, while BroadwayWorld's Cary Ginell praised her portrayal as "disquietingly effective" and "achingly nuanced."

Following her Ovation win, Briones moved back to New York with her father in January 2018 and pursued a role in Hamilton. After a seven-month audition process, she was cast in the first national touring company at age 19, becoming its youngest member. Over the course of the year-long tour, she played both Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds and understudied the role of Eliza Hamilton. Critics responded warmly to her work; Judith Newmark of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that she "effectively plays Peggy Schuyler as a cupcake and Maria Reynolds as a flambé," and Rick Pender of Cincinnati CityBeat noted that she "brings a sultry alto" to the role of Reynolds. She toured with the company through March 2019.

In April 2019, while still performing multiple roles in Hamilton, Briones had submitted audition tapes for a new television series and was cast in Star Trek: Picard for CBS and Paramount+. She learned during the audition process that she would be playing not one but two sets of synthetic twins: Dahj and Soji in the first season, and Jana and Sutra in the second. A third character, Kore, a genetically engineered figure connected to the 21st-century geneticist Adam Soong, was added in the second season as well. Briones did not return for the series' third season. Critics offered mixed assessments of the material but generally praised her commitment to the roles; Scott Collura of IGN wrote that she "gives it her all week after week," and Keith DeCandido of Tor.com observed that her performance improved with each episode. For the first season finale, she performed the vocals for a new arrangement of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," composed by Jeff Russo, which played during Data's final scene. The recording was released as a single in 2020.

Between and around her television commitments, Briones continued working in theater. She appeared in AJ Rafael's Crazy Talented Asians and in the production #Hash(tag) America by Anthony Fedorov and Raye Zaragoza. In May 2020, she and the Crazy Talented Asians cast launched a monthly online performance series. In April 2022, she took part in a reading of Graves, a play by Ellie Pyle directed by Bola Ogun. That July, she joined the cast of Grease as staged by Musical Theatre West, playing Betty Rizzo. Sean McMullen of The Press-Enterprise described her performance as "tough, seasoned, and visceral," and Steven Stanley of Stage Scene LA credited her with giving the character "both power pipes and tough-girl swagger."

In October 2022, Briones was cast in the Disney+ and Hulu series Goosebumps, based on the novels by R. L. Stine. She played Margot Stokes, a bookworm perceived by her classmates as a snob, in the series' first season in 2023. She subsequently joined the cast of the HBO Max medical drama The Pitt as Dr. Trinity Santos, an intern described as self-assured and abrasive. The series debuted in April 2025 to strong critical and ratings reception. The Santos character generated audience debate due to her role in interpersonal conflicts within the show, and Briones spoke publicly about her appreciation for playing a "complicated" character. She also noted the significance of the series in representing Filipino contributions to American healthcare, stating that Filipino actors had rarely been seen in medical dramas before. As part of The Pitt's primary cast, she received the Ensemble in a Drama Series award at the 32nd Actor Awards.

Briones made her Broadway debut in March 2024, joining the cast of Hadestown as Eurydice. Her father joined the same production as Hermes. Her Broadway work continued with an announcement on March 11, 2026, that she would portray Connie Francis in the musical Just in Time, scheduled to begin a limited run on April 1, 2026. Her Broadway credits span the years 2016 to 2025 and include Hamilton, Hadestown, and Just in Time.

In addition to her stage and screen work, Briones has recorded music with fellow Filipino-American performer AJ Rafael, including a version of "Rewrite the Stars" from The Greatest Showman, released as a single. As of 2020, she was based in Los Angeles.