Merlo, with more than 60 years of artistic career, has received the prestigious Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts from the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

[2] Merlo made her debut as a dancer in the 1957 show Te espero en el Eslava by Luis Escobar Kirkpatrick.

13 years later, she played alongside her daughter, Amparo Larrañaga, in the series Media naranja; in 2006, she did the same with her son, Luis Merlo, in Aquí no hay quien viva.

She has also appeared in the series Aquí hay negocio (1995), Luna negra (2003), Mis adorable vecinos (2004), Supervillanos (2006), Los Serrano (2008) and Somos cómplices (2009).

[5] In July 2013, she starred in the short film Betiko, directed by Arantza Ibarra, together with the actor Javier Pradera in the caves of Zugarramurdi.