Marisa Abela was born in Brighton, the daughter of actress Caroline Gruber and director Angelo Abela, and grew up in Rottingdean with her older brother Jack. Her father is Maltese and English, while her mother is Jewish from Poland. In 2020, Abela made her television debut as Ellie Sutherland in Sky One’s thriller COBRA and as Yasmin Kara-Hanani in BBC Two and HBO’s workplace drama Industry. In 2022, she appeared in the films She Is Love and Rogue Agent. In July 2022, Abela joined the cast of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, where she played Teen Talk Barbie