Moriah Castillo Peters was born on October 2, 1992, in Pomona, California. Her father is Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anthony Moreno Peters and her mother is Patricia Castillo Peters; she has an older sister named Bianca and younger brother named Anthony Ezra. Peters grew up in the California inland towns of Chino and Ontario.

Peters auditioned for American Idol, but the judges—Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Avril Lavigne—were harsh to her because of her wholesome image, telling her to experience life (“kiss a boy”) before entering the music industry. Peters had a ‘no kissing’ rule and believed in waiting for marriage to kiss anyone. Touched by the values she portrayed at the audition, a random stranger introduced Peters to Wendi Foy, who helped her make a three-song demo to market to record labels in Nashville. As a result, Peters joined Reunion Records on August 11, 2011. On April 17, 2012, Peters released the album I Choose Jesus.

Peters was on The Hurt & The Healer tour with MercyMe and fellow artist Chris August, where she was the opening act for the two. Peters also toured with Tenth Avenue North, Audrey Assad, and Rend Collective Experiment in 2012 and 2013, during the “Struggle Tour”. In August 2014 she was on the Air1 Positive Hits Tour.

Peters is of Mexican-French heritage. Peters married Joel Smallbone, from the band, for King & Country, on July 7, 2013. They now reside in Nashville, Tennessee together.

She appeared in her first film, Because of Gracia, that was released in 2017.