All About Mikey Madison, the Star of Anora

Director Sean Baker’s Oscar-nominated film Anora stars 25-year-old Mikey Madison, and fans are eager for more information about the relatively unknown actress. Anora follows the story of a sex worker named Ani. She meets Ivan, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, a powerful and wealthy Russian man. The pair get married in Las Vegas, but when they go to New York to meet his family, things take a turn. The movie opened to great reviews and took home the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or this year. Now, Madison is a Best Actress Oscar nominee for her work.

Madison is perfect for the role, and that’s pretty much because Baker wrote it for her after seeing her in Scream V, according to an interview she did with ELLE Canada.

“I was floored that Sean wanted to meet me, but I wasn’t about to question it,” she shared. “I immediately said yes. I felt like the luckiest actress in the world that he wanted to work with me.”

Here’s everything to know about the rising star.

Where is Mikey Madison from?

Madison is from Los Angeles and was raised in the San Fernando Valley. Her parents are psychologists, not actors. Madison was one of five kids, and she said in a September 2024 interview with The Cut that she was homeschooled after seventh grade. That left Madison with a lot of free time to pursue her interest in competitive horseback riding. In August, she told Esquire that both her mother and grandmother had ridden horses, so she was riding “before she could walk.”

“I literally homeschooled myself so I could be at the barn all day with my pony,” she said. “I loved the ritual of getting to the barn and taking care of my horse, but it’s kind of an isolating sport. I felt called in another direction.”

It wasn’t the simplest decision, however.

She explained to Esquire, “I just had a pull towards wanting some deeper connection with other people or wanting to experience something more emotional than what I was doing. To me, that decision was simultaneously easy but also painful. I felt that if I started acting, then I’d have to commit myself 100 percent to it, and I couldn’t do that if I was still committed to horseback riding, which is very time-consuming. And so I let that part of my life go for the time being.”

Madison’s mother signed her up for an acting class. She told Vogue in October that acting connected her to a different part of herself.

“I was intrigued by the intimacy and the connection that comes with acting,” she said. “To me, it seemed very brave, deep, and emotional, and I don’t know if that’s something I was feeling as a horseback rider.”

What does she do when she’s not on screen?

Madison just got a new rescue puppy named Jam to go with her cat named Biscuit, and she spends her free time with them. She also bakes.

Jam is “the love of my life, and it’s also absolute chaos,” the star explained. “He’s six months old now, so he’s calming down a little bit, but he’s six pounds of like… the biggest personality in the world. He’s very cute, he’s a little rescue dog. But to relax, I watch movies, hang out with my friends, cook, and bake a lot. I love cooking and baking for other people specifically, though—it relaxes me. It’s my happy place.”

She also shared a bit with Vogue about her interest in fashion, which for a while made her think she’d get into designing.

“I’ve always loved fashion and, when I was younger, I was so experimental with clothing,” Madison said. “There was a period just a couple years ago when I was super into Victorian dresses, and I would mix them with combat boots, so it was this grunge look with a very delicate dress. And then, when I was 18 or 19, I was really into ’70s-style dresses. I’ve always loved vintage, and I have a crazy collection of very interesting clothing that I don’t quite feel comfortable wearing now, but I cannot give up.”

What else has Madison been in?

Her first major role was in 2017’s Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey, an independent film. From there, she was cast on the Bravo show Imposters, then the television show Better Things. She also had a small part in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. Scream V starring Jenna Ortega was Madison’s biggest silver screen moment before Anora, and she also recently appeared in Lady in the Lake.

About her continued growth as an actor, Madison told Esquire, “I think that the kind of actor I am now, because of the experiences I’ve had, I’m confident in my voice and that what I have to say is important. Even if someone doesn’t want to listen, I’m still going to share it and tell them. Because as an actor, I’m not a puppet. It’s really important that my voice is heard, because it’s a collaboration, you know?”

What else have Madison and Baker said about her work in Anora?

The director and actress talked with the London Standard in October 2024 about the project and had nothing but wonderful things to say about one another.

“Sean has dedicated his career to destigmatizing sex work and telling stories about marginalized people,” Madison shared. “He’s always done it in a very honest way—and in a funny way, too. He deals with a lot of dark subject matter, but he’s constantly flipping that on its head and injecting it with humor. So I trusted Sean completely and knew he would be a true collaborator with me.”

Baker opened up about seeing Madison on screen for the first time.

“Seeing [Mikey] playing different roles, her ability to change her emotions on a dime, her sense of humor, her ability to make brave choices and her amazing scream,” he explained. “It was at that point that we reached out to her.”

How did Madison react to her first Oscar nomination?

Madison spoke to Variety about her reaction to her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress. “I am in my bed in a hotel in New York, feeling very grateful,” she said. “I was on FaceTime with my mom, my dad, my dog and my twin brother this morning, and I’m humbled; absolutely overjoyed. My heart is broken for Los Angeles right now [due to the wildfires], but I feel like as a community, everyone’s coming together and celebrating film in a beautiful way.”

Madison dedicated her BAFTA win to the sex worker community.

After winning Best Leading Actress at the BAFTA Film Awards, Madison gave a heartfelt speech, dedicating the win to the sex worker community who inspired Anora and her role.

“I do want to just take a moment to recognize the sex worker community,” she said. “I just want to say that I see you. You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and ally.”

She then thanked her mother for all of her support throughout the process of auditioning and learning her lines, before adding, “To my fellow nominees, I’m just so in awe of all of you. You just gave beautiful performances. And really, the highlight of all of this has just been getting to know all of you.”

Is Madison like her character in Anora?

Not at all. Madison told ELLE in our December Women in Hollywood issue that they’re very different. “I found myself exerting a lot of energy every day to be at the place Ani was at, where she was always ready to get in a fight,” the actress said. “She’s very quick, verbally and physically. I don’t feel I’m like that in any way. I wanted her to be very guarded on the outside, but completely torn up and emotional and ragged on the inside. I needed to be in both places, and for you to see, in her eyes, that she’s not just this totally tough girl. I wanted you to see all those layers of who she is, and so for me, getting to those places was important. But also exhausting.”