The Academy Award for Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars goes to Mikey Madison for Anora. Accepting the award, she said that she grew up in LA, but that "Hollywood always felt so far away."
Madison also tearfully thanked the cast, crew, the community of Brighton Beach, her fellow nominees, and shouted out director Sean Baker, saying, "This is all because of you."
Madison beat Wicked's Cynthia Erivo, Emilia Perez's Karla Sofía Gascón, The Substance's Demi Moore, and I'm Still Here's Fernanda Torres to take home the award. Her win was something of a surprise as Moore had been the clear favorite going into the final awards ceremony, but Anora had a late surge of popularity with voters. She also won the BAFTA award for Best Actress at the 2025 ceremony, which she dedicated to sex workers.
In Anora, Madison plays Anora 'Ani' Mikheeva, a dancer living and working in Brighton Beach who is introduced to Ivan 'Vanya' Zakharov, the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. The pair begin a whirlwind romance after he hires her to become his girlfriend, which quickly escalates when they get married on a whim in Vegas. When Vanya's family find out about the nuptials, they are none to pleased in this wild comedy drama.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ for our Big Screen Spotlight piece on the film, Madison said: "Ani is a very different character from anyone I've played, but I think that the stunt training that I was able to do in preparation for Scream definitely helped me doing my own stunts for Anora. The physicality of the character, it was the most challenging thing I've ever had to do, honestly."
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