Surprise: Mikey Madison Wins Best-Actress Oscar 2025 for ‘Anora’

Oscar night always has at least one massive surprise, and Mikey Madison delivered it this time.

The 25-year-old star of Anora claimed the best-actress award after a forceful run from the absurdist romance, usurping the favorite, Demi Moore for The Substance, in the second-to-last award of the night. Her win was bookended by two other awards for the film. Just after her acceptance speech, Anora won best picture, and just before it, filmmaker Sean Baker won best director.

When he accepted the trophy from Quentin Tarantino, Baker noted that there would be no Anora if Madison hadn’t been cast in a standout role in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.

Madison appeared to be among those whose breath was taken away. “This is very surreal…forgive me, I’m nervous. I’m going to read off of a paper,” she said, unfolding her speech. Clearly she was prepared—but not totally.

“Thank you so much to the Academy. I grew up in Los Angeles, but Hollywood always felt so far away from me, so to be here standing in this room today is really incredible,” Madison said, going on to offer gratitude to Neon, Film Nation, and Universal Pictures for releasing the movie.

Then she got personal. “Thank you to my incredible family: my mom, and my dad, and my sister, and my little brother. And my twin brother—Miles, thank you for being my best friend,” she said. “Not that you have a choice.”

Madison also thanked Baker, who won four awards, including best original screenplay and editing, tying the record set by Walt Disney. “Thank you, Brighton Beach, for lending us your beautiful backdrop and incredible community,” she added.

From there, she found time to thank the people who consulted on the movie. She plays the title character in Anora, a stripper who falls for the fun-loving son of a Russian oligarch, only to incur the wrath of his powerful family. “I also just want to, again, recognize and honor the sex worker community,” Madison said. “I will continue to support and be an ally. All of the incredible people, the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community, has been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience.”

Madison praised her fellow nominees and concluded by wondering if it was really happening: “This is a dream come true. I’m probably going to wake up tomorrow.”

Those who experience the soft-spoken Madison in real life are often struck by how different she seems from her brash, Lawng Island–accented character. Even Madison acknowledged how far she was from the adolescent woman who would earn her an Academy Award. “I feel very different personally and physically to her in every way, but I related to her hopefulness a little bit,” Madison told Vanity Fair’s Rebecca Ford in October. “It felt like I was constantly exerting so much energy to get to the places that she was in.”

In addition to Once Upon a Time, Madison was previously best known for playing Pamela Adlon’s combative daughter on the FX comedy series Better Things. Brash has become her thing, even if she doesn’t feel it in real life.