The Stunning Transformation Of Oscar Nominee Mikey Madison

Mikey Madison is the Oscar-nominated actor who starred in the 2024 hit film "Anora," in which she plays a sex worker who gets caught up with the Russian mob. Preparing for the role was an immersive experience, as Madison helped to create her character, Ani, essentially bringing her to life. Given that Madison did not come from a showbiz family, it's even more impressive that she's navigated her way so smoothly from her early indie film work to true stardom.

If "Anora" star Mikey Madison looks familiar to you, that may be because you saw her star in the comedy-drama series "Better Things." In it, she plays Max, the surly daughter of Pamela Adlon's character. Madison credited the experience for giving her a crash course in the entertainment industry. "I tried to put all of my energy into it and really commit myself to the role as much as I possibly could," the actor told Nylon, which seems to be how she has approached each of her career endeavors so far.

Madison's masterful performance in "Anora" is especially notable since she initially did not set out to become an actor at all. Her early life was focused on horseback riding, and she even tried her hand at clothing design before getting bitten by the acting bug. From her equestrian days to awkward auditions to making a splash in blockbuster hits like "Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood" and "Scream," Madison has had an interesting trajectory to fame.

Mikey Madison was born in Los Angeles, California in 1999 and was raised in a large family. Madison has a twin brother, two older sisters, and another younger brother, making her one of five children. Despite being part of such a large brood, Madison was not exactly outgoing as a child; in fact, she once described herself as having been "painfully shy." "I couldn't talk to anyone," she revealed to Interview. "Going up in front of class, I would have to mentally prepare myself to raise my hand."

Madison did not come from an acting family. Both worked as psychologists. "My father is a specialist with schizophrenia," she told Interview, "and my mother works with mostly children." According to Madison, her parents' careers in mental health turned out to be helpful once she became an actor, as they'd given her some insight into human nature. "I've grown up really understanding people and why they do things and why they don't do things ... they've taught me to be people-savvy, in a way," Madison explained.

Madison's parents have been very supportive of her acting career. "My dad has seen ['Anora'] three or four times," Madison revealed while on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." She added that her father even helped her install a pole in her living room so she could practice for her role as an exotic dancer in the film.

Before setting her sights on an acting career, Mikey Madison was a competitive equestrian. Her love of horses ran deep, and it was something that ran in her family as well. "My grandmother was a horseback rider, and my mom was a horseback rider," Madison told Esquire, "and so, naturally, I was riding horses before I could walk—or at least sitting on a horse."

Madison was so dedicated to horseback riding as a teen that she even altered her education in order to focus on her equestrian aspirations. "I literally homeschooled myself so I could be at the barn all day with my pony," the actor shared with The Cut. Her style was influenced as well, as polo shirts and classic beige riding pants dominated her wardrobe. But by the age of 14, Madison decided she wanted to give acting a try, which meant she would have to leave horseback riding behind. It was a difficult choice to make, but riding had become sort of lonely. "I loved the ritual of getting to the barn and taking care of my horse, but it's kind of an isolating sport," she told The Cut.

In addition to her passion for horseback riding and her desire to become an actor, Mikey Madison once thought she'd like to pursue a career in fashion design. Madison had always loved movies, and as a young teenager she got really into coming-of-age films of the '80s, especially John Hughes classics like "Sixteen Candles" and "Pretty in Pink," which boasts some iconic fashion moments.

Her interest in the film industry was piqued, but before she considered trying her hand at acting, Madison thought she might want to be clothing designer. "I was like, I feel like I need to connect myself to something within this ... maybe I want to be a fashion designer [or a] seamstress," she shared with Josh Horowitz on "Happy Sad Confused." Madison's mother arranged for her to take sewing lessons, but Madison soon found she wasn't really feeling it. "I made a Hawaiian shirt and I made my mom an apron, and I was like, 'This isn't it,'" she explained.

It was then that Madison knew she wanted to be an actor, feeling drawn in by the emotional element of the craft. "I was intrigued by the intimacy and the connection that comes with acting," she told Vogue Singapore. Her career took off soon after, but her early sewing projects were not entirely forgotten. Madison revealed on "Happy Sad Confused" that she still wears the apron she made in sewing class when cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

Before landing her big break in 2016, Mikey Madison appeared in several short films as well as the indie feature "Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey." The role of Max in the darkly comic series "Better Things" is what really put the young actor on the map. "I felt such a connection to this script and immediately felt very protective over the character," Madison told Interview.

During her audition, she had great chemistry with the show's star, her TV mom Pamela Adlon, but didn't want to get her hopes up. Adlon later called Madison and her mother to announce that Madison had landed the role. "I don't think I've ever felt that kind of joy before," the actor recalled in an interview with Nylon.

Madison was just 15 when she began filming "Better Things," which aired for five seasons on FX. The show became a huge part of her life as well as an important influence on her career. "It was my college experience, it was my film school, and my acting school," Madison explained. And it wasn't just her acting craft that she was honing — she was also learning a lot about life. Max was so different from Madison that she had to really get into the character's head in order to play her so well. "I got to experience a lot of rebellion through her, but with this safety net underneath me," Madison told Nylon.

While it may seem as though Mikey Madison had beginner's luck landing such a coveted role at a young age, not all of her auditions went as smoothly as "Better Things." In fact, even "Better Things" came at the tail end of the pilot season during which Madison hadn't gotten any other offers.

The actor is the first to admit that she's had some bad auditions, but the worst was for a big film helmed by a highly-regarded director. Madison made an unusual choice during her audition, which seemed to have cost her the part. "I decided I was going to go in with a British accent and continue the entire audition," she revealed to Interview. Her bold move was baffling to the casting director who questioned where Madison was from and why she was speaking in an accent. Sometimes taking chances pays off, but this one simply struck the wrong chord. "I was going Daniel Day-Lewis, but it was awkward," Madison said.

Mikey Madison was not one to let a bad audition deter her. Instead, she leaned into her creative impulses and found that taking the pressure off herself to be perfect worked in her favor. "When I finally gave myself permission to fail or to embarrass myself ... is when things started happening for me," the actor told Esquire. This attitude came in handy when Madison got the opportunity to audition for one of her favorite directors: Quentin Tarantino.

Madison was up for the role of Sadie, one of Charles Manson's followers, in "Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood," a film that also featured Sydney Sweeney, Margaret Qualley, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie. She made sure to do her homework before going in to read for the part. "I did a lot of research into the Manson family, and I found out that they would take a lot of acid trips together," Madison explained on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." She then painted a picture as she imagined her character might, complete with a lock of her hair woven in, and wrote a poem to Charles Manson, which she performed a dramatic rendition of during her audition. She knew the role was hers when she returned for another callback and saw that Tarantino had hung her painting up in his office.

Mikey Madison's next big screen role came in 2022 when she played Amber in "Scream." Madison was excited to play the part, despite not really knowing just how beloved the original "Scream" films were to fans. "People who love horror films are the best people ever, but I really naively went into it," she explained to Collider.

The prospect of getting to work during the pandemic was appealing to Madison, as was the script, so she didn't hesitate to jump on board. "I'm going to get to leave my parents' house and go film this fun movie that's gonna make people laugh and scream ... this is a no-brainer job for me," the actor recalled on "Happy Sad Confused."

Although she had to perform in front of some of the original cast of "Scream" — Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell — Madison was not intimidated. "You can't be self-conscious when you're playing a serial killer," the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. "There's no room for any of that."

Auditions can be grueling, but they are often a necessary part of finding work as an actor. Mikey Madison had been on her fair share of auditions throughout her fledgling career, but when it came to "Anora," the actor found herself in a unique and flattering position. Filmmaker Sean Baker, responsible for award-winning indie hits "Tangerine" and "The Florida Project," had seen Madison in "Scream" and knew he wanted to work with her on his new film, "Anora."

"[Baker] just sat me down and said, 'Hey, this is a loose idea I have for a movie. I want you to be in it,'" Madison shared with Variety. "And I was like, 'Yes... but wait, that's not how this works.'" Once Madison accepted the role, Baker then set about writing the screenplay with her in mind as the main character, Ani. But Madison wasn't simply Baker's muse — she played a part in helping to create the character as well, making it more of a collaborative effort. "He allowed me to be involved in so many different aspects of making this film: the costumes, the hair, and the makeup," the actor told W.

While that kind of creative contribution is a dream scenario for many actors, it didn't mean the job itself was easy. Madison found the role to be physically and emotionally taxing, and when she was finished filming, she was exhausted. "There was a week when I was lying in bed ... I had just been running on adrenaline for months," Madison explained to Variety.

One of the trickier aspects of getting into character can be making sure the accent is spot-on. In "Anora," Mikey Madison plays an exotic dancer from Brooklyn, so she needed to learn how to sound authentic. The Los Angeles native spent a month hanging around Brighton Beach, a Brooklyn neighborhood, in order to study the accent. Madison told Jimmy Kimmel that she learned the accent through immersion: "Listening to people, going to clubs, listening to the girls and how they speak."

Madison's character, Ani, gets involved with the son of a Russian oligarch, so she needed to gain some familiarity with the Russian language as well. While Madison's grandmother spoke Russian, it wasn't something the rest of the family learned. However, Madison's lack of knowledge was actually helpful for her character. "I never wanted it to sound perfect," she told Pamela Anderson during an episode of Variety's "Actors on Actors." "I always wanted there to be some Americanized version of the Russian in her vocality, because I didn't want her to fit in in any specific way."

In "Anora," Mikey Madison's character, Ani, is an exotic dancer who falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch. Madison wanted to fully immerse herself in the role, which included learning how to dance. "I did quite a bit of pole training," Madison told veteran actor Pamela Anderson on "Actors on Actors." "I sort of did this like stripper bootcamp in a sense." She picked up as much as she could, even working with a consultant who taught her the lingo used in the clubs.

While preparing for the role of Ani, Madison gained a new respect for sex workers, as she became familiar with strip club culture. "I have fallen in love with the sex work community," the actor shared with Fandango. So much so that it became incredibly important for Madison to organize a screening of "Anora" specifically for sex workers. "It was the best day of my life," Madison said, recalling that during the screening, the audience showed their appreciation by clapping their heels together for her. "The love that we received from that community has been so meaningful to me ... perhaps one of the most meaningful experiences I've had," the actor added.

Since its premiere in October 2024, Anora was nominated for a host of awards, and director Sean Baker won the coveted Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In January 2025, it was announced that "Anora" had been nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture of the Year, and Mikey Madison was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

When Madison heard the news, she was lying in bed watching TV and FaceTiming with her mom. "She was crying and it was very sweet," the actor told "Good Morning America." "And then she immediately humbled me by saying ... 'Congratulations, sweetie, I love you so much. Also, you need to take your dog to obedience training.'" At the time, Madison's mom was pet-sitting for her.

Madison shared her gratitude for her recognition in the film via a handwritten note posted to the Neon films' Instagram page. "I feel so honored, grateful, and as if I've been floating on a cloud all day!" the letter read in part, written on stationary with hearts and butterflies drawn around the borders. Madison also shared a carousel of behind-the-scenes photos from "Anora," including many shots of the cast and a pic of Ani's bedazzled iPhone.