Mikey Madison just won a BAFTA for best leading actress, beating out Cynthia Erivo, Demi Moore, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Karla Sofía Gascón and Saoirsie Ronan, for her portrayal of a sex worker in Sean Baker's Anora.
Going onstage, the 25-year-old actress, also known for roles in Scream and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, gave a moving speech at the 2025 BAFTA EE Awards where she shared solidarity with sex workers. 'I see you, you deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and an ally and I implore you to do the same,' she said.
‘For my film to be recognised like this, it’s incredibly special,' she said. ‘There are so many people I forgot to thank. I was on a talk show with Robert DeNiro and Robert DeNiro told me not to write a speech,' she joked.
Here is everything you need to know about Mikey Madison...
Who is Mikey Madison?
Mikey Madison is a 25-year-old actress from Los Angeles, whose real name is Mikaela. She was born 25 March 1999.
Who is Mikey Madison's brother?
Mikey has a twin brother called Miles, another brother, and two sisters.
'He would pretend that we weren’t siblings,' she told W Magazine. 'On the last day of school, people would ask him, ‘Miles, why are you getting into Mikaela’s car?’ He’d say, "Oh, that’s my sister." He’s since apologised. At some point, I grew into myself a bit more. But for a long time, I was the weird horse girl.'
She also shared that her brother put bets on her getting an Oscar nomination. 'My brother, he bet a lot of money on the nomination, so I think he was happy that I got nominated,' she told People.
What ethnicity is Mikey Madison?
Mikey Madison is Jewish.
How did she get into acting?
Mikey first got into acting in 2013, appearing in the short films Retirement and Pani's Box. A year later she was in the short film Bound for Greatness.
She got her big break in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood playing a member of the Manson Family, Susan 'Sadie' Atkins. A year later she was cast as Amber in the slasher horror franchise Scream.
What is Anora about?
Mikey has sky-rocketed to fame this year thanks to her performance in Sean Baker's 2024 film Anora. His previous films include The Florida Project and Tangerine.
Anora is the story of a Brooklyn sex worker, Anora (played by Mikey), who has a Cinderella-like love story with a Russian oligarch's spoilt son. But the fairytale comes crashing down to a bleak reality not long after.
The movie has received six Oscar nominations, with best director for Sean Baker, Best original screenplay, best editing, and best actress for Mikey and a best supporting nomination for Yura Borisov, who plays a bodyguard.
What did Mikey Madison say about sex workers in her BAFTA speech?
Mikey said she really wasn't expecting to win, so much so she never wrote a speech. ‘I probably should’ve listened to my publicist when she told me to write a speech,' she said on her BAFTA acceptance.
She thanked her mother, saying 'she’s driven me to so many auditions and helped me learn all my lines - I love you Mommy'. She then went on to thank her co-stars and director Sean Baker, but ended her speech by paying tribute to sex workers.
‘I’ve been acting what feels like forever. Sean Baker gave me a chance to play a leading role – a complex, interesting character. And to play someone so different from myself and really stretch myself as an actor,' she said.
‘Through my research for this film I’ve gotten to know some amazing people from that community. It’s a community I’ve fallen in love with. These are people I really admire, and they deserve respect. In society they are really mistreated, and I think it’s really unfair.’
'I just wanna say that I see you. You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and ally, and I urge others to do the same,' she said.