Hollywood has a new reigning movie queen.
Mikey Madison took home the award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture at the 97th annual Academy Awards on Sunday evening for her role as the titular character in Sean Baker’s Anora. Her nomination was a part of one of the most competitive categories of the night, with Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Cynthia Erivo were also all nominated. To accept her award, Madison appeared onstage in a black and pastel-pink strapless gown by Dior, with her hair in an elegant bun and a teardrop diamond statement necklace.
“This is a very surreal moment. Forgive me—I’m so nervous,” Madison began her speech. “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.”
The actress went on to thank her family, along with the cast and crew of Anora, for the remainder of her speech.
“Thank you, Neon, Film Nation, Universal. Thank you to my incredible family, my mom and my dad and my sister and my little brother and my twin brother,” she said. “Thank you for being my best friend, not that you have a choice,” the actor went on, laughing.
She continued, “Thank you, Sean Baker, Sammy Kwan, Alex Coco, Drew Daniels, Mark Wan. Thank you, Brighton Beach, for lending us this beautiful backdrop and incredible community. Also, thank you to Kennedy Schneider. Thank you to our incredible consultants, and also just want to again recognize and honor the sex-worker community."
Madison has continuously highlighted and thanked the sex-worker community in all of her acceptance speeches throughout the 2025 awards season, and her Oscars speech was no different.
“I will continue to support and be an ally to all of the incredible people—the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community have been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience,” she said. “I also just want to recognize the thoughtful, intelligent, beautiful, breathtaking work of my fellow nominees. I’m honored to be recognized alongside all of you. This is a dream come true. I’m probably gonna wake up tomorrow.”
