By james art The hotly anticipated film from director Sean Baker Anora stars Mikey Madison, 25, and fans are eager for more information about the relatively unknown actress. Anora follows the story of a sex worker named Annie. She meets Ivan, played by Mark Eidelstein, a powerful and wealthy Russian. The two get married in Las Vegas, but when they go to New York to meet his family, things take a turn for the worse. The film received rave reviews and won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Madison is perfect for the role, and that’s pretty much because Baker wrote it for her after seeing her in the Vic Vaccording to an interview he did with ELLE Canada.
“I was blown away that Sean wanted to meet me, but I wasn’t going to question him,” she shared. “I immediately said yes. I felt like the luckiest actress in the world that he wanted to work with me.
Here’s everything you need to know about the future star.
Where is Mikey Madison from?
Madison is from Los Angeles and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. Her parents are psychologists, not actors. Madison was one of five children and she said in an interview with The incision last month that she had been homeschooled since the seventh grade. This left Madison with plenty of free time to pursue her interest in competitive horse riding. In August, she said Esquire that both her mother and grandmother rode horses, so she rode “before she could walk.”
“I was literally house-trained so I could be in the barn all day with my pony,” she said. “I loved the ritual of getting to the stable and looking after my horse, but it’s kind of an isolating sport. I felt called in a different direction.”
However, this was not the easiest solution.
She explained to Esquire“I just had an attraction to wanting a deeper connection with other people or wanting to experience something more emotional than what I was doing. For me, this decision was both easy and painful. I felt that if I started acting, then I would have to commit to it 100 percent, and I couldn’t do that if I was still committed to horse riding, which takes a lot of time. And so I let that part of my life go for a while.”
Madison’s mother enrolls her in an acting class. She said Vogue in October that acting connects her to a different part of herself.
“I was intrigued by the intimacy and connection that comes with acting,” she said. “To me it seemed very bold and deep and emotional and I don’t know if that’s something I felt as a rider.”
What does he do when he’s not on screen?
Madison just got a new rescue puppy named Jem to go with her cat named Biscuit and she spends her free time with them. She also bakes.
The jam is “the love of my life, and it’s also absolute chaos,” the star explained. “He’s six months old now so he’s settling down a bit, but he weighs six kilos like… the biggest person in the world. He is very cute, he is a little rescue dog. But to relax I watch movies, go out with my friends, cook and bake a lot. However, I like to cook and bake especially for other people – it relaxes me. This is my happy place.”
She also shared a bit with Vogue about her interest in fashion, which for a while made her think she would go into design.
“I’ve always loved fashion, and when I was younger, I experimented with clothes,” Madison said. “There was a period just a few years ago when I was really into Victorian dresses and mixing them with combat boots, so it was this grunge look with a very delicate dress. And then when I was 18 or 19, I was really into 70s-style dresses. I’ve always loved vintage and have a crazy collection of very interesting clothes that I’m not comfortable wearing now, but can’t give up.”
What else has Madison been involved in?
Her first major role was in 2017 Lisa, Lisa, the sky is grayindependent film. From there, she was cast on the Bravo show Impostorsthen the tv show Better things. She also had a small role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once upon a time… in Hollywood. Vic V starring Jenna Ortega was Madison’s biggest film before that Anoraand recently appeared in Lady in the Lake.
On her continued growth as an actor, Madison spoke Esquire“I think the actor I am now, because of the experiences I’ve had, I’m confident in my voice and that what I have to say is important. Even if someone doesn’t want to listen, I’ll still share it and tell them. Because as an actor I am not a puppet. It’s really important that my voice is heard because it’s a collaboration, you know?’
What else did Madison and Baker say about her work in Anora?
The director and the actress spoke to London Standard in October 2024 about the project and had nothing but wonderful things to say about each other.
“Sean has dedicated his career to destigmatizing sex work and telling the stories of marginalized people,” says Madison. “He always did it in a very honest way – and in a funny way too. He deals with very dark subjects, but constantly turns them on their head and injects them with humor. So I trusted Sean completely and knew he would be a true collaborator with me.”
Baker revealed that he was seeing Madison on screen for the first time.
“Seeing [Mikey] playing different roles, her ability to change her emotions on a dime, her sense of humor, her ability to make bold choices and her amazing scream,” he explained. “At that point we contacted her.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire, and more. Her first book, the lone hunter will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.