Mikey Madison is officially an Oscar winner. Shortly before Anora took home Best Picture at the 2025 Academy Awards, the star won Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film, and used her speech to thank the sex worker community that informed the titular protagonist.
“The women I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience,” Madison said.
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Read her speech full below:
“This is very surreal. I’m nervous. I’m gonna read off of a paper, but 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. 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, Miles—thank you for being my best friend, not that you have a choice...Thank you, Brighton Beach, for lending us your beautiful backdrop and incredible community...I also just want to again recognise and honour the sex worker community. 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.
I also just want to recognise the thoughtful, intelligent, beautiful, breathtaking work of my fellow nominees. I’m honoured to be recognised alongside all of you. This is a dream come true; I’m probably gonna wake up tomorrow.
Thank you so much to Sean [Baker]. I adore you. This is all because of you. Thank you.”
Madison also took home the Best Actress award at the BAFTAs in February. She admitted onstage that she had not prepared remarks before thanking the film’s director and her castmates. “Wow, I really wasn’t expecting this,” she said, then quipped, “I probably should have listened to my publicist and wrote a speech or something! Thank you so much Sean Baker. I just adore you. You are an incredible person. I know you don’t like it when I praise you, but I just have to for just a second. You’re so wonderful. You literally made my dreams come true.”
She also dedicated the end of her speech to sex workers. “I want to take a moment to recognize the sex worker community,” the actress said. “I just want to say that I see you. You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and ally, and I implore others to do the same.”
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Madison told ELLE in her Women in Hollywood interview that the research she did to play Anora, which included reading memoirs written by sex workers, watching documentaries, and going to strip clubs, altered her view of the industry. She even made friends within the community.
“Everything has changed,” she said. “I have a completely different perspective on [the sex worker community]. In a club, women are almost in a position of power, but then outside of it, people view them in such a different way. [Ani is] a sex worker, but that’s just her job. She’s a person, and I hope she’s viewed as such.”
This article was first seen on ELLE US.