It’s been five days since Mikey Madison took home the Oscar for Best Actress at the 97th Academy Awards, and we still can’t get over our excitement for the 25-year-old actress. While we’ve been talking about her since her time on Pamela Adlon’s show “Better Things,” it’s felt gratifying to see the rest of the world get to know Mikey through “Anora.” It feels oh-so-sweet that she and Adrien Brody made Jewish history on Sunday, becoming just the third pair of Jewish actors to take home both the Best Actor and Actress Oscars. (The last time that happened was 38 years ago in 1987.)
As it turns out, Mikey’s own reaction to that news, and her reaction to Adrien Brody’s Oscar win, was equally as sweet.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter the morning after the Academy Awards, reporter Scott Feinberg asked Mikey what it meant to her that both she and Adrien are Jewish actors and are now a part of Jewish history. “Oh, wow, I didn’t know that,” Mikey responded. “I think that the character that Adrien played in his film is so special, and the film tells such an important story that needed to be told, so I’m really happy for him, and I think that the win was so well deserved.”
In case you missed it, Adrien won his second Oscar for his performance as fictional Holocaust survivor and architect László Tóth in “The Brutalist.” (He won his first Oscar in 2003 for playing real-life Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in “The Pianist.”) In his speech, he called out systemic oppression, antisemitism, racism and othering, all which his character experiences in the film.
But Mikey didn’t stop there. “But there were other performances in that category, too — like, all of them — that were just incredible,” she went on. “I mean, Sebastian Stan [as Donald Trump in ‘The Apprentice’] gave a knockout performance. So anyone of any religion — it doesn’t matter to me.”
Could she be any more gracious?!
Mazel tov, again, Mikey! We cannot wait to see whatever role you take on next, and also hope it doesn’t require straightening your hair.
