Mikey Madison Wins Best Actress After Shocking Upset Over Demi Moore

Mikey Madison has won Best Actress at the 97th Academy Awards. This year’s other nominees included Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here), Demi Moore (The Substance), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), and Cynthia Erivo (Wicked). While all the nominees delivered impressive performances, Moore was a heavy favorite in most Oscars 2025 predictions for her performance as Elisabeth Sparkle in Coralie Fargeat’s critically acclaimed body horror film The Substance.

Now, Madison has won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a stunning upset over Moore. At only 25 years old, Madison is the ninth-youngest Best Actress winner in the history of the Academy Awards. Marlee Matlin remains the youngest winner of all time, who, at 21 years old, won for her performance in the 1986 film Children of a Lesser God. In addition to Madison’s win, Anora won four other Academy Awards as well, with Sean Baker winning for Best Writing (Original Screenplay), Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Picture.

What This Means For The Oscars

Mikey Madison And Anora Dominated This Year’s Awards

The 2025 Oscar winners largely defied expectations, with Madison’s win over Moore being one of the most prominent examples. Horror films, especially body horror, are often not rewarded by the Oscars. Nevertheless, this awards season and the conversation surrounding The Substance made it seem that Moore was poised to win Best Actress. Either Madison or Moore could have won, but the victory going to Anora does feel more aligned with the types of movies that usually fare well at the Oscars.

Including Madison being recognized as Best Actress, Anora ended up with the most wins at this year’s Academy Awards. While it is not as dominant as Oppenheimer and Everything Everywhere All at Once each winning seven Academy Awards in recent years, there is no denying Anora‘s success against the competition, with Madison being an integral part of that success. After leading Anora‘s cast and winning Best Actress at only 25, she will have many opportunities to be nominated and to win again.

Our Take On Mikey Madison’s Best Actress Win

She Has A Bright Future Ahead Of Her

Any of the Best Actress nominees would have been deserving winners this year. I wanted to see Erivo win because of her stellar performance in Wicked, and so she could become an EGOT winner. Madison is a truly deserving winner, though, and without her, the other successful elements of Anora would not have worked as well. I am excited to see where Madison’s career goes from here, with her Academy Award win inevitably paving the way for more opportunities.

The Oscars | Academy Awards

Location

Dolby Theatre – Los Angeles, California

Description

The Academy Awards, AKA the Oscars, is a film awards show that honors excellence in filmmaking, acting, and various fields associated with making movies. The ceremony will be in its 95th year in 2023, with Jimmy Kimmel returning to host the event. The Oscars typically air around March and accept movies for nomination that were released between January 1st and December 31st of the year being honored.

Dates

03-12-2023

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