Mikey Madison 5 Best Movies and Shows to Watch Before the Oscars

Having recently risen to stardom after starring in Sean Baker’s romantic drama Anora, Mikey Madison has been a notable figure in the industry for quite some time before her first Oscar nomination.

The actress kicked her career off with several acclaimed movies and shows that proved her ability for a much wider range of roles, though Madison herself was unfairly overlooked in most of them.

Now that she’s one of the frontrunners for a major win at the upcoming Oscar ceremony, it might be the best time to get to know her cinema and TV resume better.

Better Things

It might come as a shocking discovery, but Anora wasn’t really a breakout role for Mikey Madison. Back in 2016, the actress starred in a comedy drama show Better Things, created by Pamela Adlon who is also another leading actress in here.

Better Things sees Adlon and Madison as mother and daughter who try their best to establish normal relationships with each other, but struggle to do so as the former has hard time managing three kids and her acting career, and the latter goes through a turbulent period of growing up.

The series was universally acclaimed, but never got more of deserved recognition, and eventually concluded in 2022 after 5 seasons.

Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey

Mikey Madison’s film debut, the movie stars the actress in the leading role, following Liza as she embarks on a four-day road trip along the California coast with her boyfriend Brett in the summer of 1966.

As Brett is now set to move to New York with his father, the couple decides that they both want to lose their virginity to each other, but the trip becomes a challenging and unexpected twist in their perceptions of love and responsibility.

The film was generally slammed by critics, though Madison’s performance is still considered its biggest delight.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

With just three credits under her belt at the time, Madison was cast in Quentin Tarantino ’s comedy drama, and the director was probably one of the first filmmakers to see the actress’ potential.

With a star-studded cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood features Madison as Susan Denise Atkins, a member of Charles Manson’s “Family” that killed actress Sharon Tate.

Though in Tarantino’s version of the story tables turn radically, signalling a pretty rough ending for Madison’s character, this was exactly why the actress became one of the highlights of the entire film.

Scream

Not long before taking on Ani’s role in Sean Baker’s movie, Madison also starred in the fifth instalment of the Scream film series.

The actress joined an already star-packed cast comprising Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jenna Ortega, Matthew Lillard and Drew Barrymore, but didn’t get lost among big names and was eventually praised for her performance.

Still coming off the previous films’ legacy, Scream follows a new killer that chooses a group of teenagers as their target, aiming at unraveling the town’s dark ancient secrets.

The Addams Family

Just like her Scream co-star Jenna Ortega, Mikey Madison is also a part of The Addams Family franchise, though she belongs to a 2019 animated dark comedy.

Also featuring the voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard and Snoop Dog, The Addams Family stars Madison in a minor role of Candi the barista, yet the actress’ work still got to critics’ consideration when the film was praised for its voice acting.

The Addams Family was a major box office hit too, wrapping its theatrical run up with $203 million after spending a total of $24 million on production.