Hold the Oscars Phone—I Just Realized Why I Recognize Best Actress Nominee Mikey Madison

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been seeing the name Mikey Madison all over your timeline these past few months. This shouldn't be a huge surprise as the 25-year-old is nominated for Best Actress at the 2025 Academy Awards for her glowing performance in Anora.

But I’ve been wondering for a while what other films I’ve seen her in—and why she looked so darn familiar—and I've finally got it. She starred in 2022's Scream. Scream is the fifth installment in the popular franchise, and centers around several of our favorite Woodsboro characters. In typical Scream fashion, however, they have to fight for their lives when a new killer emerges

And…spoiler alert…

Madison’s character, Amber Freeman, is one of the killers. Upon the film’s release, Madison received heaps of praise for her performance, which critics described as “chilling,” “complex” and unpredictable. Her character was also responsible for killing off the beloved OG sheriff Dewey Riley (played by David Arquette), which rocked the Scream community to its core. In an interview with Collider, she told the publication, “I have to be honest, when I did the film, it sounds naive, but I wasn’t so aware of the huge fan base that the franchise has, that I’ve now been able to discover, Scream and horror fans and people who love horror films are the best people ever, but I really naively went into it."

“And so I remember being kind of sad because I was like, ‘Oh, such a great character. It’ll be sad to see him go.’ And then I realized afterward the heartbreak that so many people felt. People have come up to me, and they’re like, ‘I hate that this happened. I’m mad at you.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t write the script!,’” she added. Aside from Anora and Scream, some of Madison's additional credits include 2019’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, the short films Bound for Greatness and Liza Liza: Skies Are Grey and FX's Better Things. 

She also portrayed Judith in the limited Apple TV+ series Lady in the Lake, in which she starred alongside Natalie Portman. Time will tell if Madison nabs the Oscar for Best Actress this year, but either way, it’s clear she has a bright future ahead of her.

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