Few Jewish actors have had as quick an ascent as Mikey Madison. Just three years after her first professional gig, Mikey was cast in the FX show “Better Things,” playing the oldest daughter of main character, Sam Fox (Pamela Adlon). Ever since, her career has skyrocketed, with featured and starring roles in a Quentin Tarantino movie, a run-longing horror movie franchise, a 2024 Palme d’Or winner and more.
Here are 18 things to know about her.
1. Mikey Madison was born on March 25, 1999 in Los Angeles to a Jewish family.
2. Mikey Madison is her stage name. Mikey’s birth name is Mikaela Madison Rosberg.
3. Her parents are both psychologists! Her father Michael is a specialist treating schizophrenia and her mother Tracy works with children.
“My parents being psychologists, I’ve grown up really understanding people and why they do things and why they don’t do things,” Mikey told Interview Magazine. “I think that’s helped me to a certain degree because they’ve taught me to be people-savvy, in a way.”
She added, “I mean, my parents don’t psychoanalyze me all the time, or maybe I just am used to it.”
4. She has two older sisters, a twin brother and a younger brother. Please enjoy this throwback with Mikey, her parents and brothers:
5. Mikey is Ashkenazi! According to EthniCelebs.com, she has Polish, Lithuanian and Russian Jewish roots.
6. She gave up competitive horseback riding to become an actor.
7. Her first role was “Daughter” in the 2013 short film “Retirement.”
8. Mikey believes in love at first sight!
9. Please enjoy the story of Mikey’s worst audition ever:
“I don’t know why I decided this was a good idea, and this was a big movie with a big director, but I decided I was going to go in with a British accent and continue the entire audition,” she told Interview Magazine. “The casting director was like, ‘Where are you from? You’re British? Why do you have a British accent?’ I was going Daniel Day-Lewis, but it was awkward.”
10. Mikey played Max Fox on Pamela Adlon’s show “Better Things” from 2016 to 2022.
11. Mikey was drawn to her character, Max.
“I loved how brash and boisterous she was. She didn’t lie, she really just said what she was feeling,” she told WWD. It’s really delicate being that age and trying to do all the teenage stuff, but also trying to figure out who you want to be and who you don’t want to be.”
12. “Pamela is a huge role model of mine,” Mikey said of Pamela Adlon. “Pamela gave me advice and she said, ‘Don’t take yourself too seriously,’ which I think has helped me so much, because in this industry, being a kid you try to be very serious and professional because you’re with all these adults, but you also have to remember you’re a kid and it’s just acting. It’s nothing more.”
13. Mikey was on the cover of W Magazine with Margaret Qualley in 2020 to promote the movie “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” In the movie she played Manson family member Sadie Atkins.
14. Mikey played Amber Freeman in 2022’s “Scream.” Swipe below to see some behind-the-screams photos!
15. Filmmaker Sean Baker wrote the movie “Anora” with Mikey in mind to play the lead. Mikey, who plays the titular Anora, described it to Vogue as “an incredible, indescribable honor.”
16. This is what she wore for the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, where “Anora” opened.
17. She’s slated to star in the Jewish period drama “Lady in the Lake,” alongside Natalie Portman.
18. According to Vanity Fair, Mikey plays a pot-smoking teenager who becomes roommates with Natalie Portman’s character, Maddie.
