Adrien Brody took home the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2025 Academy Awards, triumphing over a talented group of nominees, including Timothee Chalamet for A Complete Unknown, Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice, Colman Domingo for Sing Sing, and Ralph Fiennes for Conclave.
Brody won his second best actor Oscar for playing the lead of Brady Corbet’s postwar drama The Brutalist.
He had previously been the youngest best actor winner when he took home the award in 2003 for The Pianist.
The Brutalist also won for cinematography and original score for British composer Daniel Blumberg.
Mikey Madison, on the other hand, won the Best Actress award for her role in Anora, beating out a strong lineup of contenders, including Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Karla Sofia Gascon for her role in Emilia Perez, Demi Moore for The Substance and Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here.
Low-budget comedy Anora has triumphed at this year’s Oscars winning five Oscars, including best picture and best actress.
Mikey plays the title role in Anora, which centres on a sex worker and whose life is thrown into chaos after she gets married to the son of a Russian oligarch. The film premiered at the Cannes film festival last year and has become the fourth Palme d’Or winner to be named best picture.
In her acceptance speech, she gave a shout-out to sex workers.
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Creator Sean Baker also won for director, editing and original screenplay. He paid tribute to the sex worker community in his first speech of the night. “They have shared their stories, they have shared their life experiences over the years, my deepest respect, I share this with you,” he said. He has become the first person to ever win four Oscars for the same film in one night.
