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TheOscars 2025delivered a tardy ceremony surprise with Demi Moore losing Best Actress to Mikey Madison , and there ’s an additional layer of irony thanks toThe Substance . Moore and Madison were locked in a competitive race for months to win the top loot for a female performer at the 97th Academy Awards . After winning at the Golden Globes , Critics Choice , and SAG , it appeared all but certain that Moore would be one of theOscars 2025 winnersforThe Substanceand complete her vocation comeback . Academy voters delivered a different result , though .
Mikey Madison won Best Actressat the Academy Award 2025 for her star role inAnora , the Best Picture winner . It ’s disappointing for Moore , who meditate retirement before pay off the role inThe Substance . She cede the best public presentation of her career , signaling to Hollywood that she is still an actress who should be postulate earnestly and remain in demand . This was an opportunity for her to be present the highest honor she could in her field . Losing any Oscar suffer , but there ’s an ironic twist in this case because ofThe Substance .
Demi Moore Losing To Mikey Madison At The Oscars 2025 Is Like The Substance’s Story
The Young Star Steals Demi Moore’s Glory
Although not intentional , there is an ironic parallel between Demi Moore ’s Oscar expiration to Mikey Madison and her arc as Elisabeth Sparkle inThe Substance . The movie follows Moore ’s character as she is pushed away by the amusement industry . This leads Elisabeth to use The Substance to create a vernal , more perfect adaptation of herself , cognise as Sue ( Margaret Qualley).The Substanceshows the topsy-turvydom that ensues as Elisabeth and Sue fight for their individuality and control , and there is an increase disinterest in respecting the symmetricalness .
The ending of The Substance underscores the themes of the celluloid and highlights the grievous double banner that exists in Hollywood .
It all culminate with Sue and Elisabeth fighting after Sue supersede Elisabeth as the host of a television program that lean further into Sue ’s beauty as Elisabeth becomes more disfigured . In this way , The Substanceshows the new , younger , rising star come out of nowhere - or literally from inside Elisabeth - to slip the nimbus of an older , more established star . The Oscars 2025 ’s Best Actress race between Madison and Moore was n’t as gruesome as Elisabeth and Sue ’s showdown , but the result was the same . Moore is vote down as a younger star gets realization .
Why Mikey Madison Won Best Actress Over Demi Moore
Anora’s Status Gave Madison The Advantage
Mikey Madison ’s win over Demi Moore was certainly one of the Oscars 2025 ’s biggest surprises , but it was not a complete shock . Madison was the early front-runner to win Best Actress afterAnoradebuted at the Cannes Film Festival and won several awards . Only after Demi Moore get ahead at the Golden Globes did the race shift away from her . While Moore continued to rack up winnings , Madison perplex a unassailable end to the season with a BAFTA winnings , which read she was not completely out of the race .
The large development wasAnorabecoming the Best Picture winnerafter garner frontrunner position . There was a much large-minded erotic love for the movie than forThe Substance . Even if Best Actress had gone the other means , Anorastill would have been the biggest winner of the Nox . at last , Anorawon five of the six Oscars it was nominated for . That ’s a terrific showing , and the best of any moving-picture show this year . That overall hold forAnoraclearly carried over to Best Actress and played a part in Madison defeating Moore .
A suit could also be made thatThe Substance ’s literary genre also hurt Moore ’s chances . The Oscars seldom honour repugnance movies , specially when they are body horror movies likeThe Substance . WhileAnorais still far from the atypical Academy Award - winning movie , even a sex worker romantic dramedy is more appealing to most than a parentage - spraying torso horror pic .
Mikey Madison’s Oscar Win Isn’t Actually That Common
The Oscars Typically Reward Older Stars
The parallel of latitude betweenThe Substanceand the Oscars ' Best Actress outcome are celebrated , but Madison ’s win is still surprising for the same reason . WhereasThe Substanceplays into the comment that Hollywood is always looking for the newest , youngest stars to replace the older crop of performers ( especially with actresses ) , the Oscars do not typically mesh likewise . It is much more vulgar for the Academy to reward give actorswho have been around for a long prison term equate to whoever has lately pop up . That trend was a major point in Demi Moore ’s party favour .
Instead , Mikey Madison became the ninth youngest individual to advance Best Actress . She is also the first actress under 30 to make headway the award since 2017 , when Emma Stone make headway forLa La Land . This makes her win a bit of a statistical anomaly , especially considering she ’s only the thirteenth Best Actress succeeder from the Best Picture Oscar winner . That makes Madison ’s winnings all the more impressive , really , as it ’s a rare instance where Hollywood is shore up a young star topology . She get together Jennifer Lawrence , Brie Larson , and Emma Stone as recent good example of under-30 Best Actress victor .
Youngest Best Actress Oscar Winners
Actress
Movie
eld
Custom Image by Cooper Hood
Marlee Matlin
Children of a Lesser God(1986 )
21 years , 218 days
Custom Image by Ana Nieves
Jennifer Lawrence
Silver Linings Playbook(2012 )
22 years , 193 days
Neon
Janet Gaynor
7th Heaven , Street Angel , andSunrise(1927/28 )
22 years , 222 day
Joan Fontaine
Suspicion(1941 )
24 years , 127 days
Audrey Hepburn
Roman Holiday(1953 )
24 years , 325 days
Jennifer Jones
The Song of Bernadette(1943 )
25 twelvemonth , 0 days
Grace Kelly
The Country Girl(1954 )
25 years , 138 days
Hilary Swank
boy Do n’t Cry(1999 )
25 class , 240 days
Mikey Madison
Anora(2024 )
25 days , 342 days
Julie Christie
Darling(1965 )
26 year , 4 Clarence Shepard Day Jr.
When looking at Madison ’s profits through this lens , the caustic remark of Demi Moore ’s loss sting a minute more . She was in line to join Michelle Yeoh and Jessica Chastain as recent first clock time Oscar winners who had a strong career narrative fight them to victory . Now , theOscars 2025loss left Moore to watch a young , raw star take the air off with the Academy Award she likely conceive she was going to come through .
