Mikey Madison has been a fascinating actor to watch, especially after her Oscar win for . Madison's performance as Ani was one of the highlights of the film and helped Anora become the overall winner of the 2025 Academy Awards, taking home five awards, including Best Picture. Not only was Anora a critical darling, but it also became Neon's third-highest-grossing movie of all time (per The Numbers), making its Cinderella success story even more impressive.

Though Anora is at the top of Mikey Madison's best movies, nearly every project she has been part of since her career began in the mid-2010s has been well-received. She has done a stellar job of picking strong projects from the beginning, and her impressive filmography proves it. One role in particular isn't talked about nearly enough alongside the rest of Mikey Madison's projects, though, and that is the underrated FX series Better Things.

Better Things premiered on FX on September 16, 2016, and it ran for five seasons before ending in 2022. Though the Anora star had appeared in a few small projects prior, Better Things was one of her first major roles and is still one of Mikey Madison's best performances. She plays Maxine "Max" Fox, . Mikey Madison appeared in all 52 episodes of Better Things' five-season run.

It would have been easy to have Max be a surface-level angsty teenager, but the writing in Better Things, paired with . Over the course of five seasons, Max grows a lot as a character, and Madison navigates Max's journey with great skill and empathy.

Pamela Adlon (King of the Hill) plays Max's mom, Sam Fox, in Better Things, and her chemistry with Mikey Madison throughout the series is impressive. Alongside starring in the series, Pamela Adlon also served as one of the executive producers as well as the show's creator, making her an integral part of Better Things' success. In an interview with Variety, .

I’m emotional watching it because it’s triumphant for me to be able to make people laugh and then bring it back around to the heart of it. When I was casting the girls in the show, they were all babies. They all had something that was special. Mikey, I mean, she looks like she came out of my vagina. She looks like everybody on my dad’s side of the family.

Never mincing words, much like her character in Better Things, Pamela Adlon's pride in Mikey Madison and her accomplishments is touching. , and Pamela Adlon's reaction to it is easy to understand. Giving Madison a chance at a major role in the series was the perfect choice.

With a Best Actress win under her belt so relatively early in her career, Mikey Madison is primed to continue to take Hollywood by storm. Mikey Madison was reportedly offered a role in Shawn Levy's upcoming Star Wars film, Star Wars: Star Fighter, but she turned it down, seemingly indicating that she has no interest in joining another major franchise at the moment following her Scream ​​​​​​role in 2022.

Instead, Mikey Madison will star in the upcoming thriller Reptilia by director Alejandro Landes Echavarría (Monos). Reptilia is shaping up to be another strong outing for Mikey Madison after , as she will be alongside Kirsten Dunst for the upcoming film. She has come a long way since the early seasons of Better Things, but it will likely continue to be one of the best roles of her entire career.

Source: The Numbers, Variety