44 | JUNE 13 • 2024 
J
N

A STAR IS BORN? A 
MOVIE AND A STAND-UP 
FIRST

I knew a couple of her roles, 
but I didn’t even know her 
name. Her name is Mikey 
Madison, 25, and she and 
her new film are the total 
toasts of the just-completed, 
super-prestigious Cannes 
Film Festival. She stars in 
Anora, the first American film 
to win the Cannes top award 
(the Palme D’Or) since 2011. 
Madison plays a woman 
named Anora.
First, here’s what I know 
about the actress. Mikey 
Madison is a stage name. 
She was born Mikaela 
Madison Rosberg. She 
was born and raised in Los 
Angeles. Her parents are 
both psychologists.
I don’t know, now, if her 
family was “at all religious.” 
Public records reveal that 
three of her four grand-
parents were Jewish. Her 
maternal grandmother was 
not Jewish (it’s possible that 
she “converted-in”).
Madison co-starred in Liza 
Liza, her first feature film, 
in 2015. This little-seen, 
coming-of-age romantic film 
tanked due to a weak script. 
In 2019, she had a smallish, 
but very memorable role 
in Once Upon a Time in 
Hollywood, a huge hit. She 
played Sadie, a Manson fam-
ily teen member. Sadie was 
one of three Family mem-
bers who Manson sent out 
to murder celebrities. In real 
life, they killed. In the film, 
the three are “intercepted” 
by good guys and are killed. 
Everyone who saw the film 
will remember the Family 
member who was killed with 
a flame thrower — that mem-
ber was Sadie.

Until now, Madison’s most 
seen role was in the FX/
Hulu series Better Things. 
It ran for five seasons 
(2016-2020; and 2022). 
The series was co-created 
by Pamela Adlon, now 57. 
Adlon starred as Sam Fox, 
a Jewish actress who is the 
single mother of three young 
daughters.
Madison played “Max,” 
Sam’s oldest daughter. 
Madison didn’t impress me 
one way or the other in 
Better Things, and I think I 
know why. The series was 
set up to make us love Sam, 
and we love Sam more 
when her teen daughters 
kvetch at her about “any-
thing.” It’s hard to judge the 
acting talent of a constant 
“teen kvetcher.”
So, here’s the capsule plot 
of Anora. Anora lives in a 
part of Brooklyn where many 
immigrants from former 
Soviet republics have set-
tled. Anora’s parents came 
from Uzbekistan, and she 
picks up some Russian from 
other immigrant neighbors. 
As the film opens, Anora 
is working as a stripper in 
a nightclub, and her boss 
pimps her out to Russian-
speaking customers.
She meets Vanya for a 
“date.” He’s the spoiled rich 
son of a Russian oligarch. 
They fall in love, and they 

elope. His father is not 
happy and does “things.”
Almost every review gush-
es how good Anora, the 
film, is — literate, “class-con-
scious” and sometimes 
comedic. I could go on. 
Likewise, the reviews for 
Madison are just terrific. It’s 
likely a career-making 
performance.
Madison won’t be the next 
Scarlett Johansson. She is 
an average-looking young 
woman. Sure, it doesn’t 
hurt to be beautiful, but you 
don’t have to be gorgeous 
to snare Oscar nominations 
and have a great career.
And a Jewish bonus! 
Vanya is played by Russian 
actor Mark Eydelshteyn, 
22. He is often called the 
Timothee Chalamet of the 
Russian screen — he’s a 
tall, thin, “pretty guy” actor. 
Reliable sources say that he 
is “at least” part Jewish and 
he may be “all Jewish.”
Treasure, which opens 
in theaters on June 14, is 
described as a “come-
dy.” Here’s the capsule 
premise: Lena Dunham, 
37, plays Ruth, an American 
journalist who travels to 
Poland with her father, Edek, 
to visit his childhood plac-
es. But Edek, a Holocaust 
survivor, resists reliving his 
trauma and sabotages the 
trip creating unintentionally 

funny situations.
British actor (and writer) 
Stephen Fry, 66, plays Edek. 
Fry’s father wasn’t Jewish, 
and he didn’t learn that his 
mother was Jewish until he 
was an adult. He isn’t reli-
gious but does identify as 
Jewish.
As I noted in my March 
column, Treasure played 
a Berlin film festival, and 
reviews were not kind. So, I 
suggest you just wait for it to 
start streaming.
Hannah Einbinder, 29, 
was a stand-up comedian 
before she became the 
co-star (2021) of Hacks, an 
HBO/Max series. Hacks 
was not a total reach for 
Einbinder — she plays a for-
mer stand-up comedian who 
writes jokes for a much-old-
er, famous female comedian.
Einbinder has snared two 
Emmy acting nominations for 
Hacks and the show’s a hit. 
So, HBO/Max is rewarding 
her with her first (anywhere!) 
solo comedy special. Titled 
Everything Must Go, it 
begins streaming on July 13.
The first time I saw 
Einbinder was on Stephen 
Colbert’s show, just before 
the pandemic hit. She talk-
ed about being Jewish in 
her (short) stand-up bit on 
Colbert. Here’s hoping she 
does that again. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

ARIELAORTIZB

IMDB

ELENA TERNOVAJA

Mikey Madison
Mark Eydelshteyn
Lena Dunham

