Anora leads 10 sex workers who break the pole

In 2025, Mikey Madison became (roughly) the 17th actress to win an Oscar for playing a sex worker. And while there’s a lot to unpack on what that says about the Academy’s voters, as well as which women’s stories get told and which get ignored, this is not a call to dismiss the film or Mikey’s win. There’s gold on that stripper pole!

Writer-director Sean Baker’s breakthrough film was Tangerine, which centred on transgender sex workers. In the comedy-drama Anora, he returns to that world, just one room over, to tell the story of New York City stripper Anora "Ani" Mikheeva (Mikey Madison), who agrees to marry a rich young client, Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), after spending a week as his girlfriend-for-hire. Her choice sees Ani caught in the middle of a family argument between spoiled, irresponsible Vanya, and his Russian oligarch parents, who send in their goons to break up the couple, while Vanya's godfather Toros (Karren Karagulian) sets his own henchmen, including Igor (Yura Borisov), to protect them, sparking a wild and confusing chase when Ivan flees.

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Building Anora, layer by layer

Mikey Madison as Anora Mikheeva and Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan Zakharov

Mikey jumped into the role after a meeting with Sean and his wife Samantha Quan, Anora’s producer. “Sean has dedicated his career to destigmatising sex work and telling stories about marginalised people," explains Mikey. "He's always done it in a very honest way – and in a funny way, too." In their hands, Ani isn’t the tale of a fallen woman, it’s the story of a working woman on a comic collision course with the world of the 1%. 

"Mikey was involved in the whole process – not only during the writing process, but through our research and development," reveals Sean. "We introduced her to consultants (including the movie’s key creative consultant, Canadian writer, actress and former sex worker Andrea Werhun), she did research at the clubs, and she took it upon herself to dive into the life and skills of a dancer. But what she brought as a human and transformational artist to the film, only she could do. And the character came to life in such a beautiful and impressive way.”

Mikey explains, "The way that Sean writes, there might be a paragraph that says, 'Ani's at the club and she walks up to customers.’ And I would then bring that to life. I've never experienced anything like that – a 10-minute-long scene where I am just going from customer to customer and talking to them in character, and they're recording it. It's a completely live set and feels absolutely real. That's how he's able to create these incredible moments of reality.”

Mikey layered more reality into her performance by devouring exotic dancers’ first-hand accounts of their experiences in memoirs, vlogs and videos. And she spent two months in the hands of choreographer Kennady Schneider, a former US gymnast and pole dancer, during which she worked to build the core strength necessary to perform pole routines. “I am not a dancer at all,” Mikey admits. “The choreographer taught me how to dance like a real erotic dancer. That was very helpful in terms of physicality and sensuality, how I’d carry myself and walk in heels.”

Getting played by mind games

Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan Zakharov and Mikey Madison as Anora Mikheeva

"I always saw Ani as this scrapper and hustler," says Mikey. "I was excited to explore the harder sides to her, but also the different layers of who she is around other people. As a sex worker, Ani creates a persona when she's with customers. I was interested in who she would be when she was alone or with her friends. And I wanted to play her as someone who's not very self-aware, which, in some ways, is a protection."

For Ani, who’s practiced at keeping up the illusion her job demands for a shift, agreeing to play Ivan’s girlfriend for a week comes with some unexpected pitfalls. "She's been told that Ivan has money, which is unusual for a young person coming into a club. A lot of dancers and sex workers told me that young men are not big spenders and are generally trying to get the most out of their buck,” says Mikey. “But Ivan turns out to be this refreshing character. He's not threatening at all; he's fun and he's funny, and also around Ani's age." Ivan, in turn, brings Ani into his world without a thought to how different their circumstances are.

It’s a mind-trip for Ani – as it would be for any service worker, like The White Lotus’s Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) when Tayna (Jennifer Coolidge) promises her her heart’s desire. "It blurs the lines for Ani when she’s hanging out and spending time with these people who are basically her same age," admits Mikey. "It's fun. But at the same time, Ani knows that she doesn't fully fit in because she's being paid to be there. So she’s in that working mentality: how do I keep this going? How do I stay in a happy mindset? And is Ivan happy? Is he having a good time? There's a lot that she’s thinking about … But I think that there are definitely moments where the situation feels very real for her.”

The person who might come closest to empathising with Ani isn't Vanya at all – it's his bodyguard, Igor, who's also paid to hang around Vanya 24/7. He is as much a stranger to the Zakharovs' world of cold glass mansions and cold glass hotel suites as Ani is. Protecting Vanya with his life is just another thing the Zakharovs’ money can buy. Now if he’d just stop tying up Ani’s feet with a phone cord, they could talk…

Stream Anora now.

Nine more sex workers who break the pole

Quick links

1. The Deuce: Eileen Merrell / Candy Renee (Maggie Gyllenhaal)

2. The Stroll: Kristen Lovell

3. Westworld: Maeve Millay (Thandiwe Newton)

4. Hung: Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane)

5. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande: Leo Grande (Darlyl McCormack)

6. The Penguin: Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo)

7. Euphoria: Kat Hernandez (Barbie Ferreira)

8. Warrior: Ah Toy (Olivia Cheng)

9. The House of the Dragon: Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno)

1. The Deuce: Eileen Merrell / Candy Renee (Maggie Gyllenhaal)

The Wire’s creators David Simon and George Pelecanos shift their focus to New York City during the 1970s and 1980s, during the city’s legalisation of pornography and the simultaneous outbreak of the street drug epidemic, Mafia violence, and police corruption. In a story loosely based on that of real-life adult film actress and director Candida Royalle, sex worker Eileen/Candy realises that she might be able to escape the violence and exploitation of the streets if she can cross over to performing in, and even directing, adult entertainment. The role earned Maggie a Best Actress Emmy nomination in 2019.

2. The Stroll: Kristen Lovell

Kristen Lovell’s GLAAD- and Peabody-winning HBO documentary film centres on the Black and Latina trans women who, like Kristen, suported themselves via sex work during the 1980s and 1990s in New York’s Meatpacking district, along a strip that became known as The Stroll. Her documentary explores how transwomen survived hate, violence, intimidation and constant police harassment and exploitation to become a community. Those who survived now tell their stories alongside archive footage on New York. The documentary also highlights how activist Sylvia Rivera rallied the LGBTQIA+ community around the hate crime murder of Black transwoman Amanda Milan, who was stabbed to death in Times Square in 2000, and drove real political change. 

3. Westworld: Maeve Millay (Thandiwe Newton)

Shrewd and charming android “Host” Maeve acts as the madam of the Mariposa brothel in the frontier town of Sweetwater within the fully immersive theme park known as Westworld, where human guests can live out their fantasies, with no limit to how they treat the Hosts. But Maeve becomes conscious and starts remembering her past experiences (including the fact that she had a daughter before she was murdered by a brutal returning park guest known as The Man In Black). After that, Maeve takes control of her own story, works to awaken and control her fellow Hosts, and unites them in her mission to rebel against their human exploiters. Thandiwe won an Emmy for playing Maeve in 2018.

4. Hung: Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane)

In this rare comedy-drama about sex work from a male perspective, Ray, a high-school sports coach and divorced father of twins secretly with ex-wife Jessica (the late Anne Heche) turns to sex work to survive financially. Ray’s friend and ex-girlfriend Tanya (Jane Adams) takes care of the business end of booking him gigs as a “happiness consultant”. Hung tracks Ray’s struggles to get his head around pleasing women because he’s so used to judging them exclusively by how they serve his own appetites – a hangover from growing up as the most popular guy in school. Bit by bit, though, he develops a new, more balanced perspective on desire and femininity. 

5. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande: Leo Grande (Darlyl McCormack)

Widowed retired teacher and mother of two Nancy (Emma Thompson) has never had the “Big O”. Now in her 60s, she wants to finally see what has poets, artists and musicians stampeding to sex town. Nancy taps young, handsome sex worker Leo for the job because if she’s going to buy a two-hour sexperience, it may as well be with someone hot. Fortunately Leo the pro knows that pleasure is a full body and mind experience, and he offers Nancy judgement-free safe space to explore and discover. Leo’s  obvious pride at Nancy’s experience of pleasure really is the cherry on top, but like many sex workers, he should look at charging therapists’ rates.

6. The Penguin: Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo)

Gotham’s underworld is in crisis at the start of this Emmy-nominated mini-series, which picks up just after the events of the 2022 film, The Batman. The Riddler’s murder of Gotham’s biggest mob boss, Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong), has created a power vacuum. Carmine’s right hand man Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) sets out to backstab and scheme his way to the top.

Oz’s lover Eve, a brothel madam, has a supernatural ability to change her appearance to suit her clients’ desires. She has laid down firm boundaries in her relationship with Oz so that he doesn’t drag her into his drama and it’s clear that he both respects and values her courage, except when he’s throwing a tantrum about it! Eve is already far enough into the world of mob violence, since she has a bitter grudge against Carmine’s “serial killer” daughter, Sofia (Cristin Milioti), who was locked up in Arkham Asylum after she butchered two of Eve’s five closest sex-worker friends. 

7. Euphoria: Kat Hernandez (Barbie Ferreira)

Sixteen-year-old high school student Kat embodies a range of modern discussions around sex work. After she finds out that her first-ever sexual encounter was filmed and uploaded to an adult entertainment online platform, she decides that if anyone is going to be profiting off her sexual experiences, it should be her. Kat sets about finding clients whose desires she is willing to accommodate, including one who pays her to humiliate him. At first, her success seems to return a sense of control and self-worth. Again, though, Kat is just 16 years old, and this is just one phase of her story. It also reflects her attempts to cope, as someone who’s seen that women’s efforts to get justice often just result in further violations. 

8. Warrior: Ah Toy (Olivia Cheng)

In this action drama series inspired by Bruce Lee’s series outline, a Chinese martial arts prodigy named Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) emigrates to San Francisco in the late 1870s and becomes an enforcer for the Hop Wei, one of the powerful Chinatown gangs, the tongs, which employ everyone from prostitutes to hatchet men. Chinatown is a place where women hold an unusual amount of power for the time, including Ah Sahm’s sister, Mai Ling (Dianne Doan), the secret leader of the Long Zii tong. Ah Toy (who was loosely based on the real-life Chinese American madam of the same name) has to tread warily around Mai Ling, sword in hand, if she’s to keep her head during the Tong Wars. But when she meets Nellie (played by Miranda Raison and loosely based on the sex slavery abolitionist Donaldina Cameron), a woman who’s creating a haven for sex workers who want to leave that world behind, Ah Toy sees possibilities she’d never considered before. 

9. The House of the Dragon: Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno)

Her brothel clients call her Mysaria, but to her spy network, she is White Worm, one of the most powerful information brokers in all of Westeros in this fantasy series. This shrewd sex trafficking victim has risen through the underworld at King's Landing, creating a spy network that reaches inside the castle itself. She was briefly engaged to Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), and used her knowledge of Prince Aegon II's (Tom Glynn-Carney) whereabouts to bargain for an end to child sex-trafficking and abuse in the city's "pleasure" clubs in Season 1. Being aware of Aegon II's nastier habits, she might seem to side with the Blacks. But her true loyalty is to the city itself, and to the city’s poor. If she has to get into bed with Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) to give the common folk a voice on the The Black Council at Dragonstone, she’ll do it. Sometimes royals think clearest while they’re on their backs.