From Strip Clubs to the Oscars: Actress Anora Celebrates Her Journey with a Powerful Message—‘Nothing Can Stop Me’.Viet

Luna Sofia Miranda wasn’t supposed to be working the day she met Sean Baker at a strip club and her life changed forever.

But that night, Miranda, 26, was called in to work last minute as a dancer at a Brooklyn strip club. She struck up a conversation with what looked like “just another couple” at the bar — and they turned out to be filmmaker Baker and his producer wife, Samantha Quan.

The pair quickly discovered that Miranda was an aspiring actress and invited her to audition for the role of Lulu, the best friend and coworker of Anora, the title character in their indie movie Anora.

Fast-forward to a few years later and now Miranda is walking the red carpet at the 97th annual Academy Awards on March 2. “I just never imagined that this would happen,” Miranda tells PEOPLE ahead of the big night.

Luna Sophia Miranda en route to the Oscars. Amy Brownstein

As the daughter of two film professors in Brooklyn, Miranda grew up with movies frequently playing in the house, inspiring her to pursue a career in Hollywood from an early age.

“I think as soon as I could walk and talk, I was like, I want to do that. I want to be an actress,’ ” she says.

She enrolled in free acting classes as a child, and when it came time for high school, her parents helped her apply to a performing arts school. By the time college application season came around, Miranda had her heart set on Rutgers University’s BFA program. She got in — but it was too expensive. Still, she says, “nothing could stop me,” and she enrolled in a local university.

Still struggling to make ends meet and pay for classes, her theater friends suggested she begin working at a local strip club. Because of that job, Miranda was able to land her dream job with her first feature film.

Luna Sofia Miranda attends the “Anora” New York premiere at Regal Times Square on October 15, 2024 in New York City. Jason Mendez/Getty

In Anora, she used her own experience to inform her character, who was supposed to be 19. Miranda pulled from the time she first became a dancer and was “very innocent” and “happy” to just be there. In addition to playing Lulu, the production hired Miranda as a consultant to make the movie as true to its subject matter as possible.

The young actress did so through quips and jokes included throughout the film, such as when one stripper tells Anora, “I guess you found your whale, honey.” “I taught them about sharks and whales,” Miranda tells PEOPLE, laughing. “A shark is a girl who’s going to steal your client, and a whale is a client that’s like going to make your whole night or month just because they have so much money and they’re willing to spend it all.”

Along the way, Miranda experienced great pain in her personal life. Her mom fell ill, and there were many days Miranda had to juggle going between the club, set and the hospital to see her. While she credits her parents for being the “most supportive,” Miranda admits they had a hard time accepting her job as a dancer. Landing Anora, however, changed everything.

“I remember her being like, ‘Don’t you worry about me. Just go make that movie and have the time of your life and whatever happens to me, I’ll be okay,’ ” Miranda says. “And I really feel like because of Anora, we were able to finally reconcile our differences.”