Mikey Madison, who got her start on the FX series “Better Things,” is among the discoveries of Oscar season with Sean Baker’s “Anora.” As the title character — a Russian American stripper in Brooklyn who allows herself to fall for a client — she is alternately hard-edged and sentimental. Who better to pair her with than a star who worked similar magic this year? Pamela Anderson, in Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” plays a Vegas stage performer who, like Anora, dreams of human connection. Anderson, like Madison, began her career on television, with “Baywatch.” In recent years, with the release of a memoir and a documentary about her life, Anderson has been having a renaissance, and Madison, who showed up with a notebook full of questions, was understandably awed.

Mikey Madison: How do you feel right now? I felt a little nervous when they called “action.”

Pamela Anderson:...