Motion Picture Academy announces record recruitment
The proportion of people of color doubled in the same period, but started from a low bar of just eight percent. Image: Frederic J. Brown/AFP
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday it has swelled its ranks by a record 928 members, as part of its drive for a more inclusive Hollywood.
The Oscar-awarding body announces a round of invitations every year, and has been bolstering its ethnic and female representation following criticism over its predominantly white, male membership.
More than a third of the list—drawn from 59 countries—are people of color, while around half are women, bringing the female proportion of the Academy up from 25 percent in 2015 to 31 percent.
The proportion of people of color doubled in the same period, but started from a low bar of just eight percent.
The recruits include 17 Oscar winners and 92 nominees, including Timothee Chalamet, Kumail Nanjiani, Daniela Vega and Yance Ford.
“Aggressively expanding the palette of perspectives within the 90-year-old organization’s ranks is the goal,” said Variety’s awards editor Kristopher Tapley.
“Nine hundred twenty-eight new members is more than a statement, it’s a declaration. Next year, the number will likely be north of 1,000 and the overall membership will tip the scales at 10,000. It was nearly half that just seven or eight years ago.”
If all the 2018 invitees accept, voting members will be 8,186 and total active membership 8,356.
The list includes Native Americans such as “Westworld” star Irene Bedard, Q’orianka Kilcher from “Hostiles” and “Wind River” actor Tantoo Cardinal, and numerous Asian and Spanish-language creatives.
Marvel’s “Black Panther” is rewarded for its groundbreaking success with invitations for Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya and rapper Kendrick Lamar, who produced the soundtrack.
Roman Polanski may recently have been expelled over his historic statutory rape conviction in the United States but his wife, the actress Emmanuelle Seigner, will be in charge of Oscar voting if she takes up her invitation.
Kobe Bryant, who was given an Oscar for animated short “Dear Basketball,” despite accusations he has always denied that he raped a 19-year-old hotel worker, was not invited. MKH
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