Hollywood's most exclusive club is opening its golden doors once again, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that it will extend invitations to 487 new members.
Representing 57 countries, the guest list includes high-profile names such as Lily Gladstone, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Jessica Alba and Catherine O'Hara along with numerous less starry but still accomplished artists, filmmakers, executives and professionals. This diverse group is made up of 71 Academy Award nominees and 19 Oscar winners.
Continuing its push for greater inclusion even after meeting its post-#OscarsSoWhite diversity goals, the Academy revealed that 44% of the new class identify as women and 41% come from underrepresented racial/ethnic communities, compared with 40% and 34%. respectively, in 2023.
More than half of this year's guests are from outside the United States, reflecting the academy's continued global expansion, bringing the group's total international membership to 20%.
“We are delighted to welcome this year's class of new members to the Academy,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “These extraordinarily talented artists and professionals from around the world have had a significant impact on our film community.”
Although still significantly larger than the annual guest groups of decades past, which were typically limited to around 100 people, this year's class is about half the size of the record-breaking class of 2018, which included 928 members. Since reaching its post-#OscarSoWhite goal of doubling the number of women and people of color in its membership ranks in 2020, the academy has reduced the size of its most recent classes to ensure it can continue to support its membership quickly. growth.
Including the new class, 35% of academy members now identify as women and 20% come from underrepresented racial/ethnic communities, maintaining and slightly improving on last year's benchmarks.
Six branches invited more women than men this year: actors, casting directors, costume designers, documentary filmmakers, executives, and makeup and hair stylists. Four branches (actors, directors, documentary filmmakers and writers) drew the majority of their candidates from underrepresented racial/ethnic communities.
On the acting side, guests include “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Gladstone, who this year became the first Native American actress nominated for an Academy Award, and German actress Sandra Hüller, nominated for “Anatomy of a Fall.” along with Randolph, who won best supporting actress for “The Holdovers.”
In the directors' division, guests include Justine Triet, who won the Oscar for original screenplay this year for “Anatomy of a Fall” and was also invited to the writers' division along with her partner and co-writer of the film, Arthur Harari. . Also invited were filmmakers SS Rajamouli (“RRR”), Celine Song (“Past Lives”), Cord Jefferson (“American Fiction”) and Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”).
Notably, two of the key figures involved in last year's historic writers and actors strikes were invited to the executive branch: Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, and Ellen Stutzman, chief negotiator for the Writers Guild of America .
If all guests accept their invitations, the total number of academy members will increase to 10,910, including 9,934 voting members.
