Academy Reaches Out To Women, Minorities With Membership Invites

HOLLYWOOD, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday that membership invitations have been extended to 842 actors, directors, producers and others in the film industry, with women making up half of that number and people of color accounting for 29 percent of the invitees.

Women and people of color made up 25% and 8%, respectively, of the Academy's membership in 2015. If the 2019 invitees accept the membership invitations, which are rarely turned down, the number of non-white members will have doubled to 16% in four years.

The film academy has been working to broaden its membership since coming under intense criticism in 2016 due to the lack of racial diversity that year among many of the top Oscar nominees, which triggered the #OscarsSoWhite social media campaign.

In the Actors Branch, invitees include Oscar winner Lady Gaga ("A Star is Borwn") and Oscar nominees Marina de Tavira ("Roma") and Giancarlo Giannini ("Seven Beauties"), along with Jamie Bell, Gemma Chan, Rosalind Chao, Claire Foy, Sterling K. Brown, Gemma Jones, Alexander Skarsgard, Damien Lewis, Amanda Peet and Kevin Pollak.

The 2019 invitees are from 59 countries, according to the Academy, which also reported that the following 10 branches invited more women than men:

-- Casting Directors;

-- Costume Designers;

-- Directors;

-- Documentary;

-- Executives;

-- Makeup Artists and Hairstylists;

-- Marketing and Public Relations;

-- Producers;

-- Production Design; and

-- Writers.