The Academy invites record number of women and minorities
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued 774 invitations to new members, higher than the record 683 new members that it invited last year.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday that it was issuing 774 invitations to new members, higher than the record 683 new members that it invited last year.
The Academy stated that the list includes people from 57 countries and is 39 percent female and 30 percent people of color.
The oldest invitee is Betty White, at age 95, while Elle Fanning, 19, is the youngest.
The acting group alone grew by 105, with the likes of comedian Leslie Jones, Keegan-Michael Key, Wanda Sykes, Naomie Harris, Ruth Negga and Dwayne Johnson.
The directors’ group invited 64 new members, including Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins and Get Out’s Jordan Peele.
This is a solid step in the right direction for the Academy, which vowed that it would double the number of women and people of color in the Academy by 2020. In order to meet this goal, they have been inviting a great deal of new members, in order to improve on the numbers from 2015, which saw an Academy that was 92 percent white and 75 percent male.
