British stars among 930 new Academy members invited to make Oscars more diverse

BRITISH stars have been recognised by Hollywood’s social elite in a drive to make the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences more diverse.

A record 928 members have been invited to join the Academy – which votes on the nominees and the winners of the Oscars each year – a big increase on the 774 members asked in 2017.

Among the names are a number of home-grown filmmakers, including JK Rowling, who only wrote her first screenplay, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in 2016.

Among the acting talent invited are Olivia Colman, Noel Clarke, Celia Imrie, Ben Whishaw, Toby Jones and Emilia Clarke, the Game of Thrones star.

Daniel Kaluuya, who earned a Best Actor nomination for his performance in the Oscar-winning Get Out earlier this year, and Ruth Negga, the Ethiopian-irish actress who was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress for Loving, also received invitations.

Academy officials hope that the new membership will improve the Academy’s much-criticised lack of diversity, which has resulted in #Oscarssowhite controversies, due to the lack of recognition of women or people of colour.

Should the new invitees accept, it will mean 38 per cent of the Academy’s new class is comprised of people of colour – boosting the proportion within the Academy as a whole to 16 per cent (up on 13 per cent in 2017).

Women make up 49 per cent of the new intake, raising the percentage of women in the Academy to 31 per cent. In total, the number of members would be more than 7,000 actors, directors, executives and other filmmakers. Notable new US members include writers and actresses Mindy Kaling, Rashida Jones and Tiffany Haddish.

Membership to the Academy is notoriously strict – potential members must be “sponsored” by two existing members to be considered. If, like Kaluuya, you have received an Oscar nomination, then you can be considered without sponsorship. However, even then, members must meet certain requirements: directors, for instance, must have two directing credits within the past decade and actors must have racked up at least three credits in films that “are of a calibre that reflect the high standards of the Academy”.

Furthermore, as March’s Academy Awards showed, a more diverse Academy isn’t necessarily reflected in who takes home the gongs. While this year’s nominations were celebrated for their diversity, just six women won Oscars.