USA TODAY International Edition
Academy’s 2017 class sets records in gender and racial diversity
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Betty White, Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot and Atlanta creator and star Donald Glover are part of a diverse and record- setting 2017 class for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The governing body for the Oscars announced the list of 774 new members from 57 countries on Wednesday. The new class exceeds last year’s record crop ( 683) and is composed of 39% women ( marking a 359% increase in the number of women invited to join from 2015 to 2017) and 30% people of color ( a 331% increase since 2015).
Other notable new members: Debbie Allen, Riz Ahmed, Priyanka Chopra, John Cho, Rebel Wilson, Kristen Stewart, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ruth Negga, Zoë Kravitz, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth.
Increasing diversity within the group has been a major initiative for Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and CEO Dawn Hudson since the outcry resulting from # OscarsSoWhite in January 2016, when the motion picture academy nominated an entirely white slate of actors for a second consecutive year.
At the time, Boone Isaacs and Hudson announced a goal of doubling the number of female and minority members by 2020.
With the addition of the 2017 class, female membership overall has increased to 28%, up from 25% in 2015. Seven academy branches invited more women than men ( actors, casting directors, costume designers, design- ers, documentary, executives and film editors).
Members of color increased to 13% with the new class, up from 8% in 2015.
Pete Hammond, awards columnist for the industry website Deadline. com, says the large and international class will have an immediate effect on the 90th Academy Awards on March 4 and beyond.
“This class will have a significant impact on the movies awarded with Oscars even this year,” Hammond says. “This is the most significant change I have seen in the academy membership.”
The international makeup of the 2017 class is also of note. In the director’s branch, Guy Ritchie, Barry Jenkins ( Moonlight) and Jordan Peele ( Get Out) are part of a larger group of new members drawn from around the globe — including Nana Dzhordzhadze ( Georgia), Ildikó Enyedi ( Hungary), Safi Faye ( Senegal) and Mohammed Lakhdar- Hamina ( Algeria).
“The academy is trying to become the United Nations of film,” Hammond says. “This is a true worldwide search for talent that we haven’t seen before.”
The 2017 class also adds three married couples to the membership, including Anna Faris joining her husband, Chris Pratt.
The new members will be officially welcomed into the academy in a ceremony this fall.