Academy Invites Lady Gaga, Claire Foy, Sterling K. Brown, More to Be New Oscar Voters
A new Oscar voter is born.
Actually, 842 new Oscar voters have been born. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has invited a huge new wave of film industry professionals to join its ranks — including 50 percent women and 29 percent people of color.
This will will push the number of active Academy members over 9,000 and the number of Oscars voters over 8,000 for next year’s Academy Awards.
The invitees include "A Star Is Born's"Lady Gaga, a Best Actress nominee and winner for Original Song; Emmy winner and "First Man" actress Claire Foy; Sterling K. Brown and Winston Duke from "Black Panther"; "Crazy Rich Asians" cast member Gemma Chan (and that movie’s director, Jon M. Chu); and "Spider-Man: Far From Home's"Tom Holland.
Ten of the Academy's branches invited more women than men, increasing overall female membership to 32 percent — a seven-percent increase since 2015. The membership of people of color has risen eight percent to 16 percent.
The 2020 Oscars will take place February 9.