The Hollywood Academy extended this Wednesday the invitation to 398 artists and executives from the film industry to be part of its membership, including singer Taylor Swift and actor Austin Butler.
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals among its members. They represent extraordinary global talent in all cinematographic disciplines“, declared Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy, and Janet Yang, president of the institution in a statement.
40% of the guests are women, 34% of the total are from underrepresented ethnic or racial communities, and 52% are from 50 countries and territories outside the United States.
This reflects some of the efforts the Academy is making to achieve greater inclusion and meet its diversity goals learned from the campaign. #OscarsSoWhite, which went viral in 2015 and that it sought to make visible the lack of parity and diversity in the celebration.
The group includes 76 Oscar nominees and 22 winners, including “Everything Everywhere All at Once” actors Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan, and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, whose film was crowned the favorite of the last edition by receiving seven statuettes.
Likewise, other invited celebrities who shone for their talent at the 2023 Oscars and who are now being taken into account by the Academy are Kerry Condon, actress of “The Banshees of Inisherin”; Butler, with his portrayal of the rock and roll star in the film “Elvis”; paul mescaHe, from “Aftersun”, or Ram Charan, in the Indian film “RRR”.
Although Swift came close to an Oscar nomination this year with her song “Carolina” from the film “Where the Crawdads Sing,” the singer has never been nominated for the prestigious awards.
However, he has been part of films such as “Cats”dabbled as a short film director in 2021 and is getting ready to direct her first feature film.
Other guests include musician David Byrne, James Friend, photographer from “All the Quiet on the Western Front”, actor Raúl Castillo, from “The Inspection”, and Rosa Salazar, from “Alita: Battle Angel”.