Motion picture academy invites 176 new members

Octavia Spencer, being congratulated for winning an Oscar in February for her role in "The Help," has been invited to join the academy.

By Julie Makinen

June 29, 2012 1:28 PM PT

This post has been updated, as indicated below.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited 176 new members into the organization on Friday, including Octavia Spencer, Terrence Malick, Matthew McConaughey, Kristen Wiig, Kerry Washington, Will Packer, Wong Kar Wai and Michelle Yeoh.

A Los Angeles Times study published earlier this year found that academy voters are markedly less diverse than the moviegoing public and even more monolithic than many in the film industry may suspect. Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%. Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.

A preliminary examination of the invitee list indicated that the class is about 28% female and 10% nonwhite. [Update, 3:15 p.m.: Academy officials say the roster is 30% female and 14% nonwhite.] In 2011, the invitees were 30% female and 10% nonwhite.

INSIDE THE ACADEMY: Unmasking Oscar voters

Outgoing academy president Tom Sherak and Chief Executive Dawn Hudson have said diversifying the ranks of the academy is a priority.

The 2012 invitees are:
Actors
Simon Baker – “Margin Call,” “L.A. Confidential”
Sean Bean – “Flightplan,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”
Bérénice Bejo – “The Artist,” “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies”
Tom Berenger – “Inception,” “Platoon”
Demián Bichir – “A Better Life,” “Che”
Jessica Chastain – “The Help,” “The Tree of Life”
Clifton Collins Jr. – “Star Trek,” “Traffic”
Bryan Cranston – “Contagion,” “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jean Dujardin – “Les infidèls,” “The Artist”
Richard E. Grant – “The Iron Lady,” “Withnail & I”
Jonah Hill – “Moneyball,” “Superbad”
Ken Howard – “J. Edgar,” “In Her Shoes”
Diego Luna – “Milk,” “Y Tu Mamá También”
Margo Martindale – “Secretariat,” “Million Dollar Baby”
Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids,” “The Back-Up Plan”
Matthew McConaughey – “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “A Time to Kill”
Janet McTeer – “Albert Nobbs,” “Tumbleweeds”
S. Epatha Merkerson – “Mother and Child,” “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”
Sam Rockwell – “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Moon”
Andy Serkis – “The Prestige,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”
Octavia Spencer – “The Help,” “The Soloist”
Lili Taylor – “Being Flynn,” “High Fidelity”
Nia Vardalos – “For a Good Time, Call…,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”
Kerry Washington – “Django Unchained,” “Ray”
Michelle Yeoh – “The Lady,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

Designers
Laurence Bennett – “The Artist,” “Crash”
David Brisbin – “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” “Dead Presidents”
Scott Chambliss – “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Mission: Impossible III”
Wendy Chuck – “The Descendants,” “Sideways”
Maria Djurkovic – “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Hours”
Sanja Milkovic Hays – “Battle: Los Angeles,” “Mission to Mars”
Mayes Rubeo – “Avatar,” “Apocalypto”
Anne Seibel – “Midnight in Paris,” “The Devil Wears Prada”
Sharon Seymour – “The Ides of March,” “Friday Night Lights”
Sammy Sheldon – “X-Men: First Class,” “V for Vendetta”

Cinematographers
Florian Ballhaus – “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” “The Devil Wears Prada”
Oliver Bokelberg – “Win Win,” “The Station Agent”
Anna J. Foerster – “Anonymous”
Larry Fong – “Super 8,” “300”
Alwin Kuchler – “Hanna,” “Proof”
Toyomichi Kurita – “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family,” “Waiting to Exhale”
George Mooradian – “Crazy as Hell,” “Nemesis”
Guillaume Schiffman – “The Artist,” “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies”
Terry Stacey – “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” “Friends with Money”

Directors
Joseph Cedar – “Footnote (Hearat Shulayim),” “Beaufort”
Jean-Pierre Dardenne – “The Kid With a Bike (Le gamin au vélo),” “The Child (L’enfant)”
Luc Dardenne – “Lorna’s Silence (Le silence de Lorna),” “The Son (Le fils)”
Philippe Falardeau – “Monsieur Lazhar,” “It’s Not Me, I Swear! (C’est pas moi, je le jure!)”
Asghar Farhadi – “A Separation (Jodaieye Nadar az Simin),” “About Elly (Darbareye Elly)
(also invited to the Writers Branch)
Rodrigo Garcia – “Albert Nobbs,” “Mother and Child”
Michel Hazanavicius – “Les infidèles (The Players),” “The Artist” (also invited to the Writers
Branch)
Kasi Lemmons – “Talk to Me,” “Eve’s Bayou”
Terrence Malick – “The Tree of Life,” “The Thin Red Line”
Michaël R. Roskam – “Bullhead (Rundskop)”
Wong Kar Wai – “My Blueberry Nights,” “In the Mood for Love”

Documentary
John Battsek – “The Tillman Story,” “One Day in September”
Amy Berg – “Bhutto,” “Deliver Us From Evil”
Simon Chinn – “Project Nim,” “Man on Wire”
Marshall Curry – “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front,” “Street Fight”
Johanna Demetrakas – “Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trungpa
Rinpoche,” “Bus Riders Union”
Daniel Junge – “Saving Face,” “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
Mary Lampson – “Kimjongilia,” “Harlan County, USA”
Sam Pollard – “Gerrymandering,” “4 Little Girls”
Glenn Silber – “El Salvador: Another Vietnam,” “The War at Home”
Lucy Walker – “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” “Waste Land”

Executives
James Amos
Michael Bostick
Richard Brener
Howard Mark Cohen
David C. Glasser
Jeffrey B. Goldstein
Frederick Huntsberry
Jon Jashni
Michael Marshall
Tony Safford
Gregory Silverman
Nigel Sinclair

Film Editors
Kirk Baxter – “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Social Network”
Nicolas De Toth – “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “The Sum of All Fears”
Scott Hill – “Zookeeper,” “Bruce Almighty”
Dan Lebental – “Iron Man 2,” “Elf”
Glen Scantlebury – “Transformers,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Mark Coulier – “The Iron Lady,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Linda Flowers – “The Hunger Games,” “The Social Network”
Toni G – “Salt,” “Monster”
Amanda Knight – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” “Mission: Impossible”
Tami Lane – “Superman Returns” “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe”

Members-at-Large
Wendy Aylsworth
Kyle Cooper
Patrick Crowley
Bud Davis
Chris deFaria
Sarah Katzman
John Kilkenny
Heidi Levitt
Kerry Lyn McKissick
Elizabeth Sayre
Michael Tadross
Mary Vernieu

Music
Ludovic Bource – “The Artist,” “OSS 117: Lost in Rio”
Alberto Iglesias – “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Constant Gardener”
Conrad Pope – “My Week With Marilyn,” “The Rising Place”
Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Love Is the Devil,” “The Last Emperor”
Theodore Shapiro – “The Big Year,” “I Love You, Man”

Producers
Letty Aronson – “Midnight in Paris,” “Match Point”
Michael Barnathan – “The Help,” “Rent”
Jean Bréhat – “London River,” “Days of Glory (Indigènes)”
Susan Cartsonis – “Beastly,” “What Women Want”
Tracey Edmonds – “Jumping the Broom,” “Soul Food”
Dede Gardner – “The Tree of Life,” “Running With Scissors”
Grant Heslov – “The Ides of March,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.” (also invited to the
Writers Branch)

Thomas Langmann – “The Artist,” “Mesrine: Public Enemy #1”
William Packer – “Think Like a Man,” “This Christmas”
Aaron Ryder – “The Raven,” “The Prestige”
Peter Saraf – “Our Idiot Brother,” “Little Miss Sunshine”
Mary Jane Skalski – “Win Win,” “The Station Agent”

Public Relations
Larry Baldauf
Cindi Berger
Matthew P. Brubaker
Brian Daly
Rebecca Kearey
Adam Keen
Katie Martin Kelley
Eric Kops
Derek McLay
Michelle Sewell
Mark Woollen

Short Films and Feature Animation
Paul Cichocki – “Brave,” “Wall-E”
Eric Daniels – “Tangled,” “Meet the Robinsons”
Amanda Forbis – “Wild Life,” “When the Day Breaks”
Emily Hubley – “The Toe Tactic,” “Pigeon Within”
William Joyce – “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” “Meet the Robinsons”
Marv Newland – “CMYK,” “Tête à Tête à Tête”
Floyd Norman – “Waking Sleeping Beauty,” “Mulan”
Jonas Rivera – “Up,” “Cars”
Michelle Steffes – “The Interview,” “Day Labor”
David Verrall – “Dimanche/Sunday,” “Madame Tutli-Putli”
Jennifer Yuh Nelson – “Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Madagascar”

Sound
Erik Aadahl – “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “Monsters vs. Aliens”
Deb Adair – “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” “Moneyball”
Stephen M. Bartkowicz – “Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds,” “Red State”
John T. Cucci – “Snow White & the Huntsman,” “Prometheus”
Chuck Garsha – “Misery,” “Die Hard”
Mildred Iatrou – “The Green Hornet,” “The Tree of Life”
Tim LeBlanc – “For Greater Glory,” “Something Borrowed”
Bo Persson – “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “Fanny & Alexander”
Gary L.G. Simpson – “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”
Philip Stockton – “Hugo,” “Brokeback Mountain”

Visual Effects
Scott Benza – “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “Iron Man”
Greg Butler – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” “The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King”
Sheena Duggal – “The Hunger Games,” “Spider-Man 3”
Christopher Evans – “Hugo,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Ben Grossmann – “Hugo,” “The Italian Job”
Dan Lemmon – “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “King Kong”
John Rosengrant – “Real Steel,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”
Eric Saindon – “Avatar,” “X-Men: The Last Stand”
R. Christopher White – “The Lovely Bones,” “Jurassic Park III”
Guy Williams – “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Avatar”
Joss Williams – “Hugo,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

Writers
J.C. Chandor – “Margin Call”
Asghar Farhadi – “A Separation (Jodaieye Nadar az Simin),” “Beautiful City (Shahr-e ziba)”
(also invited to the Directors Branch)
Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist,” “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies” (also invited to the
Directors Branch)
Grant Heslov – “The Ides of March,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.” (also invited to the
Producers Branch)
Stephen King – “Pet Sematary,” “Creepshow”
Oren Moverman – “The Messenger,” “I’m Not There”
Annie Mumolo – “Bridesmaids”
Nicholas Stoller – “The Muppets,” “Get Him to the Greek”
Peter Straughan – “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Men Who Stare at Goats”
Kristen Wiig – “Bridesmaids”

Additionally, the academy invited Fritz Gabriel Bauer, Lee S. Berger, Ronald Bernstein, Ariel Emanuel, Jean-Marie Lavalou, Bryan Lourd, Dale Oliver, Jeremy Plager, John B. Quinn and Steve Weinstein to join as associate members. Associate members do not have Oscar voting privileges.

Three people (noted above) were invited to join multiple branches. These individuals must select one branch upon accepting membership. New members will be welcomed into the academy at an invitation-only reception in September.

The academy’s Board of Governors also approved a recommendation from the Art Directors Branch, which includes production designers, art directors, set decorators and costume designers; henceforth, the branch will be known as the Designers Branch.

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