In a continued push by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to diversify its membership the Academy invites 928 film artisans into it prestigious organization and actress Jada Pinkett Smith leads the list of growing African Americans invited. In 2016 Smith was a major voice during the #oscarsowhite social media movement after a number of African Americans actors, writers, directors, and producers including her husband Will Smith for his film "CONCUSSION" were excluded from the nominations. It's great to see Jada Pinkett Smith invited to the Academy. If anyone can help bring about change she certainly can!
List of other African Americans invited:
Tiffany Haddish
Jenifer Lewis
Daniel Kaluuya
Roger Guenveur Smith
Dave Chappelle
Andre Holland
Omar Epps
Annjanue ELLIS
Taye Diggs
Bill Bellamy
Blair Underwood
Quvenzhane Ellis
Damon Wayans
Michael K. Williams
Derek Luke
Audra McDonald
Mekhi Phifer
Wendell Pierce
Omar Epps
Tika Sumpter
Larenz Tate
Regina Hall
Dana Gurira
Joy Bryant
Hannibal Buress
Vanessa Bell Calloway
The academy is halfway through its campaign to double the membership of women and minorities by 2020, spurred on by the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite pointing out the lack of people of color in Oscar acting categories.
This year's class is 49 percent female and 38 percent people of color. Should all of this year's invitees elect to join the academy, the overall membership would be 31 percent female and 16 percent non-white, up from 28 percent female and 13 percent non-white in 2017.
Posted By: Tanisha Grant
Thursday, June 28th 2018 at 12:04PM
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