An impressive list of Asian Americans are among the record 774 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
According to the Center for Asian American Media, among those invited are John Cho, Riz Ahmed (The Night Of, The Reluctant Fundamentalist), Priyanka Chopra, Irffan Khan, B.D. Wong, Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, among others.
If they accept, they’ll be able to vote in the acting categories. The drive for diversity in the Academy follows the #OscarsSoWhite controversy when all the acting nominees in 2016 were White for the second year in a row.
S. Leo Chiang (Village Called Versailles, Out Run), Grace Lee (American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs) and Keiko Deguchi (God Knows Where I Am, Cats of Mirikitani) were invited to join the documentary branch and graphic novelist Greg Pak received an invitation for the short films and feature animation branch.
“We are not looking to increase membership,” said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, outgoing AMPAS President , to Deadline. The goal is instead to increase a diverse membership that represents us around the world. We are looking to have our organization more representative of men and women, here and around the world who are participating in the art form.”
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