The organisers of the Oscars have invited a record number of new people to vote for next year’s Academy Awards following the row over a lack of diversity.
Luther star Idris Elba, Star Wars actor John Boyega and rapper Ice Cube are among 683 people who have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – more than double the total invited the previous year.
The move comes after a lack of diversity among the nominees at this year’s Oscars sparked an unprecedented debate about race in the film industry.
None of the nominees for the best actor and actress and best supporting actor and actress categories was from an ethnic minority, prompting film star Will Smith and director Spike Lee to boycott the ceremony in February.
The hashtag OscarSoWhite also became a rallying cry on social media for dissatisfied film stars and fans.
This as an opportunity and not just an invitation, a mission and not just a membership
The academy, which has already pledged to double the number of “women and diverse members” by 2020, said the group of people invited to join was 46 per cent women and 41 per cent “people of colour.”
At the start of 2016, there were 6,261 voting members, with around 92 per cent white and 75 per cent men. The new group will shift the academy’s overall membership to 27 per cent women and 11 per cent non-white, it said. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said the new members represented “the best in our global film community, and who have made a lasting impact on movie fans.”
“We’re proud to welcome these new members to the academy and know they view this as an opportunity and not just an invitation, a mission and not just a membership,” she said.”
Emma Watson, Kate Beckinsale, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Rylance, who won the Oscar for best supporting actor this year, are among the British stars who have been invited to join the academy.
Best Actress Oscar winner Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander, who was named best supporting actress, have also received invitations, along with British film director Ken Loach.
In January the academy announced a new aim to double the number of women and minority members by 2020.
It said three new seats would be added to its board of governors in an effort to improve diversity, and lifetime voting rights will be limited under the new plans.