Tom Holland, Letitia Wright and Adele have joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.
The ‘Spider-Man’ star, the ‘Black Panther’ actress and the ‘Hello’ hitmaker have been named among 842 new members added to the organisation this year, along with the likes of ‘A Star Is Born’ actress Lady Gaga, ‘Us’ star Winston Duke and Crazy Rich Asians’ Gemma Chan.
The new additions are 50% women and 29% are people of colour following a long-term strategy announced in 2016 to improve the diversity of Academy members in light of the social media Hashtag #OscarsSoWhite -which criticised the lack of actors of colour who were nominated for top acting accolades.
Membership for females is now at an overall 32% giving it an increase of 25% from 2015 while people of colour now make up 16% of the Academy, which is double what it was four years ago.
Others who have joined includes Sterling K. Brown, who also starred in ‘Black Panther’, ‘Roma’ star Marina de Tavira – who received her first Oscar nod at this year’s ceremony – ‘The Babadook’ director Jennifer Kent, ‘The Crown’ actress Claire Foy, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ star Elisabeth Moss and ‘The Good Wife’ alum Archie Panjabi.
Riz Ahmed, Priyanka Chopra, Gal Gadot and Naomie Harris were added in 2017 while and the following year saw the likes of Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Amy Schumer, Daniel Kaluuya and Timothée Chalamet join.
This year’s Academy Awards ceremony saw ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ lead the winners taking home four prizes and the Queen biopic scooped Best Actor for its lead star Rami Malek, who portrayed late frontman Freddie Mercury, making him the first actor of Arab heritage to win the accolade.
Tom Holland, Letitia Wright and Adele have joined the Academy
